S T A N F O R D ATHLETICS A Tr a d i t i o n o f E x c e l l e n c e 116 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship award winners, including 10 in 2007-08. 109 National Championships won by Stanford teams since 1926. 95 Stanford student-athletes who earned All-America status in 2007-08. 78 NCAA Championships won by Stanford teams since 1980. 48 Stanford-affiliated athletes and coaches who represented the United States and seven other countries in the Summer Olympics held in Beijing, including 12 current student-athletes. 32 Consecutive years Stanford teams have won at least one national championship. 31 Stanford teams that advanced to postseason play in 2007-08. 19 Different Stanford teams that have won at least one national championship. 18 Stanford teams that finished ranked in the Top 10 in their respective sports in 2007-08. 14 Consecutive U.S. Sports Academy Directors’ Cups. 14 Stanford student-athletes who earned Academic All-America recognition in 2007-08. 9 Stanford student-athletes who earned conference athlete of the year honors in 2007-08. 8 Regular season conference championships won by Stanford teams in 2007-08. 6 Pacific-10 Conference Scholar Athletes of the Year Awards in 2007-08. 5 Stanford teams that earned perfect scores of 1,000 in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Report Rate in 2007-08. 3 National Freshmen of the Year in 2007-08. 3 National Coach of the Year honors in 2007-08. 2 National Players of the Year in 2007-08. 2 National Championships won by Stanford teams in 2007-08 (women’s cross country, synchronized swimming). 1 Walter Byers Award Winner in 2007-08. 2008 STANFORD MEN’S WATER POLO The Stanford Water Polo team returns many of the top scorers from a team that finished fourth in the national rankings last year. 2008 Stanford Team Information Media Relations 2007 Record: 17-8 (Home: 8-1, Away: 4-3, Neutral: 5-4) Assistant Media Relations Director/MWP Contact: Men’s Water Polo 2007 MPSF Record (Finish): 5-3 (3rd) Aaron Juarez Quick Facts 2007 MPSF Tournament: Third Place Game (California Office Phone: (650) 725-7277 12, Stanford 9 on Nov. 25, 2007 at Berkeley, Calif.) Email: [email protected] General Information Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 16/6 Media Relations Office: (650) 723-4418 Location: Stanford, CA 94305 Newcomers: 8 Media Relations Fax: (650) 725-2957 Enrollment: 13,198 Home Pool: Avery Aquatics Center Athletics Website: www.gostanford.com (6,584 Undergraduates; 6,614 Graduates) NCAA Tournament Appearances: 25 Founded: 1891 NCAA Championships: 10 (1976, ’78, ’80, ’81, ’85, ’86, Media Information Nickname: Cardinal ’93, ’94, 2001, ’02) Interview requests for players and coaches must be Colors: Cardinal and White coordinated with Aaron Juarez in the Stanford Athletic Media Conference: Mountain Pacific Sports Federation CREDITS: The 2008 Stanford Men’s Water Polo Guide is a Relations office. Interview requests should be submitted at production of the Stanford Athletics Media Relations Department. President: John Hennessy Writing: Aaron Juarez. Photography: David Gonzales, Kyle Terada, least 24 hours in advance. Visit www.gostanford.com for Athletics Director: Bob Bowlsby USA Water Polo. Design: Don Hogue. Printing: Dumont Printing. news releases, player profiles, and updated statistics. Senior Women’s Administrator: Beth Goode Sport Administrator: Earl Koberlein Faculty Representative: Ellen Markman Coaching Staff Head Coach: John Vargas (UC Irvine, 1983) Career Record: 123-39 (7th Year) Record At Stanford: Same Assistant Coach: Jonathan Barnea (UC Santa Barbara, 2002) – 3rd Year Athletic Trainer: Nicole Heffington Strength & Conditioning Coach: Dan Ammon Men’s Water Polo Office Phone: (650) 723-1874 Sage Wright returns as Stanford’s co-leading scorer from 2007. WWW.GOSTANFORD.COM 2008 STANFORD WATER POLO 1 2008 OUTLOOK While Wright, along with the Wigo brothers, Drac and Janson, who each scored 32 goals last season en route to All-America honorable mention recognition, handle the perimeter, second-team All-American Will Hindle-Katel will provide the Cardinal’s toughness and grit at the two-meter position. Hindle-Katel, who equaled Wright with 33 goals last season, has scored at least 30 Coming goals in each of his three years on The Farm. He will use his 6-6 frame to be a force and a terror to opposing defenses. As one of four seniors on the squad, Hindle-Katel will Back also provide leadership to the Cardinal through his veteran presence inside and outside of the pool. With A Another pair of returners, junior Ryan McCarthy (15 goals in 2007) and Schwimer (nine goals), will share time with Hindle-Katel at the two-meter position. Each player Vengeance enjoyed a fine season in 2007, scoring key goals and improving at arguably the most brutal position in the game. “Will brings a lot of leadership and experience to the two-meter position and to our program,” Vargas said. “We also have two other players who will be rotating in, Ryan McCarthy and Jeffrey Schwimer. Along with in the goal, I feel that two-meters is one of the strong points of our team.” Adding depth for the Stanford offense will be seniors Andrew Drake (28 goals in 2007), Steven Wright (five goals), and Chris Jacobson (seven goals), along with redshirt sophomores Cody Wiesen (eight goals) and Will Smith (seven goals). Vargas also points to goalkeeping, which is in the capable hands of Jimmie Sandman, returning after redshirting the 2007 season, as a strong point of this team. Over his first two seasons, Sandman shared time in the cage, making 103 saves as a sophomore in 2006, including a pair of 12-save performances against Navy and UC Davis. “Jimmie will be the key to our success, I believe he is one of the best, if not the best, goalies in the country,” Vargas said. “You win championships with defense, and he’ll be the catalyst for our great defense. Jimmie is a very athletic goalie and he is the reason we will have a shot at being one of the top teams in the country.” Pingree appeared in eight games last year and made 26 saves. The experience gained Will Hindle-Katel scored 33 goals as the in outings such as a 10-save performance against Pacific, and a seven-save outing against team’s co-leading scorer in 2007. UC Santa Cruz, adds further depth to Stanford’s goalkeeper position. Also looking to make an impact on Stanford’s fortunes is a seven-man freshman class, featuring driver Jacob Smith, a member of the U.S. National Team’s “B” Training o anyone else, a 17-8 overall record, a 5-3 mark and third-place finish in the ever- roster, and utility Peter Sefton. Sefton, a member of the U.S. Youth National Team that Tcompetitive Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, and a final national ranking of competed in Croatia in 2007, was named the 2008 San Diego Union Tribune Student- No. 4 would be acceptable. But for the Stanford men’s water polo team last season, it Athlete of the Year and helped lead the La Jolla High water polo team to the state was not enough to get it into the four-team NCAA Championship field, a place the 2008 tournament, while Smith, from Coronado High School, scored 83 goals in 2007 en Stanford squad expects to be when it hosts the national championship tournament at route to earning San Diego Union-Tribune Player of the Year honors and leading CHS to Avery Aquatic Center once again this fall. its first CIF San Diego Section Division II title in five years. “I think missing last year’s NCAA Championships, which we hosted, is a big “I’m anticipating that Jacob will come in and contribute right away, one of the very motivation,” said head coach John Vargas, who enters his seventh season at the helm of few freshmen that has the ability to do that this year,” Vargas said. “This is one of our the Stanford program, through which he owns a record of 123-39 (.759). “Our offseason stronger freshman classes, they’re going to elevate our program right away.” went really well because of that. To host the NCAA Championships and not be a part of The rest of the Stanford freshman class consists of drivers Alex Avery (Atherton, it, I know a lot of guys don’t want that to happen again.” Calif.), Porter Kalbus (Danville, Calif.), Tim Norton (Menlo Park, Calif.) and Travis Among the returners for Stanford who will look to get back to the NCAA Noll (Tustin, Calif.), and two-meters Ryan Brown (San Jose, Calif.) and Andrew LaForge Championship are four 2007 ACWPC All-Americans, as well as the team’s top five (Anaheim, Calif.). scorers. The Cardinal also returns experienced goalkeepers in redshirt junior Jimmie The Cardinal faces foes both new and familiar in 2008. On top of the annual slate Sandman and sophomore Brian Pingree, as well as a pair of sophomores, Alex Pulido of MPSF opponents, Stanford will travel to Princeton to begin the season against five and Jeffrey Schwimer, who posted solid debuts in 2007. East Coast opponents at the Princeton Tournament, opening with Johns Hopkins Sept. Offensively, Stanford returns 12 players who accounted for 221 of the team’s 263 12 at 3:15 p.m. PT. goals in 2007, a staggering 84 percent of the team’s scoring. Considering the amount of Stanford will open its five-game home regular-season schedule Friday night, Sept. 19 firepower coming back for 2008, the Stanford offense should prove to be more than a at 6 p.m.