Sports News

Tennis Team Takes National Crown   Stanford’s tennis dynasty continued this spring as the men won the 1996 NCAA championship and the women finished second in May. Since 1977, when NCAA team championship play began, no other university has won more championships ­ the men claiming 12 and the women nine. The men’s finals victory over UCLA was sweet revenge for the Cardinal, which was beaten three times by the Bruins during the season. Coach Dick Gould’s team, which also won the NCAAs in 1995, beat Texas, USC and Georgia to advance to the finals against UCLA. Cardinal winners in the championship match were Ricky Becker, Grant Elliott, Jim Thomas and Ryan Wolters.

Tiger Tames Competition   Sophomore Tiger Woods won the NCAA golf championship ­ the first Stanford player to do so since Sandy Tatum Jr. in 1942 ­ and the team finished fourth in the national competition, which ended June 1. Woods, a two-time U.S. Amateur champion, and Jack Nicklaus are the only golfers in history to win both the NCAA and amateur titles.

Rugby Team Finishes Third   The rugby team, heirs to a tradition that dates back to the earliest days of the university, made it to the national finals for the first time in the team’s history. In the national semifinal in early May, the Cardinal lost to Penn State, then beat Navy to conclude its season as the third best team in the country. Coupled with its first Big Game victory in 16 years, the third place finish made 1996 a watershed year for Coach Franck Boivert’s team. The team travels to Australia this summer for a series of matches Down Under.

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