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A TEAM FOR FRESHMEN "The freshmen definitely will be key to this team," said Coach Tara VanDerveer at the opening of Stanford's 25th year of women's basketball 12 of them under her direction, with a 306-70 record. "It is a totally new team a young team that will have a whole different personality from last year." Eight letterwinners return, but only two were starters last year, guard Milena Flores and Regan Freuen, a forward/guard and the team's only senior. The Cardinal lost seven letterwinners, five of them seniors who were the spark that kept the team moving into post-season play every year. Stanford was last year's Pac-10 champion. Among five incoming freshmen is Lindsey Yamasaki, whose basketball and volleyball skills at Oregon City, Ore., made her one of the nation's most highly recruited athletes. She will play basketball this season. MORE NEWCOMERS The women's volleyball team, national champions for the last two years, plus 1992 and 1994, lost four starters to graduation. But 10 letterwinners return, including All-American Kerri Walsh. Volleyball magazine says Coach Don Shaw has the nation's No. 1 recruiting class. Among incoming frosh are Sara Sandrik, a 6-foot-1 middle blocker from Pelham, Ala., and Gatorade National Volleyball Player of the Year, and Lindsey Yamasaki, a 6-foot-2 offensive hitter. SWIMMING AHEAD Coach Skip Kenney's men's swimming team, which returns 12 All-Americans and two individual NCAA champions, hopes to repeat its 1998 NCAA Championship, the team's eighth. The team won the Pac-10 Championship for the 17th straight year. Last year, eight swimmers reached the NCAA finals. Seniors Tate Blahnik and Matthew Pierce will defend their titles in the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly. As for the women, with six national championships in the last seven years, Coach Richard Quick is hoping for more of the same. Last spring, the women won the Pac-10 Championship for the 12th straight year. Leading the team are sophomore Misty Hyman, 1998 NCAA Swimmer of the Year after winning three NCAA crowns (200 backstroke, 100 and 200 butterfly), and junior Catherine Fox, two-time Olympic gold medalist and a two-time national champion (50 freestyle and 100 backstroke). She set an American record in the 100 backstroke last season.
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BYE-BYE HUTCHINSON When Chad Hutchinson was a high school senior, he turned down a major league baseball signing offer of $1.5 million, choosing instead to come to Stanford. Now, after pitching for Stanford for three years and quarterbacking the football team for two, he has left to sign with the St. Louis Cardinals for a reported $3.4 million. With a 97-mph fastball, he ranks sixth in Stanford history with 299 strikeouts, and eighth in wins (25). In his two football seasons, he threw for 4,235 yards and 20 touchdowns. He is another of Stanford's great two-sport athletes.
TWO FOR ONE Frosh Gabe Jennings won both the 1500- and 5000-meter races in the U.S. Junior Track and Field Championships the first athlete to win both events since the meet began 27 years ago. He is one of five Stanford athletes who qualified for the World Junior Championships, which took place July 28-Aug. 2. The other track stars in the championships were Mark Hassell and Jon Stevens, distance runners; Chris Sprague, shotput; and Melissa Feinstein, pole vault.
