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Division I Championships
Aim for excellence.
That's what NCAA champions do in 88 finals that span 23 sports. Whether they swing, kick, hit, throw, run, swim, jump or shoot, the goal is always to be the best.
CHAMPIONSHIP Fresno St. 6, Georgia 1 What do you call a college baseball team with 31 losses? National champions. The final championship on the 2007-08 calendar became one of the most improbable in NCAA history with the Fresno State Bulldogs belting their way to the Men’s College World Series title in Rosenblatt Stadium June 25. Since the championship expanded to 64 teams in 1999, the 47-31 Bulldogs are the first No. 4 regional seed to win the MCWS. Their 31 losses are also the most for a national champion. Fresno State overcame a slow start to its season and put everything together in the postseason, which included winning the Western Athletic Conference just to gain access to the championship and surviving six elimination games en route to the school’s first national championship in a men’s sport. Steve Detwiler had a performance for the ages in the third game of the championship series by driving in all six of his team’s runs in a 6-1 victory over national runner-up Georgia. The Fresno State right fielder, who will need to undergo surgery to repair a torn ligament in the left thumb he injured May 6, was 4-for-4 with two home runs and a double in the winner-take-all contest. Appropriately, Detwiler caught the last out of the game to set off Fresno State’s celebration.
Semifinals Notre Dame 5, Michigan 4 Boston College 6, North Dakota 1 Championship Boston College 4, Notre Dame 1 Nathan Gerbe continued his tear through the 2008 Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship, propelling Boston College to the national title on the strength of five goals and three assists in the Frozen Four. The Eagles ended Notre Dame’s dream run, 4-1, in the championship game. It was Notre Dame’s first title-game appearance – the Irish were the first No. 4 seed to reach the championship game. After a scoreless first period, Gerbe put Boston College on the board twice in the second stanza. Gerbe, named the most outstanding player of the tournament, also contributed to Boston College’s third goal with a momentum-changing between-the-legs assist to teammate Ben Smith, who sent the puck airborne over Notre Dame goaltender Jordan Pearce’s shoulder. The final score came after a lengthy review of what was initially called a goal by Notre Dame’s Kyle Lawson. Replay officials ruled Lawson had kicked the puck into the net, an illegal score. The Eagles scored again just 35 seconds later to clinch the outcome.
Championship Arizona St. 11, Texas A&M 0 Arizona State emphatically claimed its first Women’s College World Series crown June 3 by sweeping Texas A&M in the best-of-three final. Behind the four-hit pitching of Katie Burkhart and a thunderous offensive display, the Sun Devils clinched the championship with an 11-0 win over the Aggies in Oklahoma City. It is the 21st time in the 27-year history of the event that a team from the Pacific-10 Conference has lifted the trophy at the end. Burkhart threw back-to-back shutouts for the Sun Devils, who finished the year 66-5. She limited Texas A&M to only two hits in a 3-0 victory in the first game of the championship series. Arizona State supported Burkhart’s effort with plenty of offense. The Sun Devils took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning, and junior centerfielder Kaitlin Cochran broke the game open with a three-run homer in the fifth. Arizona State added seven runs in the seventh, including a home run by second baseman Mindy Cowles.
National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Team Results 1st: Georgia, 197 .450 2nd: Utah, 197 .125 3rd: Stanford, 196 .750 Georgia’s Gym Dogs won their fourth consecutive National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics team title in their home gym April 25, taking the lead after the first rotation and never looking back. Georgia is tied with Utah for most NCAA titles with nine. Georgia began the meet on the floor, earning its highest score of the four disciplines, a 49.475. Katie Heenan led the team with a 9.95 in the event, followed by teammates Cassidy McComb and Tiffany Tolnay, who both earned a 9.900. The Gym Dogs also turned in strong performances in the vault, including McComb’s 9.900, her highest-scoring vault of the postseason. Georgia was clinging to a slight edge over then-second-place Stanford at the meet’s midway point. After their bye rotation, the first two Gym Dogs on the bars turned in less-than-stellar performances, but the team was saved by career-best performances from McComb and Courtney McCool.
Team Results 1st: Oklahoma, 363.200 2nd: Stanford, 362.750 3rd: Illinois, 359.750 National Collegiate men’s Gymnastics Down nearly two points to top-seeded Stanford with two competitors to go in the final rotation, the Oklahoma men’s gymnastics team finished strong on rings to win the school’s eighth team title April 18 at Stanford. The Sooners’ final two competitors on rings were senior co-captains Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons and former all-around champion Jonathan Horton. Abdullah-Simmons gave the team a chance to win with a 15.400, and Horton delivered a career performance that earned a 16.100 to earn his team the title. “That was the first rings routine I’ve ever done where at the end I wasn’t tired at all because I had so much adrenaline going,” Horton said. “It was just so much fun to be up there in that handstand before my dismount, just thinking, ‘I’m going to stick this. I’m going to give our team a shot.’ ”
Division I Women’s Rowing Team results 1st: Brown, 67 2nd: Washington, 59 3rd: California, 53 The Brown Bears successfully defended their team title at the Division I Women’s Rowing Championships June 1 at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center on Lake Natoma in Gold River, California. The Bears used third-place finishes in the I Eights and Fours, and a victory in the II Eights, to capture the program’s sixth overall championship with 67 points. The win marks the second time the Bears have claimed back-to-back championships. Brown also won consecutive titles in 1999 and 2000. Washington finished second in the team standings to equal its best finish in the championships. California, Yale and Virginia were third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Brown head coach John Murphy said the team never focused on repeating as national champion. “We go one at a time. What happened in the past is in the past and each year is a new start,” said Murphy. “You hope for the best and try your hardest. I don’t think we thought about whether it is hard to do or not. We strive to be the best each and every time we get on the water.”
DI Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Team Results 1st: LSU, 67 2nd: Arizona St., 63 3rd: Texas A&M, 48 LSU rallied from 31 points behind defending champion Arizona State on the next-to-last day of competition, then survived the Sun Devils’ dominance of the throws and Jacquelyn Johnson’s historic fourth win in the heptathlon to claim its first team title since 2003. The Lady Tigers battled to a tie with Arizona State after 20 of the meet’s 21 events, then finished five seconds faster and four points better than the Sun Devils in the 1,600-meter relay to claim their 14th outdoor title but first under coach Dennis Shaver. Kelly-Ann Baptiste provided key points in the comeback, winning the 100-meter dash. Then, with the team title on the line on the last day of the meet, she made only her second 1,600-meter relay appearance this season and beat the 52-second mark in circling the track on the second leg as LSU finished just a half-second behind winner Penn State in posting a season-best time in the event.
DI men’s Outdoor Track and Field Team Results 1st: Florida St., 52 2nd: LSU and Auburn, 44 Thanks largely to senior Walter Dix’s victory in his final collegiate race, the 200-meter dash, Florida State outpaced LSU and Auburn for a third straight team title. LSU pressured Florida State with victories in the 400-meter relay and by Richard Thompson in the 100-meter dash – races in which Florida State coped with an injury to a key relay-team member and then hoped against hope that Dix might find enough speed just five weeks after returning from a hamstring injury to repeat as champion in the 100. As things turned out, Dix managed only a fourth-place finish in that race. But Dix’s surprise appearance as a member of the relay team helped Florida State salvage points it otherwise feared losing after team captain Charles Clark dropped out of the lineup due to a hamstring injury. Then, needing 11 points in the 200-meter dash to clinch the title, Florida State got not just 10 from Dix’s victory – the seventh individual championship of his career – but the crucial final point from none other than Clark, who worked through his injury to finish the race.
National Collegiate Women’s Bowling Semifinals Arkansas St. 4, New Jersey City 3 Md.-East. Shore 4, Vanderbilt 3 Championship Md.-East. Shore 4, Arkansas St. 2 Maryland-Eastern Shore’s victory was historic for two reasons: It was the school’s first NCAA national title in any sport, and it also made Hawks’ head coach Sharon Brummell the first woman and first African-American to lead a team to the title since the NCAA established the championship in 2004. “Somebody told me I was the first woman to win a championship,” Brummell said. “We’ve been to all five championships and finally a woman wins. It’s a wonderful feeling, it really is.” Fresh off a come-from-behind semifinal victory over defending national champion Vanderbilt earlier in the day, Maryland-Eastern Shore once again worked from behind in the title match. Arkansas State took a 2-1 lead after Marissa Martinek rolled two consecutive strikes in the 10th frame, but the Hawks – the 2007 runner-up – won the final three games.
National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Semifinals Southern California 10, Stanford 6 UCLA 11, UC Davis 4 THIRD-PLACE GAME Stanford 15, UC Davis 8 Championship UCLA 6, Southern California 3 UCLA’s women’s water polo team won the school’s 101st national title May 10, defeating Southern California, 6-3, at Stanford’s Avery Aquatics Center. It also was the women’s water polo team fourth consecutive NCAA crown. The Bruins finished the season undefeated at 33-0. Seniors Gabrielle Domanic, Brittany Rowe, Courtney Mathewson, Jillian Kraus and Kamaile Crowell won national titles in each of their four seasons of competition. UCLA relied on its defense to defeat the Trojans (21-8) in the title game, allowing them to score on just two of 12 power-play opportunities. The Bruins capitalized on their own 6-on-5 matchups, scoring twice on power plays in the first period. UCLA jumped to a three-goal lead on scores from Tanya Gandy, Mathewson and Domanic before Southern California’s Veronika Bartunkova scored her 50th goal of the year with less than two minutes to go in the first.
Team Results 1st: UCLA, 297-293-298-306 -- 1,194 2nd: Stanford, 309-288-296-302 -- 1,195 3rd: Southern California, 297-294-300-305 -- 1,196 Individual results 1st: Kevin Chappell, UCLA, 69-73-68-76 -- 286 2nd: Nick Taylor, Washington, 75-66-73-75 -- 289; and Jorge Campillo, Indiana, 75-70-72-72 -- 289 UCLA claimed the Division I Men’s Golf Championships team title May 31 with a one-stroke victory, the first men’s golf title for the Bruins since 1988. UCLA shot a final-round 306 on Purdue’s Kampen Course to edge Pacific-10 Conference rival Stanford, which shot the field’s best round on the last day with a 302. Southern California completed the top-three sweep for the Pac-10, coming in two strikes behind the Bruins at 44-over-par. Ten-time champion Oklahoma State and Clemson rounded out the top five team finishers. UCLA benefited from the standout play of senior Kevin Chappell, who won the individual championship with a two-under par 286. Chappell was the only participant with two sub-70 rounds and finished three strokes ahead of Indiana junior Jorge Campillo and Washington sophomore Nick Taylor.
Team Results 1st: Southern California, 284-300-295-289 – 1,168 2nd: UCLA, 289-295-298-292 – 1,174 3rd: Duke, 299-300-300-281 – 1,180 Individual standings 1st: *Azahara Munoz, Arizona St., 69-72-73-73 – 287; and Tiffany Joh, UCLA, 74-69-72-72 – 287 3rd: Garrett Phillips, Georgia, 71-74-71-73 – 289 *Won playoff Southern California started on top, played steady in the middle and finished strong to win the Division I Women’s Golf Championships team title at the University of New Mexico Golf Course in Albuquerque May 23. It was the second national championship for the program and first since 2003. The Trojans began the final round with a three-stroke lead over UCLA and played well enough to gain some breathing room en route to a six-stroke victory over the Bruins. Three-time defending champion Duke placed third, 12 strokes behind the Trojans at 28-over par. Arizona State junior Azahara Munoz claimed medalist honors with a 1-under 287. Munoz topped UCLA’s Tiffany Joh in a playoff-hole tiebreaker to emerge as the winner. The Spanish-born Munoz is the ninth Sun Devil golfer to win the individual title and first since Grace Park did it in 1999.
Semifinals Northwestern 16, Syracuse 8 Penn 9, Duke 8 (ot) Championship Northwestern 10, Penn 6 Northwestern continued to prove that teams from other than the Northeast can dominate women’s lacrosse. The Wildcats won their fourth consecutive championship May 25, beating Penn, 10-6, at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Maryland. Northwestern, which finished the season 21-1, retaliated for the lone blemish on its record – the Quakers won the two teams’ previous matchup, 11-7, in April. The Wildcats were led by juniors Hannah Nielsen and Hilary Bowen, who both scored three goals. Bowen, named the championship’s most outstanding player, tied the tournament record with 17 goals in four games. Penn scored the first goal of the game, but Northwestern netted four unanswered scores and never lost the lead again. Late in the first half with the score 5-2, goalkeeper Morgan Lathrop saved a free shot attempt by the Quakers’ Rachel Manson, deflecting the shot just as time expired. The Quakers scored the first goal of the second half, but Northwestern answered with three consecutive goals, including one by senior Christy Finch, who won a championship each of her four seasons.
Semifinals Syracuse 12, Virginia 11 (ot) Johns Hopkins 10, Duke 9 Championship Syracuse 13, Johns Hopkins 10 After a heartbreaking season in 2007, Syracuse became just the second team to claim the Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship a year after missing the tournament completely, beating Johns Hopkins, 13-10. The game was played May 26 before an NCAA-record crowd of 48,970 fans at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Dan Hardy scored three goals and was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. Mike Leveille scored a goal and two assists against Johns Hopkins, extending his point streak to 57 consecutive games. The Orange defense was smothering, forcing 23 turnovers and allowing only one goal in five extra-man opportunities. Johns Hopkins managed a 4-2 first-quarter lead, but Syracuse scored six of the next seven goals. The Orange held a 6-5 advantage at halftime and then added the first two scores of the third frame.
Team Semifinals California 4, Baylor 3 UCLA 4, Florida 2 Team Championship Match UCLA 4, California 0 Singles Championship Match Amanda McDowell, Georgia Tech, def. Zuzana Zemenova, Baylor, 6-2, 6-3 Doubles championship match Tracey Lin-Riza Zalameda, UCLA, def. Melanie Gloria-Tinesta Rowe, Fresno St., 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 UCLA secured a women’s tennis national championship trophy for the first time in program history after defeating Pacific-10 Conference rival California, 4-0, at the 2008 Division I Women’s Tennis Championships May 20 at Tulsa’s Michael D. Case Tennis Center. It was the Bruins’ fifth overall and second straight appearance in the national title match. The win marked UCLA’s 102nd NCAA championship. Riza Zalameda, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Senior Player of the Year, one half of the top doubles tandem in the nation and the tournament’s most outstanding player, helped UCLA secure the doubles point and an early 1-0 lead in the championship match. She then rallied from a set down at No. 1 singles to clinch the championship for the Bruins. Zalameda and Tracey Lin, the top-seeded doubles team in the tournament, lived up to the billing as they became the sixth UCLA tandem to capture the doubles title with a three-set victory over second-seeded Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe from Fresno State. In singles action, Georgia Tech sophomore Amanda McDowell captured the title with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Zuzana Zemenova of Baylor.
Team Semifinals Georgia 4, Virginia 3 Texas 4, UCLA 2 Team Championship MATCH Georgia 4, Texas 2 Singles Championship Match Somdev Devvarman, Virginia, def. J.P. Smith, Tennessee, 6-3, 6-2 Doubles championship match Robert Farah-Kaes Van’t Hof, Southern California, def. Jonas Berg-Erling Tveit, Mississippi, 7-6 (10), 7-6 (6) Georgia became the first back-to-back Division I men’s tennis champion in a decade when the Bulldogs defeated Texas, 4-2, in the title match at Tulsa’s Michael D. Case Tennis Center May 20. In claiming the program’s sixth title, Georgia became the sixth school to earn consecutive championships. The last school to do so was Stanford, which won four straight from 1995 to 1998. For the second straight match, the Bulldogs played from behind. Georgia dropped the doubles point and the No. 6 singles match, which featured a straight-sets victory for Texas’ Miguel Reyes Varela over Christian Vitulli. Senior co-captain Luis Flores’ three-set win over Ed Corrie gave the Bulldogs their first lead, 3-2. Georgia co-captain Travis Helgeson, battling from the No. 1 singles spot, dropped the first set against Dimitar Kutrovsky, but rallied to claim the 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory and the national title. The Southern California tandem of Robert Farah and Kaes Van’t Hof won a closely contested doubles championship over Mississippi’s Jonas Berg and Erling Tveit May 26. Farah and Van’t Hof became the first Trojans duo to claim the doubles championship since 1989 and the fifth Southern California tandem to capture an NCAA title. In singles action, Virginia’s Somdev Devvarman won his second straight NCAA individual title with a 6-3, 6-2, victory over Tennessee’s J.P. Smith, the first unseeded player to reach the final since Virginia’s Brian Vahaly in 2001. Devvarman, Virginia’s career leader in singles victories, finished with a 44-1 singles record on the year. Fresno State ended up winning the battle of the Bulldogs. Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos
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