Sports Shorts
JO WATER POLO
Third time is a charm
ATHLETE HURT . . . The Sacred Heart Prep girls’ cross-country team made some great strides last season with the help of Courtney Schrier. The Gators, however, will have to compete this season without Schrier, who was seriously injured in an accident last week in Atherton. According to SHP coach Marisa Beck, Schrier was out on a run by herself on Tuesday, July 26. She was almost home and crossing in a crosswalk on El Camino Real and Alejandra Avenue when she was hit by a car. Despite being in the crosswalk and being waved on by other drivers, another car came out of nowhere to hit Schrier. She was thrown into the air before hitting the ground and losing consciousness. “There were maybe witnesses who came to her side and stayed with her until the paramedics came,” Beck said in a statement. “She was taken to Stanford Hospital and has been receiving great care there.” Beck said that Schrier has a fractured pelvis, a possible punctured lung as well as other fractures (a broken tailbone), but the pelvis is the biggest concern. Schrier was second team all league in cross country and in track and field last year as a sophomore. She helped the Gators win the West Bay Athletic League cross-country title for the first time by finishing 13th. “This was a horrible accident,” wrote SHP Athletic Director Frank Rodriguez, who noted that there is no stop light or flashing crosswalk to notify drivers of crossing pedestrians at El Camino and Alejandra. “Witness accounts said that the car that hit Courtney in the crosswalk didn’t break and knocked her 10 feet into the air. “Any of us who have driven El Camino have seen near-misses in these crosswalks, where a couple of cars stop and wave the pedestrian through, but the cars in the fast (left) lane don’t stop.
Saturday Swimming: U.S. National Championships from Stanford, 1 p.m., NBC (taped)
Sunday Swimming: U.S. National Championships from Stanford, 2 p.m., NBC (taped)
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f he wasn’t before, Brian Kreutzkamp is a firm believer that, yes, a third time indeed can be a charm. It was only a few weeks ago that his Stanford Water Polo Club Red
Philip Bamberg and head coach Brian Kreutzkamp take the plunge after their Stanford Water Polo Club Red 18U team won the Platinum Division gold medal at the SwimOutlet.com Junior Olympics on Tuesday in Irvine.
18U boys’ team was playing in the US Club Championships in Moraga. Stanford had reached the championship match against Regency of Southern California. “They destroyed us,” Kreutzkamp recalled. “They beat us by five goals, but it could have been worse. They just crushed us.” Fast forward to Monday’s fifth match of the 2011 SwimOutlet.com Junior Olympics in Orange County. Stanford once again put an unbeaten record on the line against Regency, a team with a core of players from private school power Mater Dei. Stanford lost again, 9-6. “We were within a goal in the fourth quarter,” Kreutzkamp explained. “We had a chance.” The important thing, Kreutzkamp said, was that his team improved from the club championships to Monday. “Each game we got closer,” he (continued on page 31)
STANFORD FOOTBALL
The David Shaw era is officially under way With Luck back for a final season, Cardinal starts out with high expectations and lots to accomplish in Pac-12 by Rick Eymer arly warning system: the college football season is about to get started and that means all kind of talk about Stanford, its quarterback, first-year head coach, the post-Orange Bowl era and the brand new, sparkling alignment that is the Pac-12. Stanford players officially reported Friday and will take the field for the first time Monday with David Shaw blowing the whistle as the head man, his first stint as the man in charge after a lifetime of achievement as a player and coach’s son. The Cardinal is expected to begin the season as one of the top five ranked
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teams in the nation, an honor hoisted upon the team thanks in large part to its dominating victory over Virginia Tech in January, with a major supporting role going to Andrew Luck, the Heisman Trophy favorite. Luck put his education ahead of monetary value when he declined to throw his name into the hat for last year’s NFL draft. He was expected to be the first player chosen. He really never was a serious candidate to declare for the draft. Luck was almost forced into making a statement regarding his final year at Stanford after the bowl victory because (continued on page 30)
Don Feria/stanfordphoto.com
ON THE AIR
by Keith Peters
Keith Simon
OF LOCAL NOTE . . . A remarkable season by the Palo Alto 93 Blue U-18 boys’ soccer team came to an end last Friday night following a 1-1 deadlock with the KCFC Rangers of Kansas City (Mo.) at the US Youth Soccer National Championship Series in Phoenix, Ariz. Palo Alto came into the four-team, round-robin tourney with the nation’s No. 1 ranking for its age division. It also held a victory over defending national champ Alpharetta (Ga.) from earlier in the season. That still wasn’t enough for 93 Blue as it managed only three goals in three matches while finishing 0-1-2 while sharing the bronze medal with Kansas City.
Stanford 18s win gold medal after two losses to rival
First-year Stanford head coach David Shaw (left) is glad to have Heisman Trophy candidate Andrew Luck at his side.