Cardinal Athletics
Stanford’s success in 2020-21 was impressive, considering the abbreviated seasons experienced by many of its programs due to the COVID-19 global pandemic and accompanying county restrictions.
The Cardinal extended one of the most recognizable streaks in college athletics, winning at least one NCAA team championship for the 45th straight season, the longest such streak in the country.
The NCAA titles came from women’s basketball, which edged Arizona 54-53 for its first national championship since 1992, and men’s gymnastics, which defended its NCAA crown to win for the seventh time in school history.
Stanford also added a third national championship, with synchronized swimming capturing its ninth title in program history and first since 2016 while hosting the event at Avery Aquatic Center.
Stanford completed a sweep of the Capital One Cup, matching its dual victory achievement from 2017-18 and remaining the only school to claim both the men’s and women’s titles in the same season.
Stanford nearly repeated its 2017-18 success and made it a clean sweep of all three national awards, but finished second in a tight race behind Texas in the final Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup standings. The Cardinal, which totaled 1195.75 points behind Texas’ 1252, had previously captured the Directors’ Cup for 25 consecutive seasons from 1995 through 2019, following a runner-up finish to North Carolina in 1993-94.
Varsity Sports at Stanford
In the 2021–22 academic year, Stanford has 36 varsity sports—20 for women, 16 for men (sailing is a co-ed sport). In addition to its varsity sports, Stanford Athletics supports campus-wide physical education academic classes, fitness and wellness, aquatics, intramurals, adventure programming and 33 club sports.
Women’s Varsity Sports
- Artistic Swimming
- Basketball
- Beach Volleyball
- Cross Country
- Fencing
- Field Hockey
- Golf
- Gymnastics
- Lacrosse
- Lightweight Rowing
- Rowing
- Sailing
- Soccer
- Softball
- Squash
- Swimming and Diving
- Tennis
- Track and Field
- Volleyball
- Water Polo
Men’s Varsity Sports
- Baseball
- Basketbal
- Cross Country
- Fencing
- Football
- Golf
- Gymnastics
- Rowing
- Sailing
- Soccer
- Swimming and Diving
- Tennis
- Track and Field
- Volleyball
- Water Polo
- Wrestling
Home of Champions
- Total National championships: 155
- National NCAA team championships: 128
- NCAA Team Championships since 2000: 52
- Stanford scholar athletes who have been Rhodes Scholars: 12
- Olympic medals won by 177 Stanford-affiliated athletes: 296
- Individual national champions: 609
- Individual NCAA champions: 531
- Consecutive years with at least one NCAA championships: 45