In the Summer Issue of The Bootleg Magazine, we released the 30 finalists for The Bootleg Honor
Roll award for the 2004/2005 school-year.
The criteria are as follows:
Each academic year, The Bootleg’s Honor Roll will recognize the top ten Stanford student-athletes
who have performed at an exceptional level, with athletic accomplishments that are both extraordinary and inspirational. While achieving athletic success, these athletes should also have
displayed uncommon leadership, sportsmanship and respect towards their fellow teammates and opponents. Finally, these
honorees’ performances and actions should also demonstrate their love for their particular sport as well as their school
pride, the famed “Spirit of Stanford.”
During the month of August, we will be releasing the 10 winners of this
prestigious award, one by one. We previously have recognized
Tony Azevedo,
Alice Barnes,
Nicole Barnhart,
Caroline Bruce,
Gary Marshall,
Erica McLain and
Ogonna Nnamani amongst
this year's winners. Our eighth announced member of the The Bootleg's
2004-05 Honor Roll is men's track & field performer Michael Robertson.
Lyndon Johnson was President and the Beatles ruled the day the last time
Stanford won the NCAA title in discus. At the 2005 NCAA Championships in
Sacramento, junior transfer Michael Robertson's discus didn't just slice through
over 200 feet of air. A mighty throw ended a 40-year drought in Stanford
track history.
Robertson
captured the national crown when his toss of 202-5 beat India's 2004 Olympian
and North Carolina student Vikas Gowda by over five feet. Robertson's
winning distance equaled the school record and personal best he set earlier in
the season. Robertson's performance also had an impact on the team
standings, as Stanford's eighth NCAA discus champion, but the first since 1965,
led the Cardinal to a seventh-place overall finish.
Robertson's NCAA victory followed an entire season of sustained excellence.
Just before the NCAA Championships, his effort of 201-0 won the NCAA West Track
& Field Regionals by over ten feet. Perhaps the extent to which Robertson
has distanced himself from his opponents was best demonstrated at the Pac-10
Championships. Though Robertson threw just 192-7, nearly 10 feet off his
PR, he still claimed Stanford's first conference discus championship in 40
years.
Robertson became the NCAA Champion by continually improving throughout the
course of the season. Consider the Mt. SAC Relays and the Pomona-Pitzer
Invitational, just two days apart. One of Robertson's initial tosses on
the weekend set a personal best, but the thrower had just begun. By the
time the weekend ended, Robertson had set an unbelievable five PRs and was named
the Pac-10 Athlete of the Week for his remarkable demonstration of sustained
improvement.
Stanford is the latest successful stop for Robertson, who is majoring in
Economics on the Farm. He was a two-time All-American and placed third at
the 2004 NCAA Championships while enrolled at Southern Methodist University.
However, the Mustangs dropped their men's track & field program after the
conclusion of that 2004 season, so Robertson was immediately eligible to compete
when he transferred to Stanford. Before attending SMU, the Beebe, Arkansas
native was a four-time high school state champion and the 2002 U.S. Junior
National champion.
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