Spring Champions In the past weeks a host of NCAA titlists have been crowned. Here's a look at the winners

LACROSSE

Men's Champion VIRGINIA
Women's Champion PRINCETON

Move over, Ralph Sampson and Tiki Barber: Virginia's newest
sports hero is lacrosse goalie Tillman Johnson. The junior's 13
saves, many of them spectacular, helped seal the Cavaliers' 9-7
win over Johns Hopkins on May 26 in the NCAA championship game in
Baltimore. A week earlier in Syracuse the Virginia women had come
close to securing their own lacrosse glory. The Cavaliers held
leads of 3-0 and 6-4 before Princeton stormed back with four of
the game's final five goals. Junior midfielder Theresa Sherry's
game-winner with 1:29 left in overtime handed the Tigers their
second straight title.

SOFTBALL

Champion UCLA

UCLA went from the loser's bracket to the winner's circle in
Oklahoma City to capture its ninth NCAA championship. After the
Bruins dropped their tournament opener 7-3 to Cal, they won four
straight to reach the May 26 title game. In a rematch with the
Bears, UCLA junior All-America Keira Goerl threw a no-hitter and
senior Toria Auelua drove in the game's lone run in the ninth
inning for the championship. "What we've been able to do," Bruins
coach Sue Enquist said, "[is] pick ourselves up after we shoot
ourselves in the foot, and that's a huge quality to have." Goerl,
the Bruins' alltime leader in wins (99), finished with a 0.60
tournament ERA and earned Most Outstanding Player honors.

ROWING

Men's Champion HARVARD
Women's Champion RADCLIFFE

The men's heavyweight and lightweight eights of Harvard powered
to victory on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J., in the
Intercollegiate Rowing Association regatta on May 31, helping
heavyweight coach Harry Parker to his 15th national title. With a
time of 5:43.41 the Crimson heavyweights outpaced strong boats
from Washington, Cal and Wisconsin to win the Varsity Challenge
Cup's Grand Final and maintain a perfect record for the season;
the lightweights clocked in at 5:54.94 to win their event. Not to
be outdone, the Black and White of Radcliffe edged defending
champion Brown 59-57 that same weekend to win the NCAA women's
title, contested at Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis.
Radcliffe's victory over Michigan in the Grand Final of the
varsity eight, by 1.66 seconds, gave the Black and White a
36-point boost, enough for them to hoist the trophy.

GOLF

Men's Champion CLEMSON
Women's Champion USC

In 95° temperatures on May 30, top-ranked Clemson withstood the
heat of host Oklahoma State to win its first national title. The
Tigers entered the final round of the NCAA tournament with a
one-stroke lead on the Cowboys, but Clemson senior D.J. Trahan
shot a team-best two-over-par 74 and sophomore Jack Ferguson
parred the 18th to seal a two-stroke victory. "It was probably
the hardest golf round we've ever had to play," Clemson coach
Larry Penley said. Arizona State's Alejandro Canizares, son of
veteran pro Jose Maria Canizares, took the men's individual title
with a 287. A week earlier the women's individual and team titles
both went to USC. Senior Mikaela Parmlid's four-round 297 at
Purdue led the field and paced the Women of Troy to a 15-stroke
win over Pepperdine and their first national title.

TENNIS

Men's Champion ILLINOIS
Women's Champion FLORIDA

Unlike Funny Cide, the Illinois men's tennis team succeeded in
turning 2003 into a Triple Crown year, winning the singles,
doubles and team titles at Georgia on the last weekend in May.
The unbeaten Illini downed Vanderbilt 4-3 for their first team
championship. Junior Amer Delic was not broken in defeating
Baylor's Benedikt Dorsch 6-4, 6-3 for the singles crown, and
freshman Rajeev Ram and junior Brian Wilson outlasted San Diego
State's Oliver Maiberger and Ryan Redondo in three sets in
doubles. That same weekend Stanford's fifth-seeded freshman,
Amber Liu, upset Tennessee's Vilmarie Castellvi 7-6, 6-2 for the
women's singles title, but the two-time defending-champion
Cardinal surrendered their crown to Florida 4-3 on the Gators'
home court. Cal's Christina Fusano and Raquel Kops-Jones beat
Kentucky's Sara Witten and Amy Trefethen 6-1, 6-2 for the
national doubles championship.

WATER POLO

Women's Champion UCLA

Revenge can hurt--just ask Jaime Hipp. UCLA's senior goalie has
endured two right and two left rotator-cuff surgeries and, most
recently, a hip operation. The reward? A chance to turn the
tables on defending NCAA champ Stanford. The Cardinal defeated
the Bruins 3-2 in seven overtimes for the Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation title on April 27, but two weeks later UCLA won the
national title with a 4-3, come-from-behind victory over Stanford
in La Jolla, Calif. The Cardinal led 2-0 at the half, but Bruins
freshman Kelly Rulon rocketed a shot past standout goalie Jackie
Frank in the third period to ignite UCLA. Said Hipp, who finished
with six saves, "At UCLA we say, 'Pain is temporary; Bruin pride
is forever.'"

VOLLEYBALL

Men's Champion LEWIS

When a team hails from a town called Romeoville, the storyline
ought to be romantic. Enter the daring prince, a 6'4" outside
hitter from Mexico named Gustavo Meyer, whose 21 kills against
BYU led Division II Lewis University (of Romeoville, Ill.) to a
dramatic five-set victory and a fairy-tale ending in the national
championship match on May 3 in Long Beach, Calif. The
4,400-student Catholic university became the first non-Division I
school to win the NCAA title. Said Flyers second-team All-America
Ryan Stuntz, "You couldn't write it any better as a Cinderella
story."

TRACK & FIELD

Men's Champion ARKANSAS
Women's Champion LSU

Championship tension can make a guy weak in the knees. "My legs
were jelly," said Arkansas junior Alistair Cragg after last
week's track and field title meet in Sacramento. "It's the first
time I've let pressure get to me like that." While the pressure
may have gotten to him, his competitors didn't. Cragg ran a
13:47.87 to win the 5,000 meters, giving the Razorbacks the 10
points they needed to beat Auburn for their 10th team outdoor
title. The LSU women, despite winning only the 4¥100-meter relay,
handed coach Pat Henry his 25th NCAA championship. The Lady
Tigers had 64 points, 14 more than second-place Texas. Defending
champ South Carolina finished third thanks to senior Aleen
Bailey's sweep of the 100 (11.18 seconds) and 200 (22.65). The
pressure will be palpable again this weekend at the U.S.
nationals at Stanford.

COLOR PHOTO: SIMON BRUTY (TOP) CAVALIER CHEER Sophomore Hunter Kass (28) and his mates reveledin their first title since 1999.

COLOR PHOTO: CHUCK SOLOMON TOP TIGER Tourney MVP Rachael Becker anchored the D.

COLOR PHOTO: DARREN CARROLL GOERL POWER The Bruins junior fanned 44 in 47 tournament inningsand threw UCLA's first title-game no-hitter.

COLOR PHOTO: DARREN CARROLL JUST A BLUR Vicky Galindo and the Bears couldn't touch Goerl'shigh-60s heat.

COLOR PHOTO: CHUCK SOLOMON (TOP) CRIMSON TIDE Harvard's varsity eight win helped earn the team'scoach his 15th national title.

COLOR PHOTO: DAMIAN STROHMEYER PULL PARTY The Radcliffe women matched Harvard's championshipstroke.

COLOR PHOTO: FRED VUICH (PARMLID) IN GOOD STANDING USC's Parmlid (near right) and Arizona State'sCanizares won individual titles.

COLOR PHOTO: DARREN CARROLL [See caption above]

COLOR PHOTO: DARREN CARROLL KISSABLE Clemson's Ferguson and Trahan shared the love.

COLOR PHOTO: GARY BOGDON (LIU) SMASH HIT Stanford's Liu, the national player of the year,blasted her way to the women's singles crown.

COLOR PHOTO: BILL FRAKES MARTINIZED Chris Martin's singles win sealed Illinois's title.

COLOR PHOTO: BILL FRAKES LAND OF LINKIN' Wilson (right) teamed with Ram for a vital Illinidoubles victory.

COLOR PHOTO: ROBERT BECK WET WORK Hipp's six saves kept the Bruins afloat.

COLOR PHOTO: ROBERT BECK GIANT KILLER Kevin Miller helped Lewis spike BYU.

COLOR PHOTO: BILL FRAKES BATON D'OR Lolo Jones (231) and Monique Hall helped LSU strikegold in the 4x100 relay.

COLOR PHOTO: BILL FRAKES HOG HEAVEN Arkansas's Dan Lincoln won the steeplechase.