Oct. 29, 2004

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Stephanie Rothstein never balked at an uphill challenge.

In an upset, she won last year's Big West Conference women's cross country championship in San Luis Obispo with an exhausting assault of one of the league's steepest courses.

"She's the toughest competitor out there," said coach Pete Dolan, who will take his 16th-ranked Gauchos to Riverside on Saturday for this year's Big West meet. "She's the one who brought our team together. She's the glue."

So Dolan couldn't believe it when he sent his team on a training run shortly after its breakthrough, third-place finish at the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota.

Stephanie Rothstein, of all people, was coming unglued.

"Halfway through the run, she just pulled up," he recalled. "All she told me was, 'Pete, I have to go.' "

And off she went. It was almost for good.

She'd been running for the last three years to honor the memory of her late father, James, who had died of prostate cancer at age 55.

Just a few months after his death, Stephanie Rothstein stunned the Arizona running world by finishing second in the 1,600 meters at the state high school track and field championships.

"She always tells us that she feels his presence when she runs," said Gaucho teammate Rebecca Zamolo. "She says that's what helps her do so well."

James Rothstein had encouraged his daughter to attend the best college possible, even if it meant costlier, out-of-state tuition.

"He said he'd always take care of her," said Dolan.

That thought carried her through the gut-wrenching hills of San Luis Obispo last fall. And when Stephanie crossed the finish line in first place, she looked up into the sky and declared, "I can't believe it dad!"

"I knew he was there," she said. "It was amazing."

But her father really wasn't there to take care of her anymore. That point finally hit home a few weeks ago when her mounting educational debt reached a breaking point.

"My mom said she'd do whatever she could to get me through it, and it was enough for my freshman and sophomore years," said Rothstein, who worked two summer jobs to help foot part of this year's tuition, room and board. "But when she went this year to apply for a parent loan, it was denied."

It was the last in a series of indignities heaped upon Joan Rothstein. She first learned that her late husband's business had gone broke. Then she was forced to sell her home in Tempe, Ariz., and move into a one-bedroom apartment.

"We went there once on a road trip, when she hosted a team dinner for us, and it was just a beautiful, big house," said Dolan.

Joan Rothstein, informed that her poverty-level income made her too big a risk for a parent loan, called her daughter with the bad news: She couldn't help with her fall-quarter bill at UCSB -- and she should think about coming home.

"We had just come back from the meet in Minnesota when she told me," said Stephanie. "I went from the highest high to the lowest low. I can't even put it into words."

The thought of leaving her "UCSB family" began to tear Rothstein apart.

"We're so close," she said, "sometimes I'll be sitting on the team bus, just wondering if every team out there is like this. I couldn't imagine running for any other team."

The Gauchos had excelled this year by running together in tight packs. There were the Christman twins, Lauren and Lindsay; and seniors Cosette Smith and Desiree Leek; and sophomores Megan Lewis and Hadas Moser. And then there was Stephanie, pushing and prodding her teammates at every practice, and every meet.

"She's the one you always go to for advice," said Zamolo.

But now she had no answers for herself. She had already maxed out on her student loans and grants for this year. The combined debt of Joan and Stephanie Rothstein was approaching $40,000, not including the money she had borrowed from her three brothers. The earnings from her two summer jobs, meanwhile, had all but evaporated.

"I was out of options," she said. And it finally hit her during Dolan's training run.

"I had never had a mental breakdown with running before," Rothstein said, "but literally, I felt the weight of it all throughout my entire body."

Later that day, Stephanie told her coach and teammates that she would probably have to drop out of school. It sent a shudder throughout the entire team.

"We wouldn't be where we are without her," said Zamolo, who trained with Rothstein last summer. "She's the reason we made nationals last year.

"She brings so much passion and so much heart to the sport, and she's brought us along with her. Stephanie is like a sister to us."

Her teammates soon began devising ways to keep her at UCSB.

"They told me they'd do a car wash every day in my name," said Rothstein, her voice cracking at the thought. "They said they would print and sell a bunch of 'Save Steph' T-shirts. They care so much."

Dolan, who has five scholarships at his disposal for a sport in which the NCAA allows up to 18, approached it from other angles.

"Cunningham said he'd help," he said, referring to UCSB athletic director Gary Cunningham. "We were able to add to her scholarship because of her financial need, which we documented. She got a job at Woodstock's (pizza parlor) to get some food money.

"It should at least get her through this quarter."

And after that?

"It's a mystery," Rothstein said through a sad smile.

Dolan told her he'd understand if she transfers: "I can see it from a dad's point of view -- I wouldn't want her to leave here in two years with more than $100,000 in debt."

But he's hoping that somehow, perhaps through fund-raising for additional scholarships, that he'll be able to keep Rothstein for another year.

"This is an amazing group, they really do run for each other," said Dolan. "They look out for each other."

And they don't want to see her go.