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Led by seniors Josh Zupancic and Tanner Gardner, we
split the first two Pac-10 duals. We came up short in
an exciting battle with Boise State, 21-15, but ended on
a good note, topping UC Davis for the first time since
2004, 30-9.
Zupancic defeated the top-ranked wrestler in the
Pac-10, and added a technical fall in his second match.
Gardner picked up two wins, including his 14th pin of the
year.
The first dual played out in a series of tight
decisions, with seven of nine bouts determined by three
points or less.
With Boise State up 9-0, Gardner halted the Bronco
momentum. The defending Pac-10 Champion earn a fall in
5:35. The pin was Gardner's 14th of the year, matching the
career-best total he racked up last season.
In the most anticipated bout of the night, Zupancic
pulled off his second win over a top-10 wrestler this
month. The Cardinal senior scored a two-point nearfall in
the third period, upending the 10th-ranked wrestler in the
nation, 3-1. Zupancic, who is No. 13 nationally, earned
his 24th win of the season.
Stanford was given a six-point boost to start the dual
with UC Davis, taking an early lead on an Aggie forfeit at
184 pounds. Johnson then padded the Cardinal lead at 197
pounds, with a 5-2 decision.
Gardner dominated a 2007 NCAA qualifier in the
125-pound bout on his way to an 11-1 major decision.
Redshirt freshman Lucas Espericueta continued to roll
with a 12-2 major decision. Zupancic then stepped in and
sealed the win for the Cardinal with a decisive 19-4
technical fall.
Miller (13-7) continued the trend, posting his first
career technical fall at 165 pounds. The sophomore scored
seven points in the first period en route to a 17-2
technical fall.
At 174 pounds, Feist battled back from an early deficit
and put an exclamation point on the Stanford win with a
9-6 decision over the 3rd ranked wrestler in the Pac 10.
We will have our first home matches of the season this
weekend. We will meet 2007 Pac-10 runner-up Cal State
Bakersfield in a 7 p.m. dual Thursday night. On Friday, we
will battle Menlo College and conference foe Portland
State in a pair of contests starting at 5 p.m. Both duals
will be held in the Ford Center.
5 duals , 4 locations, 3 days....
The Stanford wrestling team will compete in five duals
in three states in a three-day span this weekend, taking
on Drexel, Lehigh, East Stroudsburg, Princeton and Wagner
during an East Coast swing.
We will face Drexel at noon on Friday Jan 4th in
Philadelphia, Pa, then travel to Bethlehem, Pa and compete
against Lehigh at 7pm.
The first dual of the weekend will have national
implications, as Stanford's two ranked wrestlers are
slated to take on Drexel's two ranked wrestlers. At 125
pounds, fourth-ranked Gardner will battle No. 20 Steve
Mytych, the first of two returning NCAA qualifiers for the
Dragons. At 157 pounds, No. 14 Zupancic will meet No. 7
Ryan Hluschak in a rematch of last year's NCAA seventh
place match. In that bout, Zupancic claimed an 11-10
overtime victory to finish seventh.
The Cardinal then heads to
Lehigh for a 7 p.m. dual on Friday, looking to avenge last
year's 34-9 loss to the Mountain Hawks. Lehigh returns
four of its seven 2007 NCAA qualifiers. Senior
157-pounder David Nakasone is one of the team's returning
NCAA qualifiers, while junior 149-pounder Trevor Chinn
leads the squad with 10 wins on the year.
On Sunday, the Cardinal begins a full day of wrestling
with a noon dual against East Stroudsburg at Dillon Gym on
the Princeton campus. The East Stroudsburg squad is led by
sophomore heavyweight Chris Birchler's 15 wins.
The Cardinal continues action against the host
Princeton Tigers at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. The Tigers are
led by freshman 125-pounder Tony Comunale and senior
heavyweight Sam Ritter so far this year.
The weekend concludes at the New York Athletic Club in
New York City, where Stanford will square off with Wagner
College at 6 p.m. Sunday. The Seahawks are led by junior
157-pounder Sean Quinn (7-6) and senior 141-pounder Mike
Tutunjian (7-6). Tutunjian graduated from Longwood, which
is my HS Alma Mater.
This is a great opportunity for us to see some good
competition and challenge ourselves before the Pac 10 dual
season.
After the duals we will spend Monday in New York City.
Tanner Gardner wins the Cliff
Keen Invitational
Viva
Las Vegas!!!!!Tanner
Gardner continues to roll as he won is 3rd
tournament of the season. Entering
the tournament as the 2nd seed we hoped
Tanner would get a chance to face the 1st
seed, the top ranked 2007 NCAA Champion from
Nebraska.
The match up never materialized as he withdrew
from the tournament after his quarterfinal win.
Although disappointed the match up would not happen he
stayed focused and captured the championship. Overall,
Tanner dominated the field. He won 5
matches en route to the title including 2 pins and a
major decision.
For full results go to:
gostanford.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/recaps/120207aaa.html
Josh Zupancic featured in this
months Amateur wrestling News
Senior Josh Zupancic is featured in this months issue of
AWN. The article's title "Mind over Matter or Brian over
Braun? Stanford AA Zupancic Utilizes both"
Visit gostanford.com to see the article. It is located in
the Cardinal Clips section.
Matt Gentry set for Olympic trials
After a lot of preparation the time has finally arrived.
Next weekend Matt will be competing in the Olympic team
trials for Canada. He will be competing on Saturday Dec
15th. He currently sits on top of the ladder. Everyone
else will battle for a chance to challenge him in a best
of 3 series to determine the Olympian.
For more information visit mattgentry.com/blog
Things are slowing down for the next
few days while the team gets ready for finals. We will
return to action on Dec 18th at the Reno Tournament of
Champions.
Schedule Update
We have added a dual meet our east coast trip. Sunday Jan.
6th after the duals in Princeton we will be heading to NYC
to compete against Wagner College at the New York Athletic
Club . The dual will begin at approximately 6pm.
The 2007-08 season is upon us and it is going great.
We have a room full of hard working dedicated wrestlers
and it feels so good to “go to work” everyday. We began
official practices on Monday the 8th after 3 weeks of
“pre season” conditioning. This time was spent building
our conditioning base and helping the team bond as the
new were able to get to know the old. With 17 new comers
in the room, the process is still taking place.
I have attached a PDF version of our Fall Newsletter,
which will be getting mailed out soon, but I wanted to
get the info about the program out as soon as possible.
I realize some of you are not on our mailing list, so
you may not receive information through regular mail. If
you would like to be added to the list, please send me
your address.
There are a few things in the newsletter that I wanted
to point out. First, I know its short notice, but the
annual Meet the Team Tailgate is scheduled for this
Saturday, Oct 13th at 12pm. The location is different
from previous years. This year we will be located
between the pool and the baseball stadium. The area is
called “Pac 10 Plaza or Poolside Party Plaza”. This is
always a fun time where the coaches and team get to
mingle with alums and other supporters of the program.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact
me.
Also this weekend’s practices will be open to the
public. Actually all of our practices are relatively
open, but with this being reunion weekend, I like to
encourage as many alums and supporters to stop by and
see what we are up to. Practices are Friday at 3:30pm
and Saturday at 10am in the Weintz Family Wrestling room
in the basement of Arrillaga Family Sports Center.
Another event that is announced in the newsletter is our
Fall Banquet and Auction. This event was started as a
fund raiser last year, and was a big hit. This year the
event is going to be on campus so it may be a little
easier logistically for everyone planning on attending.
The event is held in conjunction with our wrestle offs
on October 27th. The wrestle offs are at 2pm and the
banquets social hour/silent auction will begin at 6pm
with dinner starting around 7pm. The theme of this
year’s banquet is “Returning All-Americans”. This is the
first time in 40 years that Stanford Wrestling has had
multiple All-American returning to compete. To help
celebrate this, we have invited all Stanford Wrestling
All-Americans to share their experiences with the team
and supporters.
If you did not receive and invitation for the banquet,
then we probably do not have your current contact
information. If you would like to be on our mailing
list, please send me your updated information.
There is a lot of additional info in the newsletter, so
I will not go on too much about it, but the last thing I
want to mention is the new structure of fund raising.
The department has done a tremendous job meeting our
needs financially. The transition from us doing all the
fund raising to Buck/Cardinal taking the bulk is such a
great thing; I cannot express how much it means to our
program. Anyone who wrestled for Stanford can attest
that having the department support the program is not
something to be taken for granted. Because of this, I
encourage you to direct your annual giving to the
Buck/Cardinal Club in the name of wrestling. If you are
considering a large gift, we would like you to direct
that towards one of our program endowments. If you have
questions or concerns about donations, please contact me
by phone or email and if I cannot answer your questions,
I will direct you to someone who can.
Again, please read the newsletter and get caught up with
the program. We have high goals for this year and I know
with your support, we will reach our goals.
2007-08 Season Outlook
Stanford
wrestling has been making a steady climb over the past
few years, reaching milestone after milestone as the
program aims to establish itself as a national
competitor and a regional powerhouse. In 2007-08, the
Cardinal has everything it needs to be successful: a
two-time Olympian head coach, two returning All-
Americans, four returning NCAA qualifiers, eight
returning starters and 17 eager newcomers. It doesn’t
get any better than this.
Two years ago, Kerry McCoy took the helm of the
Stanford wrestling program and immediately began
implementing a plan to take the Cardinal to the top. In
his first season, he returned the program to its winning
ways and helped it begin an ascent up the Pac-10 ladder.
Last season, the team made even bigger leaps. Zack
Giesen, one of McCoy’s first recruits, stormed into the
collegiate wrestling world and was named the
conference’s top freshman. Five Stanford wrestlers
placed in the Pac-10 and all five earned a spot at the
NCAA Championships. Tanner Gardner matched the school’s
single-season win record and claimed Stanford’s first
individual conference title since 2004. And for the
first time in four decades, two Cardinal wrestlers
earned All- American honors in the same season.
This year, McCoy and the athletes that made all of
that happen are ready to pick up where they left off. “I
am very excited about this season,” said McCoy. “On
paper we have one of the best teams Stanford has ever
had. We made huge strides last season and our guys have
been working hard to improve on that. It’s going to be a
great year.”
The promise for 2007-08 does not end with Stanford’s
strong foundation of returners. This year, McCoy has
landed a freshman class that has combined for nine prep
state titles. Moreover, he has added a pair of promising
new assistant coaches to his staff, former Central
Michigan standout Jason Borrelli and former Oregon State
standout Matt Ellis. McCoy is confident that the new
faces will be valuable additions to the program. “I
believe we have one of the best groups of newcomers you
can ask for,” said McCoy. “They are all committed to
being the very best at everything they do and that goes
along with what we want at Stanford. Our new assistants
bring a lot of experience and knowledge to our program.
Jason will focus on our light weights and Matt will be
working with our upper-middle weights. The energy that
they add is going to have a big impact on our success. ”
Stanford begins the 2007-08 campaign in senior
Tanner Gardner’s home state of Kansas, meeting Fort Hays
State for a dual meet on Nov. 9. The team will then
compete in two tournaments, the Central Missouri State
Open and the Fullerton Open, before taking on San
Francisco State in San Francisco on Nov. 21. The team
will return to the Las Vegas Invitational, Nov. 30-Dec.
1, where two Stanford wrestlers placed in one of the
most competitive fields in the nation last year. The
Cardinal will also return to the Reno Tournament of
Champions this season, which takes place Dec. 19. The
Cardinal heads east to start the new year, with four
duals over three days in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Stanford will compete against Drexel, Lehigh, Princeton
and East Stroudsburg University.
Pac-10 action begins on Jan. 18, when the Cardinal
will take on Boise State and UC Davis at the UC Pavilion
in Davis. Six days later, Stanford will look to defeat
2007 Pac-10 Championship runner-up Cal State
Bakersfield, taking on the Roadrunners in its first home
dual of the year. Just a day later, the Cardinal will
face Menlo College and Portland State on home turf.
Stanford continues conference action the first two
weekends of February, taking on Oregon, defending Pac-10
Champion Oregon State, Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton
on the road. The regular season concludes in Tempe,
Ariz., when the Cardinal meets Arizona State.
This year’s Pac-10 Championships will be hosted by
the University of Oregon in Eugene, Mar. 2-3. The 2008
NCAA Championships will be held Mar. 20-22 in St. Louis,
Mo.
“I have always believed in challenging our
guys during the season to prepare them for the
postseason,” said McCoy. “This year is no different. We
have a few teams on our schedule that are ranked
nationally and we compete in some of the toughest
tournaments in the nation. It’s going to be tough, but
it’s going to make us better and help us reach our
goals.”
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