Dec. 4, 2006
Primm, Nev. - The Stanford wrestling team finished the first day of competition at the Las Vegas Invitational at the Star of the Desert Arena in Primm, Nev. tonight, after posting a combined 16 wins and six pins over nine wrestlers. The Cardinal finishes competition tomorrow, with three wrestlers advancing to the second day.
Tanner Gardner, the tournament's top seed at 125 pounds, continued his undefeated streak with four-straight wins. The junior pinned John Olanowski of Missouri to cap off the day, earning a spot in tomorrow's Championship Semifinals. Gardner is set to battle Indiana's Angel Escobedo tomorrow for a place in the Championship Final.
Sophomore Rafael Chavez posted three pins in four matches at 141 pounds, battling back from an early loss to No. 2-seed Derek Moore of UC Davis to reach the second day of competition. Chavez pinned Jake Kriegbaum of Air Force in his final match of the day to advance to tomorrow's action.
Junior Josh Zupancic won three-straight matches and topped two seeded opponents to reach the Championship Quarterfinals at 157 pounds, before dropping a decision to top-seeded Brian Stith of Arizona State. Zupancic will continue action tomorrow in the consolation bracket.
125 pounds
Tanner Gardner (4-0): tech. fall Joe Coughlin (George Mason), 22-7; pinned Zach Valdez (Air Force), 2:15; maj. dec. Jake Gonzales (Oregon State), 9-0; pinned John Olanowski (Missouri), 4:32.
133 pounds
Matt Kim (1-2): lost to Garrett Harding (Missouri Valley), 13-7; dec. Mark Anderson (West Virginia), 6-1; lost maj. dec. to Bobby Pfennings (Oregon State), 10-1.
141 pounds
Rafael Chavez (3-1): pinned Jeff Rutledge (Nebraska Kearney), 2:56; lost maj. dec. to Derek Moore (UC Davis), 11-0; pinned Albert Madsen (Ohio), 3:21; pinned Jake Kriegbaum (Air Force), 2:39.
149 pounds
Tyler Parker (0-2): lost to Robert Sanders (Nebraska), 8-6 (OT); lost to Drew DiPasquale (Virginia), 5-2.
157 pounds
Josh Zupancic (3-1): tech. fall Kenneth Packard (San Francisco State), 15-0; dec. Jeff Marsh (Michigan), 8-5; pinned Travis Piccard (The Citadel), 6:17; lost to Brian Stith (Arizona State), 6-1.
165 pounds
Brian Perry (1-2): maj. dec. Bryan Tice (CS Fullerton), 11-3; lost to Christopher Vondruska (Ohio State), 2-1; lost to Mike Mackie (Cornell), 6-4.
174 pounds
Luke Feist (2-2): dec. Ryan Budd (CS Fullerton), 6-0; dec. Larry Wilbanks (Western State), 5-4; fall to Ben Askren (Missouri), 2:48; lost to Dan Hospodka (Nebraska Kearney), 8-6.
184 pounds
Zack Giesen (2-2): dec. Colt Reece (Western Wyoming), 9-4; dec. Kane Smith (UNC Greensboro), 2-1; fall to Rocco Caponi (Virginia), 1:21; lost to Eric Chine (Kent State), 7-6.
197 pounds
Jared Boyer (0-2): lost to Matt Casperson (Boise State), 8-6 (OT); fall to Travis Gardner (Oregon State), 3:03.