Three Stanford Wrestlers Place at Reno Tournament of ChampionsThree Stanford Wrestlers Place at Reno Tournament of Champions
Wrestling

Three Stanford Wrestlers Place at Reno Tournament of Champions

Dec. 18, 2007

Complete Brackets in PDF Format

Reno, Nev. - Eleven Cardinal wrestlers combined for 20 wins at the Reno Tournament of Champions at the Reno Downtown Convention Center in Reno, Nev. today. Senior 125-pounder Tanner Gardner took second place, and senior 157-pounder Josh Zupancic and sophomore 184-pounder Zack Giesen both finished fourth.

Gardner won his first three matches to advance to the evening's 125-pound championship bout, but suffered his first loss of the season at the hands of Central Michigan's No. 14 Luke Smith to take second place. Gardner, who is ranked fourth nationally, is now 20-1 on the year and has placed in all three career appearances at the Reno Tournament of Champions.

Zupancic lost his first match of the day to Central Michigan's Tyler Grayson, but put up an impressive run through the consolation bracket with six consecutive wins. The Cardinal senior pinned Cal State Bakersfield's Trevor Hall to advance to the third place match, where he fell to Oklahoma State's 19th-ranked Newly McSpadden and took fourth place.

Zupancic's win over Hall was the 100th of his career, making the 157-pounder the fifth member of Stanford's 100-win club. Zupancic joins Matt Gentry ('05), Steve Buddie ('91), teammate Tanner Gardner and Scott Wiggen ('87) as the five winningest wrestlers in school history.

Giesen won two bouts before meeting eventual champion and third-ranked Christian Sinnott of Central Michigan. The Cardinal 184-pounder lost by decision, then won three straight matches to advance to the third place bout. Michael Moore of Cornell topped Giesen in the match, and the Stanford sophomore took fourth place.

The Cardinal returns to action with a four-dual road trip to the East Coast in early January. Stanford will meet Drexel, Lehigh, East Stroudsburg and Princeton before beginning the Pac-10 season on Jan. 18.

As a team, Stanford finished seventh, the highest finish at the tournament in program history.

Stanford Results
Reno Tournament of Champions
December 18, 2007

125 pounds

Tanner Gardner (3-1, 2nd place): maj. dec. Ben Ashmore (Oklahoma State), 8-0; tech. fall Frank Perelli (Cornell), 15-0; tech. fall Ben Kjar (Utah Valley), 16-1; lost to No. 14 Luke Smith (Central Michigan), 4-3.

133 pounds

Porfirio Madrigal (1-2): lost to Armando Gonzalez (CS Fullerton), 4-3; dec. Jeremy Garner (Oklahoma City), 4-1; lost to Trevor Lofstalt (Southern Oregon), 5-3.

149 pounds

Eric Minnick (0-2): lost maj. dec. to Cody Moulton (Oregon), 10-1; lost to Mike Bezel (Oklahoma State), 5-3.

Lucas Espericueta (2-2): maj. dec. Jalonn Wilkins (Arizona State), 12-3; lost to No. 12 Brandon Carter (Central Michigan), 12-8; dec. Zack McCray (Liberty), 5-1; lost to Sam Allen (Utah Valley), 8-2.

157 pounds

Josh Zupancic (6-2, 4th place): lost to Tyler Grayson (Central Michigan), 3-1; maj. dec. Joey Granata (CS Bakersfield), 11-3; win by default Keith Koziel (The Citadel); pinned Andrew Maraglia (UC Davis), 2:04; dec. Joel Ahern (Navy), 8-2; maj. dec. Dan Nauman (Shippensburg), 12-1; pinned Trevor Hall (CS Bakersfield), 4:40; lost to No. 19 Newly McSpadden (Oklahoma State), 3-2.

174 pounds

Alex Muller (0-2): lost to Todd Noel (CS Fullerton), 3-1; lost maj. dec. to Evan Barbre (Cal Poly), 13-0.

Luke Feist (2-1): tech. fall Jake Spencer (MSU Northern), 16-1; lost maj. dec. to No. 3 Brandon Sinnott (Central Michigan), 12-3; dec. Evan Barbre (Cal Poly), 9-6; withdrawn by medical forfeit.

184 pounds

Zack Giesen (5-2, 4th place): dec. Yuri Kalika (Cal Poly), 6-2; dec. Austin Trotman (Appalachian State), 3-2; lost to No. 3 Christian Sinnott (Central Michigan), 8-2; dec. Cody Hill (Oklahoma State), 4-3; dec. Robert Hazenburg (Great Falls), 2-1; dec. Ben Kelto (Central Michigan), 6-3; lost to Michael Moore (Cornell), 3-2.

197 pounds

Jake Johnson (0-2): lost to No. 18 Jason Trulson (Arizona State), 10-4; lost to Tyler Moyer (Navy), 9-5.

Heavyweight

Phillip Doerner (0-2): lost maj. dec. to Ryan Hoover (Southwestern Oregon CC), 15-6; lost to Josh Marquez (Adams State), 13-6.

Mark Shughart (1-2): fall to Billy Green (Utah Valley), 6:34; win by default Jason Still (Wyoming); fall to Jim Powers (Cal Poly), 4:36.