March 2, 2008
Eugene, Ore. - In one fell swoop, senior 125-pounder Tanner Gardner shattered two Stanford records, becoming the winningest wrestler in program history and its single-season pin leader all at once. Gardner posted his second pin of the day to advance to his third consecutive Pac-10 title match, leading the Cardinal squad in the first day of action at the 2008 Pac-10 Championships in Eugene, Ore.
Gardner tied both records in his opening match, securing his 18th pin of the year and his 138th career win with a win by fall over Cal State Fullerton's Andre Gonzalez (1:52). In the championship semifinal, he slapped another opponent to the mat to smash both records, putting Marcos Orozco of UC Davis on his back in 4:03. With the win, Gardner secured a spot in tomorrow night's 125-pound title bout and guaranteed himself a fourth trip to the NCAA Championships.
Gardner (37-1), the top-seeded wrestler in the tournament and the nation's sixth-ranked 125-pounder, will wrestle Arizona State's Anthony Robles in the championship bout tomorrow. Gardner is looking to become Stanford's first repeat Pac-10 Champion in more than two decades. His 139 career wins top the former career record set by Matt Gentry in 2005, while his 19 pins this year best the single-season record set by Chris Horpel more than three decades ago.
Six Cardinal wrestlers will start the day tomorrow in the consolation semifinals, looking to earn an automatic NCAA bid with a third-place conference finish. Three of those wrestlers won their opening round bouts, but fell in the championship semifinals, and three others lost their first round bouts, but battled back to earn their consolation semifinal spot.
At 149 pounds, No. 6 seed Lucas Espericueta pulled out a 9-5 upset win over No. 3 Kyle Larson of Oregon State, but fell to No. 2 Adam Hall of Boise State, 9-6, in the championship semifinal. He will face No. 4 Jeremy Doyle of Cal State Bakersfield tomorrow.
Senior Josh Zupancic, the nation's ninth-ranked 157-pounder, pinned his seventh opponent of the year in the first round, sticking Portland State's Steven Dailey in just 22 seconds. The second-seeded Cardinal wrestler was upset by Boise State's Tyler Sherfey in the semifinals, however, and will wrestle No. 8 Trevor Hall of Cal State Bakersfield tomorrow.
Sophomore Zack Giesen picked up a major decision in his first bout of the day to advance to the championship semifinal, but suffered a heart-breaking three-overtime loss to Boise State's top-seeded Kirk Smith, 3-1. Giesen will meet No. 6 Ernie Varela of Cal Poly in the consolation semifinals tomorrow.
Jake Johnson, Luke Feist and Kyle Barrett all dropped their opening matches, but battled back to reach the consolation semifinals. Johnson dropped a major decision to Oregon State's Kyle Bressler in his opening match, but bounced back with a decision over Portland State's Rockland Schneider in the consolation bracket. Second-seeded Feist was upset by seventh-seeded Todd Noel of Cal State Fullerton, but defeated Ron Lee of Oregon to reach the consolation semifinals. Unseeded Barrett fell to Cal State Bakersfield's No. 4 Daniel Atondo to open the tournament, but upended two seeded wrestlers to reach the consolation semifinals. In his first consolation match, Barrett stunned No. 3 Ryan Williams of Cal Poly in sudden victory overtime, and, in his second, he topped No. 7 Teddy Bristol of Cal State Fullerton, 10-6. Johnson will face No. 4 Matt Casperson of Boise State tomorrow, Feist will face No. 5 Dale Seley of Portland State and Barrett will face No. 5 Zack Frazier of Oregon.
Freshman 133-pounder Porfirio Madrigal and senior heavyweight Phillip Doerner both dropped matches in the consolation bracket and will wrestle in seventh place matches tomorrow.
Freshman Max Rosefigura lost two close decisions at 141 pounds, and ends his rookie season with a 12-15 record.
As a team, Stanford stands in sixth place with 75 points. Boise State leads the field with 128 points, 34 ahead of second-place Arizona State.
Action begins with the consolation semifinal matches at 3 p.m. tomorrow. Placement matches are set for 4:30 p.m. and the finals and third place matches are set for 7 p.m.
Stanford Results
Pac-10 Championships
Day One
125 pounds
Tanner Gardner (2-0): pinned Andre Gonzalez (CS Fullerton), 1:52; pinned Marcos Orozco (UC Davis), 4:03.
133 pounds
Porfirio Madrigal (1-2): lost to No. 14 TJ Dillashaw (CS Fullerton), 6-0; maj. dec. Clifton Ivanoff (Oregon State), 9-1; lost to Boris Novachkov (Cal Poly), 5-1.
141 pounds
Max Rosefigura (0-2): lost to Chris Drouin (Arizona State), 8-4; lost to Heinrich Barnes (Oregon State), 8-6.
149 pounds
Lucas Espericueta (1-1): dec. Kyle Larson (Oregon State), 9-5; lost to No. 12 Adam Hall (Boise State), 9-6.
157 pounds
Josh Zupancic (1-1): pinned Steven Dailey (Portland State), 0:22; lost to No. 10 Tyler Sherfey (Boise State), 3-2.
165 pounds
Kyle Barrett (2-1): lost maj. dec. to Daniel Atondo (CS Bakersfield), 10-1; dec. Ryan Williams (Cal Poly), 4-2 (OT); dec. Teddy Bristol (CS Fullerton), 10-6.
174 pounds
Luke Feist (1-1): lost to Todd Noel (CS Fullerton), 6-4; dec. Ron Lee (Oregon), 8-5.
184 pounds
Zack Giesen (1-1): maj. dec. Ben Harris (Oregon State), 10-1; lost to No. 8 Kirk Smith (Boise State), 3-1 (3OT).
197 pounds
Jake Johnson (1-1): lost maj. dec. to Kyle Bressler (Oregon State), 16-5; dec. Rockland Schneider (Portland State), 7-3.
Heavyweight
Phillip Doerner (0-2): lost maj. dec. to Nick Smith (Boise State), 15-2; lost to Quinton Pruett (Arizona State), 6-3.