May 27, 2008
Stanford, Calif. - Four Stanford athletes were named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District At-Large Teams when the selections were announced earlier this week. Tanner Gardner of the wrestling team, Sandy Hohener of the men's water polo team and Dylan Carney of the men's gymnastics team were first-team picks on the men's at-large list for District VIII, while Elaine Breeden of the women's swimming team was a District VIII Second Team pick on the women's side.
For the second consecutive year, Stanford nabbed three of the ten spots on the men's at-large first team, with Carney and Gardner both repeating as winners. Hohener, Carney and Gardner are all now in contention to become Academic All-Americans. Last year, all three of Stanford's first-team picks, including Carney and Gardner, went on to earn spots on the Academic All-America Men's At-Large First Team. The men's winners will be announced June 10, while the women's will be announced June 12.
Carney is a biological sciences major from Dartmouth, Mass. with a 3.97 undergraduate GPA and a 4.01 graduate GPA. He is five-time All-American, and won the 2008 Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship and an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship earlier this year. A four-time MPSF All-Academic Team honoree, Carney was the 2006 NCAA Co-National Champion on the horizontal bar and has helped Stanford to three consecutive top-three finishes at the NCAA Championships.
Gardner, who is studying public policy and sociology at Stanford, owns a 3.73 undergraduate GPA and a 4.00 graduate GPA. He became the Cardinal's first three-time All-American this season, with a career-best fifth place finish at the NCAA Championships. Gardner finished his career with a school-record 145 wins, broke the school's single-season pin and win records in 2008 and won his second consecutive Pac-10 title at 125 bounds. Gardner, an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winner, was also named the Pac-10 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for wrestling.
Hohener, a civil engineering major from Santa Ana, Calif. with a 4.09 GPA, started 24 of Stanford's 25 contests in 2007, making 217 saves on the year for an average of 9.04 per game. He also sported a 7.00 goals-against average on the year, and finished his career as a three-time All-American and three-time All-MPSF selection. The Cardinal goalkeeper was also a three-time MPSF All-Academic selection over the course of his career, and a two-time ACWPC All-Academic pick.
Breeden, an 11-time All-American, is an undeclared sophomore with a 3.57 GPA. The school record-holder in the 200 fly and 200 medley relay, Breeden was the NCAA runner-up in the 200 fly and the 200 medley relay in 2008, while also finishing third nationally in the 400 medley relay, fourth in the 100 fly and fifth in the 400 free relay. As a freshman last season, she claimed her first NCAA title in the 200 fly.
Eligible sports for the at-large program are women's bowling, women's crew, men's and women's fencing, women's field hockey, men's and women's golf, men's and women's gymnastics, men's and women's ice hockey, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's rifle, men's and women's skiing, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, men's volleyball, men's and women's water polo and men's wrestling. To be nominated, the student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) for his/her career and of at least sophomore academic and athletic standing.