Jan. 22, 2011
Stanford, Calif. - No. 3 Stanford avenged its loss last week to No. 2 California with a dominating performance on the way to a 364.400-358.800 win. The Cardinal looked improved on every apparatus in securing its first win of the season. The Cardinal score was easily the best in the nation so far this year.
The win for Stanford re-establishes it, as perhaps the team to beat at NCAA's this year. The Stanford score of 364.400 was almost three points higher than any total it accumulated last season.
Stanford opened with the floor exercise, scoring a 61.400, to take an early lead on Cal. Josh Dixon closed with a brilliant, acrobatic routine, scoring 15.900 to lead Stanford. Freshman Cale Robinson also had a clean routine, scoring 15.400, while Alex Buscaglia (15.100) and Tim Gentry (15.000) also performed well.
The Cardinal then moved onto the pommel horse and scored a 59.400. John Martin anchored another solid rotation with a 15.300. Freshman Chris Turner also scored a 15.000 as the Cardinal led by 4.500 after the first two rotations.
Up next was the rings, where Stanford got a career-best 15.800 from Gentry to lead Stanford to a score of 60.900. James Fosco chipped in a 15.400 and Ryan Lieberman earned a career best with a score of 15.100 as the Cardinal scored higher on rings that at any point last season.
If the Cardinal had any poor rotation, it was vault as a couple of the veterans had less than their best performance. However, reigning NCAA champion, Eddie Penev made his season debut on the vault and did not disappoint, scoring a 16.300. In addition, Gentry nailed his vault for a score of 16.100 to give Stanford a score of 62.900 for the rotation. After four events, the Cardinal lead was at 5.700.
A week after struggling on pommel horse, the Cardinal responded with a big effort, totaling 59.900. Again it was a higher score than Stanford had at any point last season. Dixon led the way with a career-best 15.400, while the defending NCAA champion, Lieberman also scored well with a 15.200.
The Cardinal wrapped up on the horizontal bar with a score of 59.700. Buscaglia showed why he is one of the best in the country in the event, scoring 15.600. Cameron Foreman also came through with a good routine, posting a 14.900.
The Cardinal will next compete on Thursday and Saturday Feb 3 and 5 at the Winter Cup Challenge. Select athletes will travel to Las Vegas for this elite competition.