March 6, 2011
Lincoln, Neb. - No. 2 Stanford finished off a big weekend, defeating Nebraska 359.000-347.600, Sunday afternoon. The Cardinal topped the Cornhuskers on every event on the way to a commanding victory.
Stanford opened on the pommel horse, scoring 56.550 and actually briefly trailed as Nebraska opened on floor. John Martin paced the Cardinal on the pommel with a score of 15.100, while Chris Turner and Gabriel Alvarado had nice afternoons, scoring 14.300 and 13.800, respectively.
The Cardinal then moved onto the floor, scoring 58.450 to move ahead of Nebraska for good. Josh Dixon led the Cardinal with a score of 15.600. Ryan Lieberman and Abhinav Ramani chipped in with scores of 14.750 and 14.450, respectively.
The Cardinal then competed in the vault where all six competitors scored over a 15 and two scored over 16. Alex Buscaglia and Time Gentry scored 16.400 and 16.300, respectively, to lead Stanford to a total of 64.250.
On rings, the Cardinal scored 59.400 as James Fosco had the high score of 15.400. Jordan Nolff also had a great routine, scoring 15.350, while Dixon scored 14.350 and Lieberman scored 14.300.
Moving onto the horizontal bar, Stanford continued to show why it is ranked No. 1 in the nation in the event. The Cardinal had five competitors over 15, including the reigning Pan-American champion Buscaglia with a score of 15.050. However, Buscaglia was not the top scorer among his teammates on Sunday as Lieberman scored 15.300, Cameron Foreman scored 15.250 and Dixon matched Buscaglia with a 15.050.
Finally, Stanford concluded on the parallel bars with Lieberman leading the way with a score of 15.500. Nicholas Noone chipped in a 14.800, while Gentry had a 14.700.
In the all-around, Josh Dixon put up a big score for the second consecutive meet. On Sunday it was a score of 88.600, which was easily the highest of the day.
The team score of 359.000 was Stanford's second highest of the season. The Cardinal have now pushed its three-meet average over 360 for the season and will likely be the new No. 1 team in the nation when the next poll comes out early next week.