April 16, 2011
Columbus, Ohio - A night after winning the NCAA team title, Stanford was back at it with the NCAA Individual Championships led by Alex Buscaglia. The Cardinal senior earned his first NCAA individual title by winning the horizontal bar competition as a part of the night that saw six Cardinal gymnasts earn a total on nine All-America honors.
Buscaglia had been the NCAA leader on horizontal bar nearly the entre season and once again dominated the event, scoring a 15.750 to win by almost a half of a point. He completes an outstanding season in the event where he was also the Pan-American champion this past summer. Buscaglia was not finished on the night, however as he also earned and All-America honor on the parallel bars by placing sixth with a score of 14.400. Buscaglia also competed on vault, finishing 10th with a score of 15.050. The senior finishes his career with six All-America honors to his credit.
Buscaglia was not the leader in All-America honors on the night for Stanford, however. Tim Gentry earned three All-America honors to push his career total to seven as he finished in the top-8 on rings, vault and floor. Gentry's top finish came in the still rings as he placed fourth with a score of 15.300. He was also sixth on the vault (15.700) and eighth on the floor (15.150).
Other returning All-Americans to add to their totals were Josh Dixon and Eddie Penev. Dixon placed fourth on the floor with a score of 15.500 to earn the seventh All-America honor of his career. Penev tied for fifth in the same event with a score of 15.400 to earn his third career All-America honor. Dixon also competed in the horizontal bar, but tied for ninth with teammate Ryan Lieberman with a score of 14.400.
The new All-Americans for Stanford were redshirt sophomore Cameron Foreman and freshman Chris Turner. Foreman nailed his parallel bars routine for a score of 14.800 to finish third to earn All-America status. Lieberman also competed in the event, but placed 10th with a score of 14.100, just one year after winning the NCAA title in the event. Turner was fourth on the pommel horse with a score of 15.000 to earn the first All-America honor of his young career.
The meet concludes the season for Stanford, but what a season it was. The Cardinal won its second national team title in three years and in the process captured Stanford's 100th NCAA title.