SEATTLE – Senior Curran Phillips recorded a national-best 15.200 to win the vault title before registering a career-high 15.300 on parallel bars to earn a share of the event crown, helping No. 1 Stanford to a season-high 412.150 team score to win the Pac-12 Invite on Friday night.
The Cardinal finished ahead of California (386.950), host Washington (363.150) and Arizona State (354.950).
Stanford won every event on Friday, led by Phillips and Sun who each won an event outright and shared the honor on parallel bars. Sun took top honors on pommel horse with a score of 13.800, while Blake Wilson won floor (14.200), Thomas Lee won rings (season-high 14.200) and J.R. Chou won high bar (13.700).
Cementing himself as one of the top parallel bars gymnasts, Sun followed up his national-best 15.700 from last week with the 15.300 on Friday night. The Cardinal managed a season-best 71.850 team score in the event. In addition to the 15.300 scores from Sun and Phillips, Ian Lasic-Ellis went a career-best 14.300 and Lee hit for a 13.900.
The Cardinal also registered season bests on floor (67.650) and vault (72.450).
Phillips and junior Zach Martin became the first gymnasts this year to go 15+ on vault, with Phillips posting his career-best 15.200 to win the title. Anchoring the vault run, Martin registered a career-high 15.050. The native of Elk Grove, Calif. finished last season as the top-ranked vaulter and placed second at the national championship meet to earn All-America honors. The vault run also featured a career-best 14.250 from Chou.
Wilson's 14.200 on floor led the way for the Cardinal, as Jeremy Bischoff and Bryan Perla followed with scores of 13.850. The score marked a new career high for Bischoff. Making his collegiate debut, freshman Nick Kuebler registered a 13.500 on floor.
Sun narrowly topped fellow Cardinal team captain Andrew Bitner for the pommel horse title, posting a 13.800 compared to Bitner's career-best 13.700. Chou managed the third-best score for the Cardinal at 13.400, helping Stanford post a 66.200.
Stanford began the competition on still rings, with Matt Szot (career-high 13.950), Kuebler (13.700), Lasic-Ellis (13.850) and Lee (14.200) all sticking sets to guide the way to a 68.850. The event title is the first for Lee this season.
The Cardinal posted a 65.150 team score on high bar, led by Chou's 13.700 to win the event. Lasic-Ellis managed a career-best 13.550, followed by strong sets from Bischoff (12.800) and Phillips (12.750).
Stanford will return to action on Sunday, February 13 when it hosts California in The Big Flip Open at 1 p.m.
