January 13, 2006

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Palo Alto Online

Tough wrestling match on tap

by Rick Eymer

Sophomore Tanner Gardner faces his biggest challenge of the season on Sunday when Stanford hosts fourth-ranked Illinois at Burnham Pavilion on Sunday at 1 p.m. in a nonconference wrestling match.

Gardner has fashioned a 24-7 record at 125 pounds this season but he probably hasn't faced anyone like Illinois' Kyle Ott, who is ranked second in the nation in his weight class and reached the NCAA championship match last year, losing 2-0 in the finals.

Stanford (3-2) has some experience in senior 165-pounder Ray Blake, who has won 30 of his 39 matches to date.

Kerry McCoy will be making his home debut as Cardinal coach at the meet. McCoy, who has been at Leigh University the past five years, knows what it takes to compete at a high level. The Penn State grad finished fifth at the 2000 Olympics and seventh at the 2004 Olympics as a heavyweight.

McCoy was 150-18 with the Nittany Lions and won NCAA heavyweight championships in 1994 and 1997. He's a three-time Big Ten champion and won 131 of his last 132 matches at Penn State, including an 88-match winning streak.

Illinois, which finished sixth as a team at the NCAA meet last year, will be making its dual meet debut today at Fresno State before coming to Stanford. The Cardinal had two wrestlers (Matt Gentry and Imad Kharbush both graduated) qualify for the NCAA meet last year, and managed a 37th place finish.

Illinois' Alex Tirapelle was the NCAA's top-seeded wrestler at 157 pounds last year, but was upset in the quarterfinals. He's currently ranked first in the nation and will probably meet Scott Loescher.

Sunday's meet kicks off a series of home meets for the Cardinal, who stay at home for six of their next seven matches.

Stanford will also host the Pac-10 Championships at the end of February.
Men's tennis

No. 14 Stanford takes eight players to the Sherwood Cup, which begins today and runs through Monday at the Sherwood Country Club in Westlake Village.

The tournament also includes players from No. 5 UCLA, No. 7 Baylor, No. 9 Pepperdine, No. 11 Florida State and No. 20 USC.

Menlo School grad James Pade is among the those who are entered. Matt Bruch, KC Corkery, Phil Kao, Blake Muller, Chris Rasmussen, James Wan and Jon Wong join him.

Both Bruch (at No. 4) and Corkery (No. 21) were ranked in the ITA pre-season singles rankings while Stanford's top doubles team of Corkery and Pade were also ranked (No. 5) among the nation's elite.
Women's tennis

Top-ranked and two-time defending national champion Stanford sends players to the Freeman Invitational in Las Vegas and to the NCTC Classic at Indian Wells for tournaments beginning today.

Stanford brings a 56-match winning streak into the season after completing consecutive undefeated seasons.

The doubles team of Alice Barnes and Anne Yelsey won the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor title in November in Columbus, Ohio. They are also the defending Pac-10 champs.

Junior Teresa Logar reached the singles championships match at the ITA Indoors.
Men's gymnastics

No. 6 Stanford gets an early-season test, opening the season at No. 4 California today at 7:30 p.m.

The Cardinal matched up against the Bears in three dual meets last year, winning in Berkeley and at Stanford.

Stanford returns 12 letter winners, including U.S. National Team member David Sender. Top freshmen include Bryant Hadden and Greg Ter-Zakhariants.

California also returns 12 letter winners, and has five newcomers.

There is a change in both the FIG (international) and NCAA scoring standards this year. The NCAA code of points is similar to the FIG standards, but still sets a perfect score at 10.0. The new code of points gives greater deductions for mistakes and requires more C level or higher skills to obtain high scores.
Women's gymnastics

No. 3 Stanford hosts its home opener on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Maples Pavilion, competing against No. 24 San Jose State, UC Davis and No. 25 Sacramento State.

The Cardinal moved up in the national rankings after an impressive second-place showing at last weekend's Cancun Classic.

Natalie Foley and Nicole Ourada are currently tied for eighth in the national All-Around rankings, while Glyn Sweets is third on the vault, Liz Tricase is tied for second on the bars, and Tabitha Yim is third in floor exercise.
Men's volleyball

Stanford (1-3) opens Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play today at national defending champion Pepperdine at 7 p.m.

The Cardinal are at USC on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Synchronized swimming

Stanford will be on the road most of the season, opening at Hawaii on Saturday, followed by trips to Portland, Oregon, San Antonio and Tallahassee before hosting the Stanford Invitational on Feb. 11.

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