Gabriel Townsell pinned his opponent at 125 pounds with one bout remaining to secure at least a draw for the Stanford wrestling team. Keaton Subjeck also recorded a pin at 174 pounds and the Cardinal earned a 21-20 decision over visiting Penn on Sunday.
Stanford (3-2) and Penn (3-3) each won five bouts, but Townsell’s fall with one bout left gave the Cardinal the edge. The Quakers had a chance to tie the dual at 133 pounds, but Gianna Ghione’s 21-5 technical fall over Stanford true freshman Anthony Le wasn’t enough.
Redshirt junior Isaiah Locsin got the Cardinal on the board first with a 3-0 decision over Penn’s Jake Lizak at 141 pounds. Locsin scored a first period takedown and finished with 3:57 of riding time to secure his first dual win of the season. He is now 11-7 overall.
After redshirt freshman Jake Barry dropped a 6-1 decision to Penn’s Joe Oliva at 149 pounds, redshirt junior Paul Fox put the Cardinal back on top with a 5-3 decision against Joe Velliquette at 157 pounds.
Velliquette took an early 2-0 lead in the opening period and racked up 1:30 of riding time. Fox tied it with a reversal to start the second and led 4-3 after two. Velliquette chose down to start the third, but Fox rode him out to tack on the riding time point. He moves to 13-4 on the season and 2-0 in duals.
Penn again squared up the dual score as May Bethea registered a 15-8 decision over Stanford redshirt freshman Jared Hill at 165 pounds.
Subjeck took the lead back for the Cardinal with a fall in 4:22 over Khamari Whimper at 174 pounds. Subjeck, who is ranked 12th nationally, improves to 18-5 on the season and 5-0 in duals. The win was also the 80th of his career.
The Quakers won the next two bouts to take a 15-12 lead in the dual. No. 19 Joey Heyob posted an 8-1 decision over Austin Flores at 184 pounds. No. 13 Frank Mattiace then earned a fall over No. 16 Nathan Traxler at 197 pounds.
Stanford heavyweight Nathan Butler, ranked 11th nationally, evened the team score at 15 all with an 8-2 decision against Patrik Garren to set up Townsell for the win. Butler is now 17-5 overall and 3-1 in duals.
Stanford hits the road next week, traveling to the East coast to compete against Brown (10 a.m.) and Harvard (3 p.m.) on Saturday.