Stanford Wrestling: It Doesn’t Get Any Better

10/19/2007 9:08:00 AM

Stanford Names Captains/2007-08 Cardinal Season Preview

From Stanford Sports Information

Tanner Gardner, Josh Zupancic, Phillip Doerner and Luke Feist will lead the Cardinal this season.

The Stanford wrestling program has named its 2007-08 captains announced Head Coach Kerry McCoy today. Senior Tanner Gardner, senior Josh Zupancic, senior Phillip Doerner and junior Luke Feist have been voted by their teammates to lead the Cardinal for the upcoming season.

Gardner, one of three fifth year seniors on the 2007-08 squad, begins his third season as a Cardinal captain. The 125-pounder from Berryton, Kans. earned his second All-America honor with a seventh place finish at the NCAA Championships last season, and will look to become Stanford’s first three-time All-American this year. Gardner, the defending Pac-10 Champion, also set a school record with 42 wins last year and became just the fourth wrestler in program history to join the 100-career-win club.


A look at the 2007-08 Cardinal

Stanford begins the 2007-08 campaign in senior Tanner Gardner’s home state of Kansas, meeting Fort Hays State for a dual meet on Nov. 9. The team will then compete in two tournaments, the Central Missouri State Open and the Fullerton Open, before taking on San Francisco State in San Francisco on Nov. 21.

Following is a look at the 2007-08 Cardinal by weight class:

125
Two-time All-American Tanner Gardner will be the anchor of the 2007-08 team, returning for his fifth year with an arsenal of experience. Gardner has been to the NCAA Championships three times, and is the defending Pac-10 Champion. He became just the second two-time All-American in program history last season and is determined to become Stanford’s first three-time All-American in March. He won a school record 42 matches in 2006-07 and became just the fourth wrestler in program history to join the 100 career win club. Yet, going into his final collegiate season, Gardner has just one goal in mind- an NCAA title. Consistently ranked among the nation’s top-five last year, the Berryton, Kans. native and his coach know that he has the potential to become Stanford’s second all-time NCAA Champion.

“Tanner is one of those special kids that you only see every few years,” said McCoy. “He is truly the total package: a great person, a great student and a great wrestler. He has done everything possible to put himself in a position to become the most successful wrestler to ever put on a Stanford singlet. It’s going to be bittersweet going through this season, because with all of the success he’s going to have, it’s going to be his last year.”