Over winter break, Stanford wrestlers continued to gear up for the heart of the season with competition in three events: the Reno Tournament of Champions, the Midlands Tournament in Evanston, Ill., and the Lone Star Duals in Grand Prairie, Tex.

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Sophomore Josh Zupancic, 149 pounds, wrestled well against North Carolina, Harvard and Army in his overtime matches on Saturday. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/5550
Adrian Gaitan

Sophomore Josh Zupancic, 149 pounds, wrestled well against North Carolina, Harvard and Army in his overtime matches on Saturday.

Strong individual performances by senior Ray Blake and sophomore Tanner Gardner helped carry the team again. Solid team performance in the Lone Star Duals provided some measure of hope for Stanford, as the team moves into dual-meet competition.

Stanford started strong at Reno on Dec. 18 with eight of 10 Cardinal wrestlers winning their opening matches before struggling later in the day.

Stanford did manage to place two wrestlers, though, as Blake took fourth place in the 165-pound weight class and Gardner took fifth at 125. Blake and Gardner continued their run of early success, and their overall records improved to 22-8 and 18-5, respectively.

Other notable performances at Reno included those by sophomore Scott Loescher at 157 pounds and senior Brennan Corbett at 174, each of whom came within one bout of placing.

The Cardinal traveled to Northwestern to participate in the Midlands tournament on Dec. 29-30. Gardner and Blake again were the only two Stanford wrestlers to place, with each taking fifth overall.

This continued the duo’s run of tournament success; Blake has placed in five of his six tournaments, and Gardner in five of five.

Midlands marked the end of the early season tournament run for Stanford. The Cardinal schedule then shifted into high gear with the Lone Star Duals on Jan. 7.

Several Cardinal wrestlers said dual meets will provide more team-oriented competition, better revealing where they stand as a whole with regard to Pacific-10 Conference and national competition.

Rebounding from the disappointing results of the previous two tournaments, Stanford put forth a strong showing in Texas. The Cardinal squad competed against three other strong squads and collected two team victories.

“We started off well against Army, and then we didn’t wrestle well against North Carolina,” Stanford head coach Kerry McCoy said. “But we finished strong [against Harvard] because we wrestled well as a team. This is good momentum for us as we get ready for Illinois next week.”

The Cardinal bracketed a 21-10 loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels and notched victories over Army, 22-16, and Harvard, 21-16.

Blake and Gardner, who went 3-0 and 2-0 for the day, respectively, were matched in their success by sophomore Josh Zupancic. The 149-pound Zupancic won all three of his bouts in overtime, sealing both victories for the Cardinal and closing the UNC match out with a win.

Other performances of note included freshman Jared Boyer’s first dual meet victory of his collegiate career against Army’s Michael Sprigg in the 285-pound weight class. True freshman Tyler Parker nearly posted an upset over No. 14 Max Meltzer of Harvard at 141 pounds.

Between now and Feb. 15, the Cardinal are scheduled to compete in 10 dual-meet events before the season culminates at the Pac-10 Championships. These meets will determine the outcome of Stanford’s season.

Stanford wrestling opens its home schedule at Burnham Pavilion this Sunday against No. 4 Illinois at 1 p.m.