With team and individual victories in every event, the women’s gymnastics team knocked off No. 5 UCLA for the No. 8 Cardinal’s first win of 2007.

Juniors Liz Tricase and Tabitha Yim picked up a pair of wins each, including tying each other for the top spot in the vault, and freshman Carly Janiga also won an event to pace the Cardinal. Stanford defeated the Bruins on every apparatus, winning the meet 196.975 to 195.525.

UCLA’s Tasha Schwikert — the 2005 NCAA all-around champion — won the all-around and tied with Stanford athletes for the top score in two events. In three of the four events, Schwikert was the only Bruin to finish in the top five.

Yim and Tricase opened the competition by posting identical scores of 9.900 on the vault, tying with Schwikert and putting the Cardinal barely ahead of the Bruins 49.200 to 49.125. Sophomore Nicole Ourada and Janiga finished fourth and fifth, respectively, for Stanford.

Stanford claimed four of the top five spots in bars as well, Tricase leading the way with a score of 9.925. Janiga was right behind, tied with Schwikert for second while Stanford sophomore Kelly Fee tied with Ourada for fourth. Stanford again edged the Bruins in the team score, leading 49.225 to 48.950.

Yim notched her second individual title of the meet with a score of 9.950 on the balance beam. Fee came in second with Schwikert in third. Cardinal sophomore Heather Purnell and junior Aimee Precourt rounded out the top five, with Stanford again posting the higher team score, 49.225 to 48.225.

In the final rotation, it was Janiga picking up the first victory of her Stanford career, scoring 9.925 on the floor exercise to tie with Schwikert. Ourada place d third, tying with UCLA’s Janelle Dantzscher, and Yim took fifth.

Schwikert’s consistent top-five placement earned her the All-Around win, where she finished .075 points ahead of Yim. Janiga and Purnell placed third and fourth, respectively.

The Cardinal will host No. 11 Arizona State on Friday night in Burnham Pavilion to kick off their home season.

Men’s swimming victorious in Arizona

In the opening weekend of Pacific-10 Conference competition, the No. 2 men’s swimming team powered through the desert, beating No. 5 Arizona 129-112 on Friday and crushing Arizona State 169-129 on Saturday.

Three athletes won a pair of events as the Cardinal defeated the Wildcats. Senior Shaun Phillips swept the distance freestyle races, winning the 1000-yard race with a season-best time.

Sophomore Nate Cass dominated in the shorter races, winning the 200 breast and 200 fly. Sophomore Dwight Dumais topped the podium in both the one-meter and three-meter diving competitions.

Senior Hongzhe Sun won the 200 back to help the Cardinal to victory. Arizona won six races, including both relays, but Stanford notched the victory, their second in dual meets this season.

The Cardinal’s margin of victory was significantly larger against the Sun Devils. Senior Ben Wildman-Tobriner won twice as an individual and twice on relay teams, while Phillips posted a third victory on the weekend and Sun picked up a second.

Wildman-Tobriner touched the wall first in the 50 free and 1200 fly races and swam on the winning team in the 200 free and 200 medley relays. Phillips finished first in the 200 free, while Sun repeated as victor in the 200 back.

Sophomores Chris Ash and Paul Kornfeld won the 100 and 200 breast races, respectively, to round out the individual winners.

After the team of Sun, Kornfeld, Wildman-Tobriner and freshman Alex Coville opened the meet with a win in the medley relay, the Cardinal closed the meet with another relay victory, with the team of Wildman-Tobriner, seniors Matt Crowe and Andy Grant and sophomore Dan Priestly beating ASU’s A team by more than a second in the freestyle relay.

CJ Nuess was the top performer for the Sun Devils, winning three races, while diver Mickey Benedetti edged out Dumais in both diving events.

The Stanford men will be back in the pool January 27 to host No. 6 Southern California.