Stanford wrestling concluded a busy winter break schedule Sunday, sweeping a trio of duals in the Northeast in dominant fashion. The strong finish capped a flood of competition in which the squad squared off against five opponents in three days.

EnlargeEnlarge
The Stanford wrestling team finished its winter break competition with a sweep of three Northeast opponents last weekend. The Cardinal effort was led by senior Tanner Gardner and sophomores Peter Miller and Jake Johnson. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8318
Masaru Oka / Stanford Daily File Photo

The Stanford wrestling team finished its winter break competition with a sweep of three Northeast opponents last weekend. The Cardinal effort was led by senior Tanner Gardner and sophomores Peter Miller and Jake Johnson.

The Cardinal (6-1) downed four of its opponents over that span in convincing fashion. The run concluded with a sweep on Sunday over East Stroudsburg, Princeton and Wagner. East Stroudsburg and Princeton fell first, by scores of 29-16 and 32-10, respectively, before Stanford demolished Wagner in a shutout, 52-0. Wagner was only able to stay close in one match, as they lost nine of ten by at least ten points.

No. 6 senior Tanner Gardner at 125 pounds pinned all three of his opponents on the day, and his teammates largely followed suit as the Cardinal collected a total of ten pins against its three opponents. Redshirt freshman Lucas Espericueta at 149 pounds and sophomores Peter Miller, 165 pounds, and Jake Johnson, 197 pounds, also went 3-0 on the day to help carry the Cardinal. No. 16 senior Josh Zupancic was undefeated in his pair of matches.

On Friday, the Cardinal wrestled another pair of duals and came away with a split, defeating Drexel 24-12 before falling to Lehigh 21-16. Highlighting Stanford’s win against Drexel was Zupancic’s victory over fellow All-American, No. 8 Ryan Hluschak, 157 pounds, in a 4-2, overtime decision. The win over Hluschak was Zupancic’s 20th on the season and secured an impressive fourth straight 20-win season for the senior. Johnson, Espericueta and Gardner also came up big for the Cardinal — all three notched wins by major decision.

Coach Kerry McCoy’s Cardinal came up just short at Lehigh, though, losing six of ten matches against the Mountain Hawks in Bethlehem, Penn. McCoy worked as an assistant coach at Lehigh before coming to the Farm two and a half years ago, and while he just missed a win on his return to Leeman-Turner Arena, several of his wrestlers put forth strong showings. Gardner pinned his opponent at 2:24, while Johnson and Zupancic each won by decision, 12-10 and 8-2, respectively. Sophomore Zach Giesen at 184 pounds rounded out the Stanford victories against Lehigh with a 13-3 major decision.

The Cardinal also took part in the Reno Tournament of Champions over the break on Dec. 18. Gardner took home a second place finish after winning the tournament last season, while Giesen and Zupancic each finished fourth.

Gardner (25-1), Zupancic (23-5) and Giesen (16-5), all of whom qualified for nationals last season, led the Cardinal over the opening stretch of the season. But strong performances from Johnson (17-7) and Espericueta (17-7) have also buoyed Stanford, while the team’s fourth returning NCAA qualifier, junior Luke Feist, has seen limited action due to injury.

Stanford will open its conference schedule next Friday against Boise State and UC Davis in Davis, Calif. The pair of duals will jump-start a month-long stretch of competition against Pac-10 opponents before the Cardinal gears up for the conference tournament in March.