At 125 pounds, Gardner claimed Stanford's first Pac-10 individual title since 2004, defeating Oregon State's Eric Stevenson, 4-1, in the championship bout. The title was the first of Gardner's career, and improves the junior to 38-3 on the season. He will make his third career appearance at the NCAA Championships next month.
In the 157-pound title match, Zupancic dropped a close 7-4 decision to No. 3 Brian Stith of Arizona State. In the 184-pound championship, Giesen fell in a 5-0 decision to Arizona State's Greg Gifford. Both Cardinal wrestlers finished second in the conference and qualified automatically for the nationals.
At 165 pounds, third-seeded Perry was upset by fourth-seeded Bryan Tice of Cal State Fullerton in the consolation semifinals. The Cardinal senior battled back and decisively won the fifth-place match, however, earning a 12-4 major decision over Boise State's Johnny Nunez. At the end of the tournament, Perry was voted one of nine wild card selections by conference coaches.
At 174 pounds, Luke Feist picked up a 19-7 major decision over Nick Hernandez of Cal Poly to advance to the third place match. Feist finished fourth, however, after dropping a 6-5 decision to Boise State's Nate Lee. The Cardinal sophomore also was selected as a wild card, and will compete at the NCAA Championships next month.
As a team, Stanford finished sixth in the conference, improving one place on the squad's seventh place 2006 finish. Oregon State won the conference title for the first time since 1994, finishing five points above runner-up Cal State Bakersfield.
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