Senior Luke Feist (14-9) highlighted the team victory with his team-leading ninth pin of the season. The Pac-10's co-pin leader at the start of the week, Feist now has 23 pins in his four years on The Farm. He currently stands just one pin short of fifth place on the school's career chart, and tied for tenth place on its single-season list.
Nick Amuchastegui (20-4) also had a notable night. In defeating NCAA qualifier Stephen Crozier, the redshirt freshman secured win No. 20, the third Stanford wrestler this year to do so. Amuchastegui, who is now on a career-high seven-match win streak, also secured his place among the 10 winningest freshmen in school history, matching Brian Perry '07 for 10th place.
Junior Tyler Parker (1-0) took the mat for the first time since Feb. 24, 2007 and secured a win at 149 pounds. Redshirt freshman Matt Winterbourne (1-2), the team's heavyweight, won the first match of his career.
The dual began at 125 pounds, where rookie Matt Sencenbaugh (6-20) dropped a decision to Air Force sophomore Andrew Zwirlein. After taking a 5-0 lead with a near fall in the first period, Sencenbaugh gave up six points in the second to allow Zwirlein to take control. The Falcon wrestler claimed a 9-6 decision and gave his team its only lead of the night.
Facing an 0-3 deficit, however, Stanford began to roll. Sophomore Porfirio Madrigal (12-6) started things off with a dominant performance in the second match, picking up a major decision over Tyler Untrauer at 133 pounds. The win was the first of six bonus-point victories for the Cardinal, a season high for the team. Madrigal scored three reversals and put Untrauer on his back twice to earn a 17-8 win.
Sophomore Cameron Teitelman (10-12) followed suit, nabbing his first major decision of the year with a 9-0 win over Stephen Makuka at 141 pounds. Teitelman turned Makuka twice in the bout, and built a 7-0 lead by the end of the second period.
At 149 pounds, Parker returned from injury and put an impressive start to his 2008-09 season. In his first match of the year, Parker crushed Air Force freshman Alec Williams with a 15-0 technical fall, ending the bout in the second period. Parker's win put the Cardinal up 13-3.
Sophomore Lucas Espericueta (21-10) continued the Cardinal roll, earning another bonus-point win at 157 pounds. The Cardinal's returning NCAA qualifier had a 6-1 lead on sophomore Joseph Stafford by the end of the second period and pushed ahead to finish with a 10-1 major decision.
With Stanford now up 17-3, Amuchastegui took the mat against Crozier, one of two returning NCAA qualifiers on the Falcon squad. Amuchastegui picked up a key takedown in the first period, then rode Crozier out in the second. The Cardinal freshman held on and eventually earned a 6-2 decision.
In the next bout, freshman Victor Haug (8-14) lost a major decision to Air Force's other NCAA qualifier, junior Tyler French, 16-7.
Jake Johnson (23-12), Stanford's current season win leader, cinched up the Stanford victory in the 184-pound bout, however, defeating Air Force senior Sterling Tribble, 6-1. Now up 23-7, the Cardinal secured it fourth win of the year, and first over a Division I opponent.
Feist followed with his pin, sticking Falcon sophomore Kazden Ikehara in 1:14.
Winterbourne, who returned from injury just last week, then won the first match of his career. The Cardinal heavyweight recorded three takedowns in the final period to defeat Josh Larson, 9-3.
The Cardinal will be back on the mat tomorrow night, meeting Northern Colorado in Greeley at 6 p.m. (PT).
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