Stanford Athletics were well-represented in Nevada this weekend. After a tough loss by men’s basketball in Las Vegas on Saturday night, No. 25 wrestling took to the mats for the last time in 2021 at the Reno Tournament of Champions, where three Cardinal earned top-five finishes.
Let’s look at how the Cardinal arrived at this point. After opening the season with two double-digit losses — first to No. 4 Oklahoma State followed by another to then-No. 6 Cornell — Stanford bounced back to earn a double-digit win for themselves against Binghamton, the first win for new head coach Rob Koll with the program. Then, the Cardinal finished in 13th place at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational before they traveled up to Reno for their final competition this calendar year.
On Saturday, Stanford moved up a couple of spots by earning sixth place as a team at the Reno Tournament of Champions led by junior Jackson DiSario, redshirt junior Real Woods and sophomore Nick Stemmet.
DiSario earned the highest placement of the Cardinal with a third-place finish at the 133 pounds division, going 5-1 with his only loss coming from No. 21 redshirt senior Devan Turner from Oregon State.
In his season debut, 2020 All-American Woods went 3-0 in his bouts before medically forfeiting from the remainder of the tournament. Despite the forfeit, he finished fourth in the 141 pounds division.
Similarly to DiSario, Stemmet went 5-1 in the tournament with a major decision loss against Beaver redshirt sophomore JJ Dixon. Stemmet’s improvement throughout the season earned him a fifth-place finish at 197 pounds in Reno.
Three additional Cardinal claimed quarterfinal berths at the tournament: 2020 All-American and redshirt sophomore Jaden Abas (149 pounds), redshirt junior Tyler Eischens (174 pounds) and sophomore Peter Ming (285 pounds).
With six Cardinal advancing to the quarterfinals and beyond in their final meet of 2021, Stanford hopes to ride the wave of momentum heading into 2022 when they compete at the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tenn. on Jan. 1 and 2.