Jan. 31, 2006

Stanford sophomore David Sender earned MPSF Gymnast of the Week honors for the first time this year, announced yesterday. Sender won the floor exercise (9.35), the vault (9.55) and shared a victory on the rings with teammate Bryant Hadden (9.3) at the Cardinal's season-opener at California on January 13. Sender also posted the top all-around score against the Bears, tallying 50.45 on six events.

After two competitions, Sender is currently ranked first in the nation on the vault, thanks to a season-best of 9.55 at Cal. He is also ranked sixth on the floor exercise and tied for eighth on the still rings. As a team, Stanford is currently ranked first on the vault and still rings.

Fourth-ranked Stanford will send five gymnasts to this weekend's Winter Cup in Las Vegas, Nev. Sender, Dylan Carney, Sho Nakamori, Jason Shen and Alex Schorsch will all compete at the event, which qualifies the top six all-around finishers to the National Team. Competition begins Thursday, February 2 and continues on Saturday, February 4.