March 22, 2005

Stanford, Calif. - No. 8 Stanford travels to Oklahoma this weekend for the MPSF men's gymnastics championship. Freshmen David Sender and Sho Nakamori are expected to lead a Cardinal squad that will be competing for the first time since defeating Cal in a dual meet on March 6th, 222.675-219.775.

Nakamori is Stanford's top-ranked all-around performer, checking in at No. 5 with a Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 54.742. Sender is not far behind, as the freshman is currently ranked No. 11 with an RQS of 53.658. Also ranking in the top-25 in the all-around for the Cardinal is freshman Jason Shen, who is No. 24 in the nation with a 51.833 RQS.

Coach Thom Glielmi's squad is particularly strong in the floor exercise, where Sender and Nakamori rank 11th and 12th in the nation, respectively. Sender has posted a 9.417 RQS on floor, while Nakamori is right behind him with a 9.392 mark. The squad ranks seventh as a team on floor.

Stanford has a team ranking of No. 5 on rings, with three gymnasts ranked in the top-22 in the nation. Sender is ranked 15th with a 9.633 RQS, while sophomore Alex Schorsch is tied for 19th (9.617) and sophomore Peter Derman ranks 22nd in the nation with a 9.600 RQS.

The Cardinal is currently ranked in the top-11 in every apparatus.

Stanford will face a challenging field at the MPSF championship that includes No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 6 California, No. 9 Nebraska, and No. 18 Air Force. The Cardinal have defeated Cal twice in dual meets this season (January 16th and March 6th), and topped Air Force in a dual meet on February 19th, 214.275-192.050.

The MPSF team championship will be on Friday at 7:00 pm, while the individual finals are scheduled for a 1:00 pm start on Saturday at the Lloyd Noble Center.

The NCAA men's gymnastics championship is scheduled for April 7th-9th in West Point, New York.