Sports
Mid-Peninsula igh chool H S
spring open house Saturday, April 23, 2011 10:30-12pm No RSVP is necessary
Choose a small, caring, innovative high school 1340 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025
www.mid-pen.com
(650) 321-1991
NCAA gymnastics (continued from page 29)
“I never talked about it with the guys,” Glielmi said. “I think the guys knew, but they weren’t focused on it. With all the great (Stanford) teams this year we were expecting to hit that before now. No one realized it would get all the way to April. The fact it’s the men’s gymnasics team is a great honor. We are all pleasantly surprised at the fanfare we’ve received since we returned to campus. It was great to receive all the texts, the phone calls, and the messages.” For seniors Alex Buscaglia, Josh Dixon, Tim Gentry, Ryan Lieberman, Nick Noone and Abhinav Ramani, it is the culmination of the most successful four-year stretch in the program’s history. Over the past four years, Stanford has won two national titles and was the national runnerup the other two times. The Cardinal has finished no lower than third since 2006. “Gentry was a junior national champion, a real solid guy with solid character,” Glielmi said. “You never needed to push him. He’s selfmotivated. He’s gotten to where he is through hard work and dedication.” Gentry, a seven-time All-American, Buscaglia and Lieberman have all been members of the U.S. national team. Dixon is a current member of the squad. “You could see Alex had some talent as a junior gymnast,” Glielmi said. “He was recruited by other programs but no one could have foreseen that he would progress to the level he did. He’s business-like. He gets it done. He’s surprised people how far he’s come along.” Buscaglia earned the NCAA individual title on the horizontal bars, adding to his outstanding season that began with a gold medal at the Pan Am Games over the summer. He is a six-time All-American.
Lieberman was the 2010 national champion on the parallel bars and is a two-time All-American. “He’s a great talent and a great kid,” Glielmi said of Lieberman. “Because of his experience he has the ability to help in each event. He sets the stage as a start-off guy in a few events (including vault).” Dixon was fourth in the floor exercise, earning his seventh AllAmerican honor. “Josh is another guy who exceeded a lot of people’s expectations,” Glielmi said. “He had a breakout year to make the national team.” Ramani sustained a broken arm during his junior year of high school and did not compete as a senior. He became a collegiate All-American. “I encouraged him to walk on,” Glielmi said. “I had no idea the quality of person we were getting. He’s a great leader on the team. He’s like the team mom who checks up on guys to make sure everything is in order.” Noone, a four-time All-American, returned for a fifth season after sitting out his freshman year. He suffered an injury early in the season and was able to recover in time to contribute to the national title. The Cardinal won’t be left emptyhanded next season, with the likes of All-Americans Eddie Penev, Cameron Foreman and Chris Turner. John Martin, Jordan Nolff, James Fosco, Paul Hichwa and Jason Stevens also competed. Glielmi never discussed winning the school’s 100th NCAA title. He remembered Darrin Nelson approaching him minutes before opening ceremonies two years ago and telling him the athletic department was counting on him to extend the streak of consecutive years with an NCAA title. As it turned out, there was no need to worry. This year, Stanford took care of both No. 100 and extending the consecutive year streak to an NCAA record 35 years. A banner year, indeed. N
Thursday, April 28 10am - 7pm
A Heather Moore Senior Design Consultant will be present to help you.
Page 32ÊUÊ «À ÊÓÓ]ÊÓ䣣ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ