Jan. 19, 2007

BERKELEY - No. 2 Stanford got the best of No. 4 California in the season opener for both teams, Friday night at Haas Pavilion. The Cardinal defeated the Golden Bears by the final score of 205.100-196.000.

Despite suffering defeat, Cal still had some strong performances. The top performances for the Bears were sophomore Kyson Bunthuwong's 9.250 on parallel bars and junior Aaron Moy's 9.200 on floor exercise. In addition, freshman Bryan Del Castillo, making his debut at Cal, turned in a score of 9.000 on floor exercise.

The high scores from Bunthuwong and Moy helped Cal win its two events of the meet, floor exercise and parallel bars. The Bears just edged past Stanford on floor exercise, winning the event, 34.650-34.600. The win on parallel bars was a little bit more decisive for Cal (35.200-34.150).

Junior Tim McNeill, the reigning NCAA champion on pommel horse , turned in a score of 8.350 on pommel horse that was a team-high for the event. However, the Cardinal had the top three scores in the event to earn the victory. McNeill turned in a solid performance on still rings as well, notching a score of 9.100, just behind Bunthuwong's 9.250 for the best score of the night overall for Cal.

Cal won't have to wait long to get back on the mats against Stanford. The Bears head to Stanford next Saturday when they will compete in the Stanford Open at 7 p.m.

Cal's top three scores per event

Floor Exercise
Aaron Moy - 9.200
Bryan Del Castillo - 9.000
Kyson Bunthuwong - 8.800

Still Rings
Tyler Block - 8.900
Mark Freeman -8.800
Tim McNeill - 8.700

Vault
Aaron Moy - 7.450
Daniel Geri - 7.400
Bryan Del Castillo - 7.250

Parallel Bars
Kyson Bunthuwong - 9.250
Tim McNeill - 9.100
Daniel Geri - 8.450

High Bar
Kyson Bunthuwong - 8.750
Colin Christ - 7.750
Daniel Geri - 7.350