STANFORD, Calif. - Head coach Jason Borrelli has announced that redshirt sophomore Nathan Butler, redshirt junior Maxwell Hvolbek, redshirt senior Michael Sojka and redshirt junior Jim Wilson will serve as team captains for the upcoming 2015-16 season.
Sojka and Wilson both served as captains during the 2014-15 campaign as well. Captains were chosen by a team vote. Sojka, who started last season with a 2-0 mark before sitting due to injury, posted a 12-14 record as a redshirt sophomore in 2013-14. The atmosphere and energy major who is a native of Winnebago, Illinois, is 31-30 overall during his time on The Farm.
Wilson, a psychology major from Lodi, California, wrapped-up his second season with the Cardinal with a team-best 34-7 overall record. He is now 69-15 in two seasons at Stanford. He placed eighth at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Missouri to become the 17th All-American in program history, just the seventh underclassmen, and the first since 2012. He is the first Cardinal to capture back-to-back conference titles since Tanner Gardner in 2007-08, and the first underclassmen to do so since 1985-86.
Butler is coming off a successful redshirt freshman campaign in which he went 29-9 and qualified for the NCAA Championships. He captured the Pac-12 title at 285 pounds, becoming just the fourth Cardinal freshman to do so. His 29 wins tied Zack Giesen and Nick Amuchastegui for the fourth-most by a freshman in school history. Recently, the Leavenworth, Kansas, native won a senior-level bronze medal at the 2015 Grand Prix in Spain. He joins incoming freshman Joey McKenna on the U.S. Junior World Team, which will compete in Brazil August 11-16.
Hvolbek, a sociology major from West Hills, California, was 18-12 in his redshirt sophomore season. He was the runner-up at the Roadrunner Open (Nov. 16) and took third at the Reno Tournament of Champions (Dec. 21) last season. He also placed eighth at the Southern Scuffle (Jan. 1-2), and holds a 30-16 career record. Hvolbek is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic Second Team selection and was an NWCA Academic All-America pick in 2014-15.
