Huskers Finish Sixth at Super Six Finals

Salt Lake City, Utah - The Huskers made their second trip to the Super Six in three years and finished sixth with a score of 194.800. Georgia won its fifth NCAA title (1987, '89, '93, '98, '99) and is the only team to win back-to-back titles other than Utah. The Gym Dogs accumulated 196.850 points for the title, while Michigan scored 196.550 for second place. Rounding out the top three were the Crimson Tide of Alabama with a score of 195.950.

Junior Heather Brink (Lincoln, Neb.) led the Huskers scoring a 9.950 on vault tying with Georgia's Karin Lichey for first place, tying her own school record in the process. Brink finished 11th overall in the all-around scoring a 38.925. Brink's efforts could not keep Nebraska in contention for the crown.

The Huskers got a good draw for the meet starting on bars and then moving to beam-bye-floor-vault, but could not get the scoring going.

"We dug a hole on every event," Coach Dan Kendig said. "It's really hard to compete when you fall on every event. We started with a mistake on bars and that put a lot more pressure on the bar team. I'm really proud of this team and they had an incredible year. I hated to see the seniors end their collegiate careers this way."

The Huskers had to count a fall on bars that left them with a score of 48.350 going into their second event. Nebraska moved to beam where they again had to count a fall for their team score. The Huskers entered their third event with a score of 96.825. After a bye the Huskers tried to regain their poise and knock out 12 routines to put them back in contention.

The Huskers struggled during their first floor routine before producing five solid routines and a score of 48.975. Nebraska moved to their final rotation on vault hoping to hit all six routines to insure them a higher team score. Again, the Huskers had to count a fall and finished the event with a 49.000. Brink's performance on vault gave the team their highest score of the night (9.950).

Misty Oxford (Kelso, Wash.) was eighth in the all-around tonight with a score of 39.175 and Bree Dority (Kearney, Neb.) finished 15th in the all-around, scoring 38.575.

Brink and Oxford compete Saturday at 7 p.m. in the individual finals. Brink will compete on vault and floor and Oxford will compete on floor. Both Huskers earned all-america honors and both have a chance to bring home individual titles.

Notes
* Nebraska finished sixth in the 1997 Super Six with a score of 195.25
* Georgia is the first team to win the title starting on vault in the Super Six format. Utah won the 1994 crown also starting on vault, but after they sat out the first rotation with a bye.