Huskers Aim for Ninth NCAA Championship This Week

Heach Coach Francis Allen and the rest of the Husker men’s gymnastics team will look to tie an NCAA record as the University of Nebraska plays host to the 1999 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships, April 22-24 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln. Tickets are available at the Nebraska Ticket office, across from Memorial Stadium, or by calling 1-800-8-BIG RED. All-session passes are available for $22.

The Huskers, who won the West Regional with a score of 229.425 on April 10, will be looking for their NCAA-record tying ninth national title, tying Penn State, which also qualified for the NCAAs, and Illinois for the most team titles in NCAA history. Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Brigham Young and Stanford will look to prevent the Huskers from claiming their third title in the 1990s.

History is on Nebraska’s side as the last two times NU has won both the conference and regional championships (1990 and 1994), it has also claimed the national title as well.

It is the 10th time that the national championships have come to Lincoln, the most of any city. The Bob Devaney Sports Center has also played host to the nine previous NCAA meets (1980, 1981,1982, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1992 and 1994). Throughout the years, NU has used the Devaney Center for a home-court advantage, finishing first or second all nine previous times, including five first-place finishes, most recently in 1994.

NCAA Media Information
Please contact Shamus McKnight in the Nebraska Sports Information office at (402) 472-2263 regarding NCAA Championship Credentials. Nebraska All-Sports Passes cannot be used for NCAA Championship events. The following is a schedule of events for media interested in covering the NCAA Championships. Please contact the Nebraska Sports Information office for more information on the events.

Husker NCAA History
Nebraska is making its 30th NCAA Championship appearance in school history. Since the team format began in 1966, Nebraska has appeared at the NCAAs 20 times, including this season. The Huskers have eight titles and seven runner-up finishes in that time, while also finishing fourth, fifth (twice) and seventh.

 

Nebraska at the NCAAs
Under Coach Jake Geier
Year Place Points
1948 Eighth 1.5
1954 15th (tie) 3
1955 Ninth (tie) 10
1956 14th 10.5
1958 18th (tie) 4
1959 17th 6
1960 20th 5.5
1962 10th 11
1963 14th 10
1964 11th 18

 

Under Coach Francis Allen
1975 Fifth 424.40
1976 Fourth 421.05
1979 First 488.275
1980 First 563.30
1981 First 284.60
1982 First 285.50
1983 First 287.80
1984 Fifth 277.65
1985 Second 284.55
1986 Second 283.60
1987 Second 284.7
1988 First 288.15
1989 Second 282.30
1990 First 287.40
1991 Seventh 282.20
1992 Second 275.50
1993 Second 288,25
1994 First 288.25
1995 Second 231.525

Note: Team format began in 1966

The 1999 NCAA Field
Of the six teams who qualified for this season’s NCAA Championships, only two, BYU and Ohio State, were in the field last season, and they finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Below is a list of the teams and their last NCAA appearance

Team Last NCAA Finish
Brigham Young 1998 Fifth
Michigan 1975 Sixth
Nebraska 1995 Second
Ohio State 1998 Sixth
Penn State 1997 Fifth
Stanford 1997 Sixth

Here is the what happened to the rest of the 1998 NCAA field at this season’s regionals.

Team Finish Regional Finish
BYU Fifth Second/West Regional
California First Fifth/West Regional
Iowa Second Fifth/West Regional
Illinois Third Fourth/East Regional
Oklahoma Fourth Fourth/West Regional
Ohio State Sixth First/West Regional

Recap: Hardabura Leads NU to West Regional Title
The fifth-ranked Huskers won the West Regional with a team score of 229.425, April 10 in Provo, Utah, qualifying for their first NCAA Championship since 1995. Nebraska will be joined by BYU, which finished second with a score of 228.475, and Stanford, which finished third with a 226.90, as the top three teams advanced to the NCAA Championships. Ohio State (231.10), Michigan (231.05) and Penn State (229.55) advanced from the East Region.

Nebraska was led by its all-around contingent of Jason Hardabura, Derek Leiter, Jim Koziol and Martin Fournier, all of whom placed in the top six in the all-around in helping the Huskers to its first regional title since 1994.

Hardabura won his eighth all-around title of the season, scoring a 58.075 for his fourth score of 58 or better this season. Hardabura finished second on high bar (9.90), parallel bars (9.65) and still rings (9.70) to pace NU. Leiter, who won NU’s only individual event title with a 9.85 on vault, finished second in the all-around to Hardabura with a 57.60, his third straight meet with a 57.60 or better. Leiter also placed fifth on floor exercise with a 9.75. Koziol, who competed in the all-around for just the second time this season, finished fifth with a 56.45, while Fournier was sixth with a score of 54.90.

Koziol Named One of Eight Nissen-Emery Finalists
Jim Koziol has been selected as one of eight national finalists for the 1999 Nissen-Emery Award. The award honors the nation’s most outstanding senior collegiate gymnast and will be presented at the annual Collegiate Gymnastics Association banquet on Wednesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. at the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln.

A third-team GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America, Koziol has been instrumental to Nebraska’s 16-2-1 record and a share of the MPSF Championship. He earned All-America honors on still rings with a fourth-place finish at the 1998 NCAA Championships and won the USA Gymnastics Team 2000 Individual Title in 1996. A senior co-captain, Koziol, who was recently accepted into the University of Nebraska Medical School, has competed in every meet this season and has season bests of 9.60 on floor exercise, 9.725 on pommel horse and 9.70 on still rings.

Koziol will look to become the fourth Nebraska gymnast to win this prestigious honor that has been presented every year since 1967, joining Tom Schlesinger (1988), Wes Suter (1986) and Jim Hartung (1992).

Koziol Continues Receiving Honors
Senior Jim Koziol began the NCAA Championship week with a pair of honors for his efforts in the classroom. Koziol, who was accepted into the University of Nebraska Medical School last month, was selected as the University of Nebraska Male Student-Athlete of the Year on Sunday, April 18, becoming the fourth Husker gymnast to win this prestigous honor, joining Mark Warburton (1990), Jason Christie (1996) and Ted Harris (1997). On Tuesday, April 20, Koziol was named third-team GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American. Koziol’s selection lifted Nebraska’s total to an NCAA record 162.

NU Coach Francis Allen
One of the most successful men’s gymnastics coaches in college gymnastics history, Nebraska men’s gymnastics coach Francis Allen is completing his 30th season at the helm of the Husker program. During his illustrious career, Allen, a two-time United States Olympic head coach (1980 and 1992), has compiled a 169-71-3 (.700) dual-meet record and has guided Nebraska to eight NCAA titles and seven runner-up finishes. He has coached 38 NCAA individual champions, nine U.S. Olympic gymnasts (earning 11 positions), nine GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans and three Nissen Award winners. The long-time Husker coach has led NU to 14 conference titles, including the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation crowns in 1997 and 1999, and was selected as one of two recipients of the College Gymnastics Association Honor Coach Award in 1998. Allen has guided the Huskers to 20 NCAA championship appearances

Allen, a three-time NCAA Coach of the Year, was a former co-caption, along with current NU assistant coach Jim Howard, at Nebraska in 1965 after winning the Big Eight Conference title on parallel bars in 1964.

Husker Six Pack
Although nine gymnasts are listed on the 1999 Nebraska roster, the Huskers have been down to six healthy gymnasts because of season-ending injuries to Marshall Nelson (left knee-Torn ACL), Jeff Kelly (back) and Dusty Jakub (broken left ankle).

Typically, NU uses four all-arounders (Hardabura, Leiter, Koziol and Fournier) and two competitiors who compete on five of the six events (Bukacek and Clinton). Bukacek competes on everying but still rings, while Clinton is not in the pommel horse lineup.

Homegrown Huskers
Five of the nine members of the 1999 roster are Nebraska natives, including Derek Leiter, Blake Bukacek, Dusty Jakub from Lincoln, Jeff Kelly from Grand Island and Jim Koziol from Omaha. The rest of the Huskers and their hometowns are as follows: Grant Clinton (Katy, Texas); Jason Hardabura (Oakville, Ontario); Martin Fournier (St. Hubert, Quebec) and Marshall Nelson (Greeley, Colo.).

Nelson Looks to 2000
The Huskers have also been without the services of senior Marshall Nelson, who suffered a torn ACL in his left knee on Nov. 10, all season. A three-time NCAA champion and six-time All-American, Nelson, who returned to limited practices in mid-March, has been granted a redshirt season and will return to the Husker lineup next season. The senior from Greeley, Colo., is a two-time NCAA champion on parallel bars (1997-98) and won the NCAA title on horizontal bar in 1997. The 1998 MPSF Gymnast of the Year, Nelson has earned All-America honors on four events (vault, pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar) during his career.

Huskers Enjoy Success in Classroom as Well
Seven of the eight Husker gymnasts earned 3.0 or better GPAs last semester in helping the NU men’s gymnastics team win the Herman Award for the first time. Presented annually to the NU team with the highest GPA, the Husker gymnasts had a team GPA of 3.19. Freshman Martin Fournier led the Huskers with a 3.958, missing a 4.0 by one B+. Senior Jim Koziol (3.70) and junior Derek Leiter (3.541) had grade-point averages of 3.50 or higher during the fall. Last season, Huskers finished fourth nationally with a 3.159 team grade-point average as both Koziol and Leiter earned NACGC Scholastic All-America honors.

West Has Been Best
Since the NCAA instituted the regionals after the 1989 season, the schools in the west region have enjoyed the majority of the success at the NCAAs. Since 1990, eight of the nine national titles have been won by programs in the West, including three by Stanford (1992-93-95), two by both Nebraska (1990 -94), California (1997-98) and one by Oklahoma (1991). The only eastern school to win in that span was Ohio State in 1996.

Huskers in the Rankings
Five Nebraska gymnasts are listed in the final NCAA rankings, released March 30. Individually, sophomore Jason Hardabura has moved from third into first place in the rankings with an RQS of 57.517 after winning the all-around at the MPSF Championships. Hardabura, who was third nationally last week, is ranked in the top 20 in four events, horizontal bar (fourth, 9.775), still rings (ninth, 9.725), floor exercise (13th, 9.625) and pommel horse (14th, 9.717).

Junior All-American Derek Leiter also makes his first appearance in the top five in the all-around with a fourth-place ranking in the all-around (57.217). In fact, Nebraska is the only school with two all-arounders ranked in the top five nationally. A Lincoln Southeast grad, Leiter is ranked first on vault (9.792), seventh on floor exercise (9.683), 10th on pommel horse (9.608) and 15th on high bar (9.592) after his runner-up finish at the MPSF Championships.

Five different Huskers who have competed enough to receive an RQS are ranked in the top 20 in at least one event. Freshman Martin Fournier is ranked 17th in the all-around (55.967) and is 20th on high bar (9.558), while junior Blake Bukacek ranks sixth nationally on high bar (9.725) and sophomore Grant Clinton is 14th on still rings (9.621). As a team, the Huskers are ranked in the top 10 on all six events. NU is No. 1 on high bar (38.592), fifth on pommel horse (38.425) and still rings (38.192), eighth on parallel bars (37.558) and ninth on both floor exercise (37.80) and vault (37.75).

A Challenging Schedule
Heading into the postseason, the Huskers have faced five of the top 10 teams in dual meets this season, including No. 3 Iowa, No. 4 Penn State, No. 6 Michigan State and No. 7 Oklahoma (twice). Nebraska is 3-0 against teams from the East Region, which features eight of the top 10 teams in the final-regular season rankings. Counting the Rocky Mountain Open, where NU defeated OU and BYU and the MPSF Championships, the Huskers were 5-1-1 against teams who finished the regular season in the top 10.

NU is 4-1 against the NCAA field, including a 2-1 record over BYU and single wins against Stanford (MPSF Championships) and Penn State. Nebraska has not competed against Ohio State and Michigan.

Last Season: 1998 NCAA Championships Recap
Despite not qualifying as a team, four of the six NU gymnasts who competed at nationals returned with All-America honors, including first-time recipients Bill Mulholland, Jim Koziol and Derek Leiter.

Junior Marshall Nelson paced the Huskers with two All-America honors, winning the parallel bars title with a score of 9.7875 and placing second on pommel horse with a 9.775. Nelson became NU’s 38th individual champion and just the seventh to win three or more NCAA titles during a career.

Mulholland, a finalist for the Nissen Award, picked the perfect time to have his career-best vault, scoring a 9.70 to qualify for the NCAA individual finals where he finished fourth with a score of 9.60. Koziol capped his comeback from shoulder surgery as he earned his first All-America certificate on the still rings, placing fourth with a score of 9.675. The junior from Omaha also qualified on the floor exercise, but did not advance to the finals. Leiter became the first NU gymnast to earn All-America honors in the all-around since 1995, as he placed fifth with a score of 57.075.

Freshman Jason Hardabura just missed capturing All-America honors, finishing ninth in the all-around with a score of 56.325. The freshman from Oakville, Ontario, was the top placing freshman in the all-around. Sophomore Blake Bukacek rounded out the Husker qualifiers, finishing 45th on the horizontal bar with a score of 8.50.