Nebraska Gears Up For NCAA Battle

Lincoln --The Nebraska men’s gymnastics team travels to Champaign, Ill. this weekend for the NCAA Championships held at the Assembly Hall on the University of Illinois campus. Competition begins on Friday, April 2, with the team qualfier at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., continues on Saturday, April 3 with the team and all-around finals and the individual qualifier at 7 p.m., and finishes up on Sunday, April 4 at 2 p.m. with the individual event finals.

Nebraska is one of 12 teams that qualified for the meet and is slated to compete during Session II at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Huskers will be up against some of the best squads in the nation during the rotation including top-ranked Illinois, No. 4 California, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 8 Stanford and No. 11 Minnesota. Nebraska, which is slated to begin the competition on parallel bars, must finish within the top-three in their session in order to qualify for the team finals on Sunday.

Thus far in 2004, NU has become familiar with each of teams they will be facing at the NCAA competition. Earlier this season, the Huskers stunned then top-ranked Ohio State in February. Nebraska has seen Minnesota several times throughout the season and has split a pair of dual competitions. At the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, March 19-20, NU went up against a participant roster similar to the one the Huskers will be seeing this weekend, as they competed against three of the five teams in their session (California, Stanford, Minnesota) and came out in fourth place (211.525).

Five other top teams will compete in Session I of the team portion, including No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Penn State, No. 6 Iowa, No. 7 Michigan, No. 9 Illinois-Chicago, and No. 12 Army.

Huskers Finish Fourth at MPSF Team Competition
The Nebraska men’s gymnastics team finished fourth overall with a score of 211.525 during the team competition of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships held in Stanford, Calif. on Friday, March 19. Teams finishing ahead of the Huskers included California (220.225), which upset Oklahoma (219.600) for the team title, and Stanford (214.675). The Air Force Academy rounded out the five-team competition (204.900).

After nearly toppling second-place Oklahoma in their last regular season meet of 2004, the Huskers headed into the MPSF competition hopeful that the momentum they had gained during that meet would carry through in the post-season. However, NU generated a lower overall team score, falling from a 218.525 against the Sooners to a 211.525, and earned only a single first place finish which came from senior captain Josh Rasile on the still rings (9.775). Rasile bettered his previous best of 9.75, which he earned during the MPSF competition in 2003."Our ring team was excellent," Coach Francis Allen said. "But we gave the meet away on the pommel horse and parallel bars because we only hit scores around the 33 mark."

The Huskers did in fact earn lower scores on both the pommel horse and parallel bars than they had seen earlier this year with a 33.65 and 33.75, respectively.

"It was a total team effort," Allen said. "No one really performed that well. We just had an overall poor meet."

Although Nebraska did not finish the team competition of the MPSF Championships as well as the Huskers had expected, they did manage to secure a place for themselves at the NCAA Championship competition.

NU Gymnasts Take On MPSF Event Finals
Four NU gymnasts competed in the event finals during day two of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships in Stanford, Calif., on Saturday, March 20. Senior Josh Rasile and freshman Paul Chumreonlert competed on the still rings, finishing fourth (9.412) and fifth (9.387), respectively, with Rasile also spending time on the floor exercise where he finished fifth (9.037). Junior Mace Patterson represented Nebraska on the high bar, where he placed third overall with a score of 9.137, and sophomore Nic Matthews rounded out the Husker lineup on the vault where he finished eighth (8.45).

In order to participate in this competition, gymnasts had to place among the top eight in any of the six events during the team competition held on Friday, March 19. During the team portion of the meet, Rasile took top honors with a career-high 9.775 on the rings and nailed down a 9.15 on the floor. Chumreonlert earned a 9.30 on rings, Patterson topped off a 9.15 on the high bar, and Matthews landed a 9.05 on the vault.

Husker History at NCAA
Nebraska first found itself in the winner’s circle at the NCAA Championships in 1979. This success launched a string of NU titles for the next five yeras, ending in 1983. Since then, the Huskers have seen three additional team championships in 1988, 1990, and most recently in 1994.

Individually, eight Nebraska gymnasts have captured all-around titles. Former Olympian Jim Hartung earned consecutive titles in 1980 and 1981 and NU’s most recent all-around victory came from Jason Hardabura in 1999.

In 2003, the Huskers finished fifth in the team qualifier (207.425) but failed to advance to the finals. NU advanced three gymnasts to the event preliminaries: Steven Friedman (AA), Mace Patterson (PH), and Josh Rasile (V). Friedman qualified for the final round in the parallel bars and took home fifth-place honors with a score of 8.837. Friedman’s success not only made him the sole NU gymnast to compete in the event finals, but also earned him All-America honors for the year.

Interview Requests
The Nebraska men’s gymnastics team will depart from Lincoln at 10:55 a.m. on the morning of Thursday, April 1 for the NCAA Championships in Champaign, Ill. All interview and photography requests will be processed beginning on Tuesday, March 30 and continuing through Wednesday, March 31. Interviews will be conducted at the beginning (2:30 p.m.) or end (5:30 p.m.) of practice on these days. For interview and photography requests, please contact Kelli Kremlacek at Nebraska Sports Information, (402) 472-2263.