Huskers Head to Norman for Round Two

After hosting the defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners last Sunday, the No. 9 Nebraska men’s gymnastics team travels to <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Norman, Okla., this Saturday, March 11 where OU will return the favor at the LloydNobleCenter at 7 p.m.  The meet also features No. 2 Stanford in triangular competition. <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

Round two between the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference rivals takes place following an Oklahoma win in Lincoln, 214.65-208.65.  The meet marked the second time the two squads had met in 2006, the first of which took place at the Rocky Mountain Open on Jan. 14 with the Sooners again taking top honors, 208.85-198.475. 

 

Although the Huskers lost at home to Oklahoma, Nebraska did accomplish its ultimate goal of vastly improving its event and team scores.  NU set season-high marks on both the floor exercise (35.70) and pommel horse (34.20) and its team score of 208.65 lifted the Huskers three spots in the national rankings from No. 12 to No. 9.  Individually, Nebraska took one event title away from the Sooners with a first-place finish on the vault by senior Nick Moore (9.45).

 

This is the second time Nebraska will face Stanford, as the Huskers made an appearance at the Stanford Open on Jan. 21 where they finished third (198.475) behind Stanford and Cal.  The Cardinal have had tremendous success in 2006, posting a three-score average of 216.658 behind Oklahoma’s 216.683.  As this is the last regular-season meet for both Oklahoma and Stanford, Saturday’s meet will determine which program heads to nationals in first-place. 

 

For the Huskers, the meet is one of two remaining regular-season competitions.   NU returns to the BobDevaneySportsCenter on Sunday, March 19 for a 2 p.m. showdown with the Air Force Falcons.  With that in mind, Nebraska’s biggest task this weekend is maintaining the performance level it set at home in order to remain in the top 12 team rankings and secure the opportunity to come back to Norman in April for the 2006 NCAA Championships.

 

A link to the live stats for Saturday’s competition is available on above.  The meet will also be streamed live on Huskers Inside beginning at 6:45 p.m. CST on Saturday.

 

 

 

Meet Moved from McCasland to Llyod Noble

While this weekend’s meet between the Huskers and the Sooners was originally slated to take place at McCasland Field House, the venue has been changed to the LloydNobleCenter.

 

Lloyd Noble hosted the 2005 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships and will also host the 2006 NCAA Championships in April.  The reason for this Saturday’s switch was to give all three teams the opportunity to compete in the facility prior to postseason action.  It is also a larger venue, which is better suited for a triangular format.

 

A PDF version of a map to the LloydNobleCenter is available on above.

 

Cracking the Top-10

The Nebraska men’s gymnastics team earned its highest ranking of the season as it broke into the nation’s top-10 this week at No. 9 with a three-score average of 207.00.  The Huskers moved up three places in this week’s GymInfo rankings as a result of the 208.65 team score Nebraska notched against Oklahoma on March 5 in Lincoln.

 

Nebraska has risen as high as 10th this season and fallen as low as 14th.  The Huskers were ranked 10th in the preseason coaches poll.

 

In addition to the increased team standing, several Huskers improved in the individual rankings.  Sophomore Stephen T?trault moved from 13th to 12th on the pommel horse and from 16th to 14th in the all-around and junior Jason Wassung improved from 16th to 14th on the pommel horse and from ninth to seventh in the all-around. 

 

Senior Nick Moore, who won his second consecutive vaulting title against the Sooners on March 5 with a career-high score of 9.45, moved five spots from No. 12 to No. 7 on the vault with a three-score average of 9.367.  Moore had previously never been nationally ranked on any event.

 

Senior Derric Wood made the week’s largest leap, moving from 15th to eighth in the nation’s high bar rankings, while freshman T.J. Schmidt made his debut on the GymInfo list at No. 19 on the parallel bars.

 

Scouting the Sooners

With six national titles under their belt and an undefeated season in the works, is No. 7 on the way?  For the defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners, the possibility definitely has merit.

 

Head Coach Mark Williams has put together a remarkable group of local and national talent that has undoubtedly made OU the team to beat.  Whether or not that can be done is a source of some debate, as the Sooners have already toppled such top contenders as Ohio State, Cal, Iowa and Michigan.

 

Leading Oklahoma in this effort is sophomore Jonathan Horton. In just his second season of collegiate competition, Horton is on his way to the history books as a two-time member of the U.S. National Team, an NCAA vaulting champion and a staple in OU’s campaign for back-to-back titles.  Most recently, the Texas native added to his extensive list of national honors by taking the all-around crown at the American Cup.  

 

Without Horton, the Sooners still have plenty of ammunition, including NCAA All-Americans Jamie Henderson, James Myers and Taquiy Abdullah-Simmons.  Abdullah-Simmons holds the Oklahoma record on parallel bars with a score of 9.60 and is currently ranked ninth nationally in that event in addition to being ranked ninth as well on the still rings.

 

 

Scouting the Cardinal

After entering the season ranked No. 6 in the preseason coaches poll, the Stanford Cardinal have become the surprise story of the season.

 

Stanford has posted big dual wins over national powerhouses like Cal, Michigan and PennState and are currently pressuring the Sooners for the nation’s No. 1 ranking.

 

With 12 returning lettermen, the Cardinal are packed with experience.  Leading the way this year is sophomore David Sender who posted a season-high all-around score of 54.45 at the Pacific Coast Classic on Feb. 27.  At the Winter Cup, Sender qualified for the U.S. National team for the second consecutive year and is currently ranked fifth in the national all-around ranks.

 

As a team, Stanford leads the nation in the floor exercise, vault and high bar with three-score averages of 36.80, 36.95 and 37.20, respectively.

 

 

Last Time Out

Senior Nick Moore captured his second consecutive vaulting title with a career-high score of 9.45 in front of 1,437 fans at the DevaneySportsCenter last weekend as the Huskers fell to Oklahoma 208.65-214.65.  The loss moved Nebraska to 0-3 in dual competition for the season heading into its next meet with Oklahoma on Saturday, March 11

 

Nebraska’s team score was the second highest of the season for the Huskers who posted a season best of 209.45 against Iowa on Feb. 12.

 

In the all-around, junior Jason Wassung finished second with a score of 51.85, followed by sophomore Stephen T?trault in third with a score of 50.65.  Oklahoma’s Taquiy Abdullah took top honors in the all-around with a score of 52.95.

 

The Huskers began the afternoon by setting a season-high team score of 35.70 on the floor exercise behind season-high scores of 9.0 from both Wassung and senior Nic Matthews, who tied for third place in the event.  Moore set his first career-high of the afternoon with an 8.75, while freshman T.J. Schmidt set a career best of his own with a score of 8.20.

 

The Huskers continued to set top scores on the pommel horse with season-highs from senior Ray Hacker (8.30), senior Derric Wood (8.50) and T?trault (8.80).  T?trault finished second in the event, while Wassung landed third (8.60).  Schmidt notched his second career-high of the meet with an 8.30 on the pommel horse.

 

Individually, several Huskers performed well on the rings however including Hacker who set yet another career-high with a score of 8.95, the highest ring score of any Husker this season.

 

On the vault, typically NU’s domain, the Sooners swept in and posted five of six scores above 9.0 to extend their lead.  For its part, Nebraska was led by Moore (9.45), who has bettered his score on the vault in each of NU’s last three duals. 

 

On the parallel bars, Nebraska’s freshmen stepped up to the plate with Schmidt marking a career and team-high score of 8.85 to tie for second place.  Freshman James Mauldin also tacked on a career high of 8.10 after just his second week as part of the NU parallel bars lineup.  Wood also nailed a solid set for score of 8.65.

 

Nebraska finished out the afternoon on the high bar, which was highlighted by another brilliant performance from Wood who seems to have found his niche on the event this season.  The Lincoln native grabbed the attention of both the crowd and the judges with his outstanding high bar routine, earning a score of 9.35 good for second place.

 

Husker History vs. OU

The historical lineage between Nebraska and Oklahoma, two of the nation’s richest traditions in men’s gymnastics, is as great as the programs themselves.  The rivalry started in 1966 with a triangular between the Huskers, Sooners and Air Force that resulted in a Falcon victory, one of just two the Academy has over NU in school history.

 

Over the last 30 years, Nebraska and Oklahoma have remained staples in collegiate competition, reaching a 30-28-1 all-time series record that shifted in favor of the Sooners just last season with a 219.35-216.10 OU win on Feb. 20, 2005 in Lincoln.

 

But the bond between Nebraska and Oklahoma reaches far beyond the columns of wins and losses.  These two respected institutions also share a number of other intrigues.  To begin with, NU and OU face each other more than any other team on either’s schedule.  This season alone, the two programs will compete four times, two of which will be back-to-back duals.

 

Another similarity is that Allen actually coached Williams.  In fact, Williams spent his collegiate career with the Huskers, where he was a part of the Nebraska national championship teams in 1979 and 1980 along with NU assistant coach Jim Hartung, in addition to being crowned a high bar All-American in 1978.

 

Husker History vs. Stanford

Although Nebraska and Stanford have been part of the same conference since 1994, the two programs rarely meet during the regular-season.

 

In NU history, the Huskers and the Cardinal have never competed in strict dual competition and have only seen each other in a multi-team setting a total of three times, all of which Stanford has one.

 

One of those times was on Jan. 21 of this year when the Huskers traveled to California to take part in the Stanford Open.  The Cardinal took first in the event with a score of 208.625 ahead of Cal in second (206.125) and Nebraska in third (198.475).

 

Despite their relatively short history, Stanford and Nebraska do currently share a different sort of bond.  Stanford assistant coach J.D. Rieve was a Husker gymnast in the mid-1990s, earning letters in 1996 and 1997 under Nebraska head coach Francis Allen.

 

A Different Look

Although Nebraska and Oklahoma are competing twice within a single week, this Saturday’s meet could have a very different look. 

 

Last weekend, two Sooners and one Husker did not compete either because of injury or other commitments.  This weekend, with the definite return of Sooner sophomore Jonathan Horton and the possibility of full returns from OU junior Brian Carr and Nebraska senior Tony Burtle, Saturday could feature much different lineups. 

 

Burtle competed only as part of the high bar lineup last weekend as compared to his usual presence on the floor, vault, parallel bars and high bar.  The Grand Island native suffered an ankle injury the previous week in practice and Nebraska’s coaching staff did not want to strain him further by putting him on heavy tumbling events.  While his full return is still unsure, Burtle will likely compete to some extent on Saturday.

 

Carr also suffered an ankle injury prior to the Nebraska-Oklahoma meet last weekend.  However, his took place during warm-ups prior to the competition, leaving the Sooners with a big hole to fill and little time to do it.  However, Carr is expected to make a full return this weekend.

 

One face that will indeed return this weekend is that of Horton’s, who gets back into collegiate action after winning the 2006 American Cup in Philadelphia on Saturday, March 4.  As the nation’s No. 1 all-arounder and ringman, Horton’s impact on this Saturday’s competition is unquestionable.

 

 

Revamping the Rankings

The recent upheaval in the national rankings, mostly on the individual side, is a direct result of a switch that occurred on Feb. 20.  Prior to that date, the rankings had been based on the average of all scores for a team or individual.  Now the rankings are based on a top three-score average for both team and individual rankings.

 

After this weekend’s dual, the system will change once again on March 13 to a modified three-score average.  This means that of the four highest scores, counting no more than two home meets, the highest will be dropped and the three remaining will be calculated to figure the new median score.

 

The Huskers are ranked No. 9 as a team under the new system, while individually junior Jason Wassung and senior Nick Moore hold Nebraska’s highest individual rankings with Wassung seventh in the all-around and Moore seventh in vault.

 

Tickets Available for NCAA Championships

Tickets for the 2006 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships (April 6-8), hosted by the University of Oklahoma inside the Lloyd Noble Center, are now available for sale to the public through the OU Athletics Ticket Office and Soonersports.com. Fans can purchase tickets for a single session or a package that includes all four sessions of the championship.  Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for youth.

 

The NCAA Championships   kick off on Thursday, April 6, with two qualifying sessions. The first session will begin at 1 p.m. (CST) and session two will start at 7 p.m (CST). The team finals will be held on Friday, April 7, at 7 p.m. (CST) and Saturday’s event finals will get underway at 7 p.m. (CST) as well.

 

Fans interested in purchasing tickets can call the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (405) 325-2424 or (800) 456-4668 or visit www.Soonersports.com.

 

For more information about the Nebraska men’s gymnastics team throughout the 2006 season including meet previews, results, statistics and individual athlete accomplishments, please visit Huskers.com.