NU Posts Season-High Score in Loss to Sooners

<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Lincoln ? The No. 11 Nebraska men’s gymnastics team scored a season-high team mark of 205.95 in front of 4,125 fans that packed the DevaneySportsCenter to cheer on the Huskers against defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners on Friday. Despite a strong team score, NU’s performance wasn’t quite enough to topple OU, which posted a score of 213.30 for the win. <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

“I really thought we would be ahead of Oklahoma after the first two rotations tonight, but we struggled through floor and pommel horse, and they just kept gaining momentum,” Head Coach Francis Allen. “But 205 is a good team score, and we had a great crowd tonight for our first home meet.”

Friday’s attendance number marks the largest crowd to watch an NCAA men’s gymnastics competition in 2007. The Husker Nation had plenty to cheer about, as it saw Lincoln native Jason Wassung set a pair of career-high marks en route to the parallel bars crown (9.40) and a second-place finish in the all-around (51.90). In addition to his career-high on the parallel bars, Wassung also set a new mark on the high bar (9.20) for second place on the event, and added season-high scores on the still rings (8.90), vault (8.70) and all-around.

Wassung’s parallel bars title was one of two event crowns for the Huskers, with freshman Tony Maras tying with Oklahoma’s Jonathan Horton for the vault title (8.90). With the title, Maras became the first in Nebraska’s nine-man freshman class to reach the top of the podium this season.

“We saw a lot of great performances from guys like Jason Wassung and Tony (Maras),” Allen said. “Now, we just need to learn to capitalize on that momentum and take it into the rest of our routines.”

Nebraska would have seen an even higher team score had it not been for a pair of rocky rotations on the floor exercise and pommel horse to start the dual. The Huskers put together four solid scores on the floor exercise, but nothing like the breakout mark of 9.35 that they saw from frehsman Kyle Shanahan at the Stanford Open last weekend. Without those 9.0 scores, NU fell well short of its season-high floor score of 35.15, with a mark of 34.00

The pommel horse continued a string of bad luck for the Huskers, as the first four consecutive competitors lost points on falls. It wasn’t until junior Stephen T?trault took the horse that Nebraska set up a mark over an 8.0, with T?trault notching a strong season-high score of 8.70 and the second-place finish. T?trault was followed by sophomore T.J. Schmidt, who currently ranks 12th in the nation on the pommel horse. Schmidt earned a score of 8.40 for third place behind T?trault and Horton.

NU kept swinging on the still rings, tallying a team mark of 34.80. Wassung thrilled his hometown Lincoln crowd with a season-high score of 8.90 to start a string of strong routines for Nebraska, including an 8.75 from Maras and an 8.90 from Schmidt to close the rotation.

Maras carried the Huskers into the fourth rotation, scoring a season-high 8.90 on the vault to tie with Horton. Maras’ performance helped Nebraska find its rhythm on the vault, an event that has plagued the Huskers this season. The Ramsey, Minn., native’s score was one of four season highs on the event for NU, including top marks from Wassung (8.70), sophomore Eric Daigle (8.65) and freshman John Robinson (8.55).

By the fifth rotation, Wassung had set two season-high scores in front of the largest home crowd of his collegiate career, but he wasn’t finished yet. The 5-4 all-arounder took his performance a step further on the parallel bars, setting a team- and career-high mark of 9.40 to lead the Huskers to a season-high parallel bars score of 35.20 and take home his first event title of the season.

Nebraska finished strong the high bar, starting with a pair of stellar performances from T?trault and freshman Josh Rusler, who posted scores of 8.75 and 8.80, respectively. Wassung again stole the show and capped off a strong meet for the Huskers with a career-high mark of 9.20 to end the evening.

After an outstanding home meet, Wassung will get back on the road next weekend, as he, T?trault and Schmidt face some of the nation’s top competitors at the Winter Cup in Las Vegas on Feb. 8 and 10. As a team, Nebraska heads into a long break from competition with its next meet on Feb. 24 as it travels to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes at 7 p.m.