NU Returners Shine in Annual Intersquad Competition

Lincoln- After two days of nail-biting competition, the Nebraska men's gymnastics team wrapped up its intrasquad meet on Friday afternoon, with Team 2 edging out Team 1, 352.55-352.50. 

Nebraska's returners shined after Thursday's events, as juniors Eric Daigle, T.J. Schmidt and James Mauldin each earned event titles.  Daigle posted a 14.50 on floor exercise and Mauldin earned a 14.00 on still rings for Team 1, while 2007 NCAA All-American Schmidt scored a 14.20 on pommel horse for Team 2.  After the first three events, Team 1 jumped ahead of Team 2, 124.20-122.85.

Team 1 began to take over again in day two, as sophomore John Robinson claimed the vault title with a 15.80.  However, sophomore Daniel Br?l? helped Team 2 forge ahead in the final two events, capturing first place in parallel bars with a 14.35 and first in high bar with a 14.50. 

The meet provided good competition for the athletes and also gave the coaches a chance to determine competitors for the 2008 season.

"The intersquad is kind of the beginning of figuring out who is going to compete this season," Assistant Coach Chuck Chmelka said. "We have kind of a unique year where we have a lot of guys, so we have to whittle it down.  Only 12 guys can compete for our team, so we have to make a 12-man team out of basically 17 guys.  Every week it could change, but we have to keep it at 12. It may be where we have to sacrifice a couple of tenths on some events to gain some on others. It's really hard and we've been going through a bunch of scenarios and there are a lot of different ones. We're going to use this meet as a rank to see where we're at-who surprised us, who didn't, who hurt themselves, who helped themselves-and then go from there."

Seventeen gymnasts competed in the event, including newcomers Cory Baumgarten, Anthony Ingrelli, Bear Danley and Matthew Forrest.  Baumgarten and Danley earned top-three spots on vault (15.65) and high bar (14.40), respectively.

Despite suffering a broken hand in the off season, three-time All-American Stephen T?trault also saw action in the competition, earning high scores in every event.

"I think what we did in the last couple of days was pretty productive," T?trault said.  "’It's a good sign of what will come.  We have a lot to work on obviously, but it's a good starting block to where we want to go throughout the year."

 

Not only did the Huskers get a chance to iron out strengths and weaknesses, they had the opportunity to test out the new NCAA scoring system.  The NCAA recently adopted a new international Olympic scoring system to judge all collegiate men's gymnastics competitions during the 2008 season.  Instead of a "10" being the perfect score, there is no cap on the score a gymnast can receive. For example, a gymnast could score up to 18.50 if he did most of the difficult skills perfectly, however top performers are starting from between 15-17. After a start value is determined for each event, judges will then deduct points for any technical errors or form breaks to create a final score.

 

"USA Gymnastics and the International Gymnastics Association have used the system for four years, so it's kind of interesting to see where we fit in with the best of the world," Chmelka said. "There are scores of 16 out there, but they will be hard to come by. The system is hard, confusing and involves more math, but I think it was good that all of the people to show up to the intersquad were here to learn what it is all about.  Once the fans learn how to do it, they're going to have a lot more fun at gym meets and hopefully our crowds will go up and that's certainly what we need."

 

Nebraska will get a chance to officially use the new scoring system when they open the 2008 season on Friday, Jan. 11, at the Rocky Mountain Open in Colorado Springs, Colo.  The two-day event, which features No. 3 Oklahoma, Arizona State and Air Force, is set to begin at 8 p.m. on Friday with the team competition and continue with the individual event competition at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

 

Intrasquad Lineups
Team 1                                               Team 2
Stephen T?trault                                  T.J. Schmidt                  
James Mauldin                                    Jacob Ives
John Robinson                                     Kyle Shanahan
Josh Rusler                                         Daniel Br?l?
Stefan Wallof                                       Anthony Ingrelli
Adrion Hernandez                                Cory Baumgarten
Bear Danley                                        Erich Schmitz
Garret Durst                                        Matthew Forrest
Eric Daigle

Event Results (Top Three Only)<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

Floor Exercise                                       Score

1. Eric Daigle (Team 1)                           14.50                   

2. Stephen T?trault (Team 1)                   14.20

3. Kyle Shanahan (Team 2)                     14.10

 

Pommel Horse                                       Score

1.  T.J. Schmidt (Team 2)                        14.20

2.  Stephen T?trault (Team 1)                   13.75 

3.  James Mauldin (Team 1)                     13.70

 

Still Rings                                              Score

1. James Mauldin (Team 1)                      14.00

2. Kyle Shanahan (Team 2)                      13.80

3. John Robinson (Team 1)                       13.70

 

Vault                                                      Score

1. John Robinson (Team 1)                       15.80

2. Stephen T?trault (Team 1)                     15.65

    Cory Baumgarten (Team 2)                    15.65

 

Parallel Bars                                          Score

1. Daniel Br?l? (Team 2)                          14.35

2. Kyle Shanahan (Team 2)                      14.20          

3. John Robinson (Team 1)                       13.90

   

High Bar                                                 Score

1. Daniel Br?l? (Team 2)                           14.50

2. Bear Danley (Team 1)                           14.40

3. Kyle Shanahan (Team 2)                       14.10