Huskers Place Third in Stanford Open

Palo Alto, Calif.-The No. 8 Nebraska men’s gymnastics team finished third at the Stanford Open in front of a full house at the Burnham Pavilion on Saturday night. The Huskers scored a 334.700 on the night, while California notched a 356.450 for top honors and Stanford scored a 352.300 for second place. NU fell to a 0-8 all-time record against the Cardinal and a 1-5 all-time record against the Golden Bears.

“I saw some really good things,” Nebraska Coach Francis Allen said. “Josh Dilworth is worth it. He’s going to be a good one. It’s nice having Danny Br?l? come back. His ankle is killing him, but he did well. We didn’t have great pommel horse or floor exercise events tonight, but I saw some positives. We just have to keep going. Once we get everyone healthy we’re going to put it together and be a really good team.”

Nebraska senior All-American T.J. Schmidt was the only Husker to crack the top-three in any event, with a third-place finish on pommel horse, while junior all-arounder John Robinson placed fifth in the all-around with a score of 82.65.

Nebraska began the competition on vault, historically NU’s best event of the season. Although the Huskers struggled to stick a landing, the team pulled together a score of 60.20 on the event, which bested last year’s Stanford Open score by nearly two points. Redshirt freshman Cory Baumgarten led the way for Nebraska, setting a career-high of 15.25 on the event. Sophomore Bear Danley tried his hand at vault for the first time in his collegiate career, notching a score of 14.75, while junior Josh Rusler also scored a 14.75. Freshman Josh Dilworth earned a score of 15.05, while Robinson rounded out the event with a score of 15.15.

NU struggled on parallel bars in the second rotation, putting together a score of 54.25. Junior Daniel Br?l? made his first appearance on parallel bars this season, scoring a 13.45 on the event. Schmidt remained consistent on parallel bars, notching a 14.05, which marks the third consecutive time this season he has scored above 14.00 on the event.

Shaking the nerves in the third rotation, the Huskers notched a season-high score of 56.90 on high bar, which blasted their previous high score of 53.50. High bar was fueled by season-high performances by all six Husker gymnasts, including NU’s top high bar scorer Br?l?, who notched a season- and career-high score of 14.55. Danley (14.15), Dilworth (12.70), Rusler (13.50), Robinson (14.25) and junior Kyle Shanahan (13.95) each earned season-high scores on the event.

Nebraska continued to gain momentum on floor exercise as the team posted a 55.45 on the event. Robinson topped the Husker performers with a season-high score of 14.55 on floor.

The Huskers suffered several falls on pommel horse in the fifth rotation, putting up an unusually low score of 50.55 on the event. Despite the low team score, Schmidt kept swinging late in the rotation, posting a season-high score of 14.55 on pommel horse.

NU finished the competition with a solid performance on still rings, notching a team score of 57.35. Although the team score wasn’t the best of the season, two Huskers earned season-high scores, including sophomore Anthony Ingrelli (14.85) and junior Tony Maras (14.75). Nebraska’s last push would not be enough to overtake Stanford and California. The Huskers fall to 1-4 on the season.

As a team, Nebraska will take a three-week break from competition with its next meet on Saturday, Feb. 14, as it travels to Iowa City, Iowa, to take on Iowa and Minnesota at 7 p.m. Individually, T.J. Schmidt will represent the Huskers at the Winter Cup in Las Vegas, Nev., on Feb. 6-8.