Huskers End 2009 NCAA Championship Appearance

Minneapolis, Minn. - The Nebraska men's gymnastics team closed out its seventh-consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships on Friday night, as none of the seven individual event qualifiers were able to advance to the event finals held on Saturday, April 17, at 7 p.m.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Nebraska finished Thursday’s qualifying round with a team score of 346.800, which was four points higher than last year’s qualifying team score. Although NU was eliminated in the first round, seniors T.J. Schmidt and James Mauldin, juniors Kyle Shanahan, John Robinson and Tony Maras, sophomore Anthony Ingrelli, and freshman Josh Dilworth advanced to Friday evening’s individual qualifying session. Despite tough performances by all seven gymnasts, no Husker was able to advance to the event finals on Saturday night.

Stanford, a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, won the 2009 NCAA Gymnastics title with a score of 362.800. Michigan came in second with a score of 361.500, while Oklahoma came in a third with a 361.200.

Seniors Schmidt and Mauldin started off on pommel horse for the Huskers. Both gymnasts had solid performances, as Mauldin earned his second highest score of the season with a 14.05 and Schmidt earned his third highest score of the season with a 14.75.

All-arounder Shanahan rotated with Michigan during the competition and had a bye the first round. However, in the second rotation, Shanahan competed on pommel horse with a score of 14.15, his second highest score of the 2009 season. He also bested yesterday’s qualifying score by .25 of a point.

Nebraska’s individual qualifiers moved on to still rings in the second rotation, with Ingrelli and Maras competing on the apparatus. Ingrelli started off with a season-high score of 15.20, blasting his previous high of 15.00. Maras scored a 14.60 for the Huskers.

NU then moved to vault, with both Robinson and Dilworth competing. Robinson posted a 14.20, while Dilworth earned a 15.10. Shanahan rotated to still rings with a score of 13.50.

Mauldin and Schmidt rotated to parallel bars in the fourth rotation. Schmidt was up first for NU, posting an abnormally low score of 13.60, while Mauldin earned a 12.65. Shanahan rounded out the fourth rotation with a score season-high score of 14.90 on vault.

Shanahan came out swinging on parallel bars in the fifth rotation, bettering yesterday’s score of 13.60 with a 13.70. Dilworth was the last individual qualifier to compete for the Huskers. Dilworth earned a score of 13.60 on floor exercise in the sixth rotation.

Shanahan wrapped up his NCAA appearance with a score of 14.10 on high bar and a season-high score of 14.90 on floor exercise.

Nebraska finished the regular season with a 4-7 record under Nebraska Head Coach Francis Allen.