Huskers Earn Five Event Titles in Second-Place Finish

Minneapolis, Minn. - Three Huskers combined for five event titles as the No. 10 Nebraska men's gymnastics team placed second behind No. 8 Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn., on Saturday night. NU earned a season-high team score of 342.400 for second place, while Minnesota placed first with a score of 350.550 and Air Force placed third with a score of 329.800.

"We just have to do better. We made quite a few mistakes, but we fought back at the end," Nebraska Head Coach Chuck Chmelka said. "We dug ourselves in a huge hole after floor exercise and pommel horse. We were so far down we just couldn't catch up. Overall, I'm satisfied with our score, but our hit percentage has to get better and we will get better. We just need to get back into the gym and do more routines."

Nebraska earned five individual event titles on the night, including a first-place finish in the all-around by senior John Robinson, who captured his first title of the year with a season-high score of 86.20. Robinson also earned his first career parallel bars title, tying his career-high score of 14.60. Senior all-arounder Kyle Shanahan earned two event crowns, as he tied Minnesota's Aaron Fortunato for top honors on floor exercise (15.20), before earning his first high bar title of the season with a score of 14.65. Junior Anthony Ingrelli notched his second-consecutive event crown of the year on still rings with a season-high score of 14.70.

The Huskers earned five additional top-three finishes, including a second place finish by Shanahan on still rings with a score of 14.40, while Robinson earned a second-place finish on pommel horse with a career-high score of 14.15. Freshman all-arounder Andreas Hofer placed second on vault with a career-high score of 15.90, while junior Bear Danley placed third on high bar with a score of 14.30. Shanahan also earned a third-place finish in the all-around with a score of 85.75.

"Our all-arounders held us in this competition," Chmelka said. "They did a great job. They're seasoned competitors and they know what it's like in competitions and know what to do. The other guys have to learn from them and mimic what they do. We're a better team than what we showed tonight. I'm really happy with how we did. We ended really well in parallel bars and we did unbelievably good vaulting. We did pretty well on high bar too, just missing a couple of dismounts. We have to do great on the events we can do great on. I'm very proud of our all-arounders and the gymnasts who won event titles."

With four college teams and several junior club teams participating in the meet, Nebraska was forced out of Olympic order for the entire competition. However, the order change did not hinder the Huskers on still rings in the first rotation, as they posted a season-high score of 57.40 behind first- and second-place finishes by Ingrelli and Shanahan. Junior Cory Baumgarten started a string of season-high scores for the Huskers, as he earned a season- and career-high score of 14.00 on the apparatus. Four additional Husker gymnasts bettered their Rocky Mountain Open scores, including Robinson (14.30), Shanahan (14.40), Maras (14.10) and Ingrelli (14.70) After the first rotation, Minnesota led the standings with a score of 60.50 on floor exercise, while Nebraska was in second and Air Force was in third with a score of 50.95 on pommel horse.

Nebraska kept up the momentum in the second rotation, posting a season-high score of 57.65 on floor exercise behind Shanahan's first-place finish. Despite a rough start on the event, all-arounders Shanahan and Robinson stepped up for the Huskers, both posting career-high scores of 15.20 and 14.85, respectively. Freshman all-arounder Andreas Hofer earned a season-high score of 14.00, while junior Bear Danley notched his second-highest career score on the event. After two rotations, the Golden Gophers maintained the lead with a score of 116.85 and Nebraska remained in second with a score of 115.15. Air Force sat out with a bye in the second rotation.

The Huskers moved to pommel horse in the third rotation, earning a season-high score of 53.20 behind Robinson's second-place event finish. The senior all-arounder notched his second career-high of the night with a score of 14.15, topping his previous horse career-high of 14.10 set in the 2008 season. Three more Huskers earned season-high scores, including redshirt freshman David Jacobs (13.40), Danley (12.95) and Shanahan (12.70). Following pommel horse, the Huskers sat out one rotation, while Minnesota took to the still rings and Air Force competed on floor exercise.   

NU posted another season-high on high bar in the fourth rotation with a team score of 55.95, as Shanahan captured the high bar event title. Danley also rounded out the top-three finishers, with a season-high score of 14.30. Overall, five Huskers earned season-high scores on high bar, including Danley, Shanahan, Rusler (13.00), sophomore Josh Dilworth (12.95), Hofer (14.00) and Shanahan.

NU earned its best vault in two seasons, as it posted a team score of 62.65. Nebraska set its last team high against Minnesota in Lincoln, Neb., on March 15, 2009, with a 62.50. All-arounder Hofer placed second in the event standings with a team- and career-high score of 15.90. Baumgarten also earned a new career-high score with a 15.65, while Dilworth (15.55) and Shanahan (15.05) earned season-high scores on vault.

The Huskers wrapped up the competition on parallel bars with a score of 55.50, behind Robinson's first-place finish on the event (14.60). Maras and senior Stefan Wallof earned career-highs with scores of 13.55 and 12.55, respectively. Despite a strong effort, Nebraska was unable to overcome Minnesota. The Huskers hold a 16-17-1 overall record to the Golden Gophers and move to 4-2 on the 2010 season.

While the NU team will have a two-week break before its next competition, senior all-arounders Kyle Shanahan and John Robinson will compete at the Winter Cup Challenge on Feb. 5-7, in Las Vegas, Nev. As a team, Nebraska will travel to Norman, Okla., on Feb. 13, for its second matchup against the Sooners starting at 7 p.m.

For continuous coverage of the Nebraska men's gymnastics team, follow the Huskers Twitter and Facebook.
Floor Exercise
Bear Danley: 13.30 (second-highest career score)
Mike Heredia: 12.45
*Josh Dilworth: 13.60
*Andreas Hofer: 14.00 (season high)
*John Robinson: 14.85 (career high)
*Kyle Shanahan:15.20 (career high)
Event Score: 57.65 (season high)

Pommel Horse
*David Jacobs: 13.40 (season high)
*Bear Danley: 12.95 (season high)
Josh Rusler: 12.55
Andreas Hofer: 12.20
*John Robinson: 14.15 (career high)
*Kyle Shanahan: 12.70 (season high)
Event Score: 53.20 (season high)

Still Rings
Cory Baumgarten: 14.00 (career high)
Andreas Hofer: 13.15
*John Robinson: 14.30 (season high)
*Kyle Shanahan: 14.40 (season high)
*Anthony Ingrelli: 14.70 (season high)
*Tony Maras: 14.10 (season high)
Event Score: 57.50 (season high)

Vault
*Cory Baumgarten: 15.65 (career high)
*Mike Heredia: 15.55
*Josh Dilworth: 15.55 (season high)
Kyle Shanahan: 15.05 (season high)
*Andreas Hofer: 15.90 (career high)
John Robinson: 15.30
Event Score: 62.65

Parallel Bars
*Tony Maras: 13.55 (career high)
Stefan Wallof: 12.55 (season high)
*Bear Danley: 13.60
Andreas Hofer: 13.40
*John Robinson: 14.60 (tied career high)
*Kyle Shanahan:13.75
Event Score: 55.55

High Bar
*Bear Danley: 14.30 (season high)
*Josh Rusler: 13.00 (season high)
Josh Dilworth: 12.95 (season high)
*Andreas Hofer: 14.00 (season high)
*John Robinson: 13.00
*Kyle Shanahan: 14.65 (season high)
Event Score: 55.95 (season high)