Huskers Ready for NCAA Championships

#9 Nebraska Cornhuskers (27-5, 7-2 Big Ten)
at NCAA Semifinals

Friday, April 15, 7 p.m. (CT) – Fort Worth, Texas (Fort Worth Convention Center Arena)

TV: ESPNU (Play-by-Play Announcer: Bart Conner, Analyst: Kathy Johnson Clarke, Sideline Reporter: Laura Rutledge)
Internet: WatchESPN.com, Watch ESPN app
Live Stats: NCAA.com

Huskers Ready for NCAA Championships
The ninth-ranked Nebraska women’s gymnastics team gears up for the NCAA Championships this weekend in Fort Worth, Texas. The Cornhuskers are set to compete in the second semifinal session on Friday, beginning at 7 p.m. (CT) at the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena. NU, Alabama, California, Oklahoma, UCLA and Utah will compete in the second semifinal session, with the top three finishers moving on to the NCAA Super Six, which takes place at 8 p.m. (CT) on Saturday. Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Minnesota and Stanford will compete in the first semifinal session on Friday at 1 p.m. (CT). Also competing in Fort Worth are 12 all-around competitors and 10 individual event specialists who are not on one of the 12 teams competing. Gymnasts will compete for individual event and all-around titles on Friday, while the team champion will be crowned on Saturday. Each session of the NCAA Championships will be televised live on ESPNU.

The Huskers (27-5, 7-2 Big Ten) qualified for the NCAA Championships with a second-place finish at the NCAA Iowa City Regional two weeks ago in Iowa City, Iowa, with a score of 196.550. NU, which finished behind Oklahoma’s 197.575, was led by individual titles from Grace Williams on balance beam and Hollie Blanske on floor two weeks ago in Iowa City. Following regional competition, Nebraska has a National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 393.185 (Regional Qualifying Score plus Regional score).

Williams, a first-team All-Big Ten performer, shared the beam title with a score of 9.90 at the Iowa City Regional, while Blanske shared the floor title with a 9.90 of her own. Blanske, who was named a NACGC/W regular season second-team All-American in the all-around, also led the Big Red with a score of 39.450 to finish tied for third in the all-around at the regional.

Nebraska is making its 24th appearances at the NCAA Championships, finishing as high as fourth in 1989, 2003 and 2011. NU has now qualified for the NCAA Championships in 18 of head coach Dan Kendig’s 23 years at Nebraska. The Huskers finished with a score of 196.675 at the NCAA Championships last season, finishing fourth in their semifinal session and eighth overall.

NU has had three gymnasts win a total of five national championships in program history. Michele Bryant was NU’s first champion, winning vault in 1990, while current Associate Head Coach Heather Brink won the all-around and vault in 2000. Richelle Simpson won the all-around and floor exercise in 2003.

Kendig believes the team has had a good two weeks of preparations since the regional and is ready to go in Fort Worth.

“We had two weeks to prepare for our next goal,” said Kendig. “The effort has been there this entire season and the team just keeps getting better and better.”

NU will begin the meet on floor exercise before moving to vault, uneven bars and balance beam, with byes in the third and sixth rotations. All three sessions of the NCAA Championships will be shown live on ESPNU, WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app with Olympic medalists Bart Conner and Kathy Johnson Clarke on the call and Laura Rutledge as the sideline reporter. Live scoring will be available for the meet at NCAA.com.

Notes to Know

Schedule of Events - NCAA Championships
Nebraska competes in the second semifinal session at the NCAA Championships, beginning at 7 p.m. (CT) on Friday. Alabama, California, Oklahoma, UCLA and Utah join the Huskers in the evening session, while Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Minnesota and Stanford will compete in the afternoon session, beginning at 1 p.m. (CT). Also competing in the semifinal sessions are 12 all-around competitors and 10 event specialists who are not on one of the 12 participating teams. Individual all-around and event titles will be given following Friday’s competition, with individual scores counting from both semifinal sessions. The top-three team finishers from each semifinal session will move on to compete for the team championship at Saturday’s Super Six Finals, beginning at 8 p.m. (CT).

Blanske, Williams Win Regional Titles
Hollie Blanske and Grace Williams each picked up an event title for the Huskers two weeks ago at the NCAA Iowa City Regional. Blanske shared the floor exercise title with AJ Jackson from Oklahoma with a score of 9.90. Blanske also finished tied for third with a score of 39.450 in the all-around and tied for fourth on bars with a score of 9.90 at the regional. Williams shared the beam title with four other gymnasts, scoring a 9.90. Her beam score is tied for sixth-highest in Nebraska’s NCAA postseason history. Freshman Megan Schweihofer led the Big Red on vault, scoring a 9.85 to finish tied for fourth.

Blanske Named Regular Season All-American
Nebraska senior Hollie Blanske was named a 2016 regular season second-team All-American in the all-around by the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGC/W) earlier this month. Blanske ended regular-season competition with an RQS of 39.420, good for 16th in the nation. The top eight gymnasts on each event and in the all-around received first-team honors. Gymnasts ranked No. 9-16 received second-team honors, including all ties. The second-team NACGC/W honor in the all-around is the second for Blanske, as she was named a regular season second-team All-American in the all-around in 2015. Blanske is also a 3-time NCAA All-American. NCAA All-America status can be earned at the NCAA Championships with the top-four in each event earning first-team honors and No. 5-8 earning second-team honors, including all ties.

Four Huskers Earn All-Big Ten Honors
Nebraska senior Hollie Blanske and sophomore Grace Williams were named first-team All-Big Ten during the week of the Big Ten Championships. Junior Jennie Laeng and sophomore Danielle Breen earned second-team All-Big Ten honors. This is the second-consecutive first-team all-conference honor for Blanske after she was named second-team All-Big Ten in 2014. The award is the first All-Big Ten honor for Williams, Laeng and Breen. Breen was also named Nebraska’s recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, voted on by the conference’s coaches during the week of the Big Ten Championships.

Six Huskers Earn Academic All-Big Ten Accolades
All six eligible Huskers earned academic All-Big Ten honors this week. To be eligible for academic All-Big Ten selection, student-athletes must be letterwinners who are in at least their second academic year at their institution and carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher. Seniors Hollie Blanske and Madison McConkey were named academic All-Big Ten for the third consecutive year, while juniors Ashley Lambert and Jennie Laeng captured their second consecutive honor. Sophomores Danielle Breen and Grace Williams earned the award in their first year eligible, while Breen was one of 12 winter honorees across eight sports to maintain a 4.0 cumulative GPA. Nebraska’s women’s gymnastics program now has 174 total academic all-conference selections in its history.

Bars Score Among All-Time Best
Nebraska’s team bars score of 49.475 at the Big Ten Championships tied its season high set on March 6 against Utah State and ranks among the best bars scores in school history. The score is tied for third-highest in a conference championship in program history, tied for fifth-highest in Bob Devaney Sports Center history, and tied for ninth-highest in program history.

Blanske Makes History on Vault
Senior Hollie Blanske won the vault title at the Big Ten Championships with a score of 9.975. The score was a career high for Blanske and gave her four vault titles on the season and seven for her career. The score tied current Associate Head Coach Heather Brink’s 9.975 at 2000 Big 12 Championships for the highest vault score in Nebraska conference championship history. It was Nebraska’s highest individual score on any event this season, and Nebraska’s first score of 9.975 on any event since March 7, 2015, when Jessie DeZiel hit a 9.975 on vault against Oregon State. Blanske was also a Big Ten event champion in 2013, when she shared the vault title with a score of 9.95.

Williams Wins Big Ten Beam Title
Sophomore Grace Williams won her first-career Big Ten event title, sharing the beam title with Nicole Artz of Michigan and Lindsay Mable of Minnesota with a score of 9.925. The beam title was Williams’ seventh beam title of the season and the ninth of her career.

Huskers Place Five on All-Championship Team
Five Huskers finished in the top three on individual events at the Big Ten Championships, earning spots on the Big Ten all-championship team. Hollie Blanske won the vault title with a score of 9.975. Danielle Breen finished second in the all-around with a score of 39.500 and tied for third on bars with a score of 9.90. Sienna Crouse, Jennie Laeng and Grace Williams also finished tied for third on bars with scores of 9.90. Williams also won balance beam with a score of 9.925. Blanske was a member of the Big Ten all-championship team in 2013 on vault and 2014 on beam, floor and in the all-around. Laeng was a member of the team on bars in 2015, while Breen, Crouse and Williams each picked up their first all-championship team award.

 

Brink Selected to 2016 Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame Class
Nebraska Associate Head Coach Heather Brink will be enshrined in the University of Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame this fall, the Nebraska Athletics Department announced on Wednesday, April 13. Brink joins six other Husker alumni student-athletes in the second class to be inducted into the Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame, which was created last spring. The class is tentatively scheduled to be formally inducted into the Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame the weekend of Sept. 17, when the Husker football team hosts Oregon at Memorial Stadium. Brink was a two-time national champion as well as an 11-time All-American during her Husker career, which spanned from 1997-2000. Richelle Simpson was the inaugural representative of the women’s gymnastics program, inducted last fall.

 

Huskers Recognized for Outstanding APR
The Nebraska women’s gymnastics and rifle programs were honored by the NCAA on Wednesday with public recognition for high achievement in the Academic Progress Rate (APR). Both programs were among the top 10 percent nationally among all squads in their respective sport. The women’s gymnastics team was one of 23 programs across the country honored for their work in the classroom. Nebraska was joined among the group by fellow Big Ten schools Michigan and Minnesota. All Division I teams’ APR scores will be released April 20. All teams must meet a certain academic threshold to qualify for the postseason and can face penalties for continued low academic performance. The APR measures eligibility, graduation and retention each term and provides a measure of the academic performance for each team in every sport.

 

Michigan State’s Burt Rotates with the Huskers
Michigan State’s Lisa Burt will be rotating with the Huskers during Saturday’s semifinal session and competing individually. Burt carried a regular season Regional Qualifying Score of 39.265 into the NCAA Athens Regional two weeks ago, where she finished tied for fourth with a score of 39.275. The senior also finished seventh in the all-around at the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago in Lincoln with a score of 39.350.

Scouting Semifinal II
Oklahoma is the top-ranked team in the nation with a National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 395.495. The Sooners are 28-1 on the season and won the Iowa City Regional with a score of 197.575 two weeks ago. OU won the Big 12 championship this season.

Alabama is the third-ranked team in the nation with an NQS of 394.525. The Crimson Tide is 19-6 on the season and finished first at the Tuscaloosa Regional with a score of 197.125 two weeks ago. Alabama finished second at the SEC Championships this season.

UCLA is the eighth-ranked team in the nation with an NQS of 393.430. The Bruins are 17-6 on the season and finished second at the Salt Lake City Regional with a score of 196.375 two weeks ago. UCLA won the Pac-12 championship this season.

Utah is the fifth-ranked team in the nation with an NQS of 394.330. The Utes are 20-2 on the season and finished first at the Salt Lake City Regional with a score of 197.125 two weeks ago. Utah finished tied for second at the Pac-12 Championships this season.

California is the 11th-ranked team in the nation with an NQS of 392.695. The Golden Bears are 18-11 on the season and finished second at the Tuscaloosa Regional with a score of 195.925 two weeks ago. Cal finished fourth at the Pac-12 Championships this season.

Looking Ahead
Advancing to the NCAA Super Six Finals will be the top-three team finishers from the two semifinal sessions. The top finisher at the NCAA Super Six will be crowned the 2016 NCAA team champion. Competition is set to begin at 8 p.m. (CT) on Saturday and will be televised on ESPNU.