Huskers Head to East Lansing to Battle Spartans

Lincoln, Neb. -- The No. 16 Nebraska women's gymnastics team heads to East Lansing, Mich. for a Big Ten Conference dual meet with the Michigan State Spartans. The meet will take place on Sunday, Jan. 26 at 1 p.m. and will be streamed live on BTN+.

The Huskers are coming off their first Big Ten Conference victory against Penn State on Jan. 16. Nebraska rallied after a difficult third rotation to win the meet by a score of 195.150-194.000. NU also won at least a share of three event titles and sophomore Adnerys De Jesus won her first all-around title of her collegiate career. 

Nebraska is currently ranked No. 16 in the Road To Nationals poll, as well as No. 6 on floor exercise and No. 10 on vault.

Michigan State enters the meet with a 2-2 record and a 1-0 conference record. The Spartans are coming off a 195.450-195.325 victory at home against Ohio State on Jan. 18. MSU ranks No. 11 in the nation on balance beam and No. 19 on floor exercise. 

Senior Taylor Houchin ranks No. 3 in the country on vault with an average score of 9.908 and a season-high of 9.975 on the event. Houchin has won at least a share of every meet's vault title this season. 

Following Nebraska's trip to East Lansing, the Huskers will return home for a nationally televised meet against Michigan at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The meet will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and will take place on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. 

Fans can follow the Huskers on Twitter at @HuskersWGym, Instagram at @HuskersWGymnastic and Facebook at facebook.com/NebraskaWGym


NOTES:

SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE
Michigan State hosts Nebraska at the Jenison Field House for the first time since March of 2018. After a difficult season-opening meet, MSU has bounced back with team scores over 195.000 in its last two meets. Michigan State holds a record of 2-2 with a 1-0 Big Ten Conference record and is led by third-year head coach Mike Rowe.

HUSKERS SHINE ON FLOOR EXERCISE
Nebraska is ranked No. 6 in the nation on floor exercise with an average score of 49.283 on the event. The Huskers also own the sixth highest score of the season on floor of 49.450, which came during their meet against Southern Utah on Jan. 9. Senior Sierra Hassel is ranked No. 13 in the country on floor with an average score of 9.908 with a high of 9.95.

NU RANKED NO. 16 IN THE NATION
Nebraska is currently ranked No. 16 in the Road To Nationals poll, as well as No. 6 on floor exercise and No. 10 on vault. NU's No. 16 ranking and 195.708 average team score is fourth in the Big Ten Conference, behind No. 7 Minnesota, No. 9 Michigan and No. 11 Maryland.

HASSEL NAMED BIG TEN EVENT SPECIALIST OF THE WEEK (Jan. 14)
Sierra Hassel was named Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week by the conference on Jan. 14. Hassel won four event titles over two meets against BYU and Southern Utah on Jan. 6 and Jan. 9 respectively. She also set a career-high on floor exercise with a score of 9.95 against SUU. This is the second time in her career has been honored Specialist of the Week and she is the first Husker to do so since March 19, 2019.

HUSKERS PICKED THIRD IN BIG TEN PRESEASON POLL
Nebraska was selected third in the Big Ten preseason coaches' poll ahead of the 2020 season. In 2019, NU finished third in the Big Ten regular season standings behind Michigan and Minnesota, who place above NU in the preseason poll. Ohio State and Iowa round out the top five. 

STRONG SCHEDULE IN 2020
NU will face seven teams ranked in the national preseason coaches' poll top 25 in 2020, including meets with No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Denver, No. 14 Minnesota, No. 16 Missouri, No. 23 BYU, No. 24 Ohio State and No. 25 Penn State.

HOUCHIN, DE JESUS NAMED GYMNASTS TO WATCH
The conference announced that senior Taylor Houchin and sophomore Adnerys De Jesus were selected as Big Ten Women's Gymnasts to watch for the 2020 season. Houchin was named a NACGC/W regular reason second-team All-American on uneven bars and was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten honoree in 2019. De Jesus was named a second-team All-Big Ten pick after an impressive freshman season in 2019. 

UP NEXT
The Huskers will return home for a nationally televised meet against Michigan at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The meet will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and will take place on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. 

STRONG SENIOR CLASS LEADS HUSKERS
The Huskers welcome back two standout seniors, All-American and WCGA Academic All-American Taylor Houchin and First-Team All-Big Ten and WCGA Academic All-American Sierra Hassel. Houchin concluded the 2019 campaign with solo competition at the NCAA Nationals in Fort Worth, Texas after tying her career high on vault with a 9.975 at the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional. Hassel is coming off a career high year as well where she posted career highs on balance beam and floor exercise with scores of 9.975 and 9.925, respectively. NU will rely heavily on their two veteran seniors throughout the 2020 season.

HUSKERS INTRODUCE TRIO OF 2020 SIGNEES
Head coach Heather Brink announced the signing of three future Husker gymnasts to the 2020 women's gymnastics signing class. Caroline Williams (Roswell, GA), Chloe Lorange (Laval, Quebec) and Kinsey Davis (Cornelius, NC) have signed their letters of intent and will join the roster for Nebraska women's gymnastics' 2021 season.

CORNHUSKERS GROW ACROSS UNITED STATES AND BEYOND
Nebraska features gymnasts from 10 states: California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey and Texas. The Huskers also welcome their first international gymnast since 2011, Clara Colombo of Italy. Colombo will become the first Italian-born gymnast to compete in NCAA competition.

NEBRASKA BOARD OF REGENTS APPROVE NEW GYMNASTICS TRAINING FACILITY
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved a proposal to build a new gymnastics training facility. The current plan calls for construction of the facility that will be used by Nebraska's men's and women's programs as an addition to the northwest side of the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The facility will include training stations, coaches' offices and locker rooms for both teams. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 28, 2018 with the project projected to be completed in February of 2020.