T.J. Schmidt Season 2008-09

2009: Co-captain T.J. Schmidt wrapped up a stellar senior season with Nebraska, which included three individual event titles and a trip to the NCAA Championship preliminaries. A four-event specialist for Nebraska, Schmidt earned season-high scores of 14.90 on floor exercise, 15.05 on pommel horse, 14.75 on still rings and 15.30 on pommel horse. He captured his first event title on pommel horse with a score of 14.65 against Oklahoma. He went on to earn a parallel bars title with a score of 14.90 against Iowa and Minnesota, before earning a second parallel bars title with a score of 15.30 against Minnesota and Arizona State. Schmidt competed at the Winter Cup for the third consecutive season, where he became the first Husker in history to advance to the Winter Cup finals in back-to-back years. Schmidt competed at the 2009 NCAA Championship on four events and advanced to the event preliminaries with scores of 14.95 on pommel horse and 14.25 on parallel bars. In the event preliminaries, Schmidt posted a score of 14.75 on pommel horse and a 13.60 on parallel bars.

In addition to his athletic success, Schmidt earned a spot on the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll in the fall of 2008.

2008: Schmidt ended his stellar junior season with more than 20 event titles in just three years at Nebraska. He captured his first pommel horse title of the 2008 season with a score of 14.30 at the Rocky Mountain Open. Schmidt then earned an event title on pommel horse (14.30) and parallel bars (14.90) against Oklahoma and Air Force. He shared a pommel horse title with Oklahoma’s Jason Laughton at Oklahoma on Feb. 2 with a score of 14.30, while also finishing second on parallel bars (14.70). Schmidt became the first Husker ever to advance to the final round of the Winter Cup in Las Vegas, Nev., on Feb. 9, where he placed 15th on pommel horse, 18th on parallel bars and 22nd on still rings. He tied for second on parallel bars (14.90) at Stanford, before notching titles on pommel horse (14.65) and parallel bars (14.80) at Minnesota. He claimed titles on pommel horse (15.05) and parallel bars (15.10) against Iowa and finished first on pommel horse (15.30) and parallel bars (15.20) against Air Force. Schmidt recorded his career-high mark of 15.40 on parallel bars at the MPSF Championships in Lincoln, and was ranked fifth in the nation on parallel bars as he was heading into the NCAA Championships. Although Schmidt could not capture his second All-America honor, he was one of only four NU gymnasts to make the 2008 event preliminaries.

2007: After a successful freshman year, Schmidt came back in 2007 and took his sophomore season to a whole new level. Schmidt led Nebraska with 10 event titles and ranked among the nation’s top 20 on both the pommel horse and parallel bars all season, including a career-high sixth-place standing on the pommel horse and 11th on the parallel bars. After claiming at least one event title in all but one regular-season meet, Schmidt went on to shine in the postseason as well, earning the first All-America award of his career with a fifth-place finish on the pommel horse (9.075) at the 2007 NCAA Championships. In the midst of his athletic success Schmidt managed to stay academically strong, capturing Big 12 Commissioner’s Fall Honor Roll and MPSF Academic All-Conference accolades as a nutrition, fitness and health sciences major.

2006: Schmidt finished third on the parallel bars at the Stanford Open with a score of 8.90 on Jan. 21, and earned a second-place finish on the parallel bars against Iowa on Feb. 12. He set a season-high score on the floor exercise (8.20) against Oklahoma on March 5, while finishing second on the parallel bars with a score of 8.85. Schmidt set a season- and team-high parallel bars score of 9.10 against Oklahoma on March 11 for second place. Schmidt notched season-high scores on the pommel horse (8.50) and still rings (8.55) at the MPSF Championships on March 25, before advancing to the event preliminaries on the parallel bars at the 2006 NCAA Championships.

Prior: Schmidt joined the Huskers after training at the Nebraska School of Gymnastics under NU assistant coach Chuck Chmelka. Schmidt was a four-time member of the Region IV team, a Region IV champion and qualified for the Junior Olympic National Championships six times. Schmidt was also an honor roll student at Blair High School.

Personal: The son of Rick and Susie Schmidt, T.J. was born on Jan. 14, 1987, in Omaha, Neb. T.J. has one sister, Kristin, and two brothers, Matt and Levi. Schmidt is a nutrition, fitness and health sciences major.

 

Honors and Award
• Winter Cup Finalist (2009) 

• 2008 Nebraska Most Valuable Gymnast
• MPSF Championships (PB-3rd) (2008)
• 2007 Nebraska Most Valuable Gymnast
• Winter Cup Finalist (2008)
• 2007 NCAA All-American (PH-5th)
• MPSF Gymnast of the Week (Jan. 23, 2007)
• Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (Spring: 2006, 2009; Fall: 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009)
• NCAA Event Preliminaries (PH, PB) (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
• MPSF Academic All-Conference (2007)
• MPSF Championships (PB) (2006)
• 2006 Nebraska Newcomer of the Year