Huskers Take Third at Oklahoma

Huskers Take Third at Oklahoma
The No. 9 Nebraska men's gymnastics team finished in third place at a triangular meet at Oklahoma in front of 503 fans at the OU Field House on Feb. 6. No. 4 Ohio State won the competition with a team score of 227.9, bettering No. 8 Oklahoma (226.6) and NU (226.3).

The Huskers were unable to survive a rocky performance on the parallel bars. The Huskers score of 36.4 gave the Sooners and the Buckeyes the margin for victory, as only sophomore Derek Leiter and junior Marshall Nelson scored better than a 9.20 on the event.

Junior Jim Koziol finished second on the still rings with a 9.75, which tied his career best set against Ohio State two years ago, while senior captain Bill Mulholland tied for third on vault with a 9.60, which tied his career best set against Iowa last season.

Leiter led the Huskers with a second-place score of 56.700 in the all-around. Leiter, who won the Rocky Mountain Open in the Huskers' season opener, also took third place on the pommel horse (9.65) and tied for third on vault (9.60). Freshman Jason Hardabura, who suffered a hip injury at the Rocky Mountain Open two weeks ago, finished sixth in the all-around with a 55.70, including a second-place finish on the floor exercise (9.60).

The Huskers, who trailed Oklahoma by 2.15 points into the fifth rotation, almost passed the Sooners on the last two rotations. NU, who only used five gymnasts on the apparatus, scored a season-best score of 38.50, including a 9.8 by Nelson, the defending NCAA champion, and a career-high 9.70 by sophomore Blake Bukacek to finish second and third, respectively.