Huskers Finish Second at MPSF Championships; Nelson Named Gymnast of the Year

Huskers Finish Second at MPSF Championships; Nelson Named Gymnast of the Year
No. 2 Nebraska finished second at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on March 27. The Huskers finished with a team score of 227.85, placing behind top-ranked California's score of 229.05. Ninth-ranked BYU (225.95), No. 13 New Mexico (224.775) and 10th-ranked Oklahoma rounded out the top-five finishers.

The Huskers, the defending MPSF champions, were led by sophomore all-arounder Derek Leiter, who finished sixth in the all-around competition with a score of 56.35. Freshman Jason Hardabura finished eighth in the all-around with a 56.050, while senior Bill Mulholland placed 10th with a score of 55.325.

As a team, the Huskers, who had scored 230 or higher in each of their last three meets, placed either first or second on four of the six events: floor exercise (first, 37.75); pommel horse (second, 38.85); rings (second, 38.075) and parallel bars (second, 37.95).

The Huskers crowned a pair of individual champions at the individual finals. Marshall Nelson and Jason Hardabura captured individual event titles on horizontal bar and floor exercise, respectively. Nelson successfully defended his MPSF title on the horizontal bar, tying California's Oleg Kosyak for first place on the event with a score of 9.80. A four-time All-American, Nelson finished second on the pommel horse with a 9.75 and was selected as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's Gymnast of the Year in a vote of the conference athletes before the individual event finals.

Hardabura placed first on the floor exercise with a career-high score of 9.725, bettering his season-high score of 9.70 set against Ohio State. The freshman from Oakville, Ontario, also placed sixth in the still rings with a 9.50. Jim Koziol also earned a top-three finish, placing third on the still rings with a 9.625. sophomore Derek Leiter finished in the top four in three individual events after placing sixth in the all-around Friday evening. Leiter was third on the pommel horse (9.725), fourth on the parallel bars (9.65), and fourth on floor exercise (9.55).

 

Team Results
1.	California	229.05
2.	Nebraska	227.85
3.	Brigham Young	225.95
4.	New Mexico	224.775
5.	Oklahoma	224.075
6.	Stanford	219.025
7.	Air Force	212.15
8.	Cal-Santa Barbara	210.30
All-Around Competiton (top 5 and NU finishers)
1.	Lateef Crowder (UNM)	57.40
2.	Oleg Kosyak (Cal)	56.625
3.	Jason Katsampes (Stan)	56.625
4.	Dan Fink (OU)	56.40
5.	Guard Young (BYU)	56.40
6.	Derek Leiter (NU)	56.35
8.	Jason Hardabura (NU)	56.05
10.	Bill Mulholland (NU)	55.325
Floor Exercise
1.	Jason Hardabura (NU)	9.725
2.	Andrew Hampy (Cal)	9.70
3.	Brendan O'Neil (OU)	9.675
4.	Derek Leiter (NU)	9.55
5.	Lateef Crowder (UNM)	9.50
t6.	Kendall Schiess (UNM)	9.45
t6.	Clarence Maio (Stan)	9.45
8.	Yefgenni Zherebechevskyi (Cal)	9.30
Pommel Horse
1.	Kendall Schiess (UNM)	9.80
2.	Marshall Nelson (NU)	9.75
3.	Derek Leiter (NU)	9.725
4.	Gewin Sinchareon (Cal)	9.675
5.	Jeremy Herman (Stan)	9.65
6.	Nat Hammond (BYU)	9.625
t7.	Justin Gerson (UNM)	8.55
t7.	Josh Birckelbaw (Cal)	8.55
Still Rings
1.	Dan Fink (OU)	9.80
2.	Yefgenni Zherebechevskyi (Cal)	9.725
t3.	Jim Koziol (NU)	9.625
t3.	Courtney Bramwell (BYU)	9.625
5.	Lateef Crowder (UNM)	9.60
t6	Jason Hardabura (NU)	9.50
t6.	Oleg Kosyak (Cal)	9.50
8.	Asher Lichterman (UNM)	9.10
9.	Charley Goicoechea (OU)	9.05
Vault
1.	Fabricio Olsson (BYU)	9.725
2.	Andy Howard (OU)	9.65
3.	Steve Van Etten (OU)	9.60
4.	Lateef Crowder (UNM)	9.525
5.	Justin DeLaHunt (UNM)	9.40
6.	Clarence Maio (Stan)	9.15
7.	Dustin Hill (BYU)	9.05
Parallel Bars
1.	Todd Bishop (OU)	9.80
2.	Oleg Kosyak (Cal)	9.75
3.	Guard Young (BYU)	9.725
4.	Derek Leiter (NU)	9.65
5.	Alexander Nissen (Cal)	9.50
6.	Courtney Bramwell (Cal)	9.40
7.	Marshall Nelson (NU)	9.35
8.	Lateef Crowder (UNM)	9.30
Horizontal Bar
t1.	Marshall Nelson (NU)	9.80
t1.	Oleg Kosyak (Cal)	9.80
3.	Kendall Schiess (UNM)	9.675
4.	Nat Hammond (BYU)	9.35
5.	Todd Bishop (OU)	8.50
6.	Yefgenni Zherebechevskyi (Cal)	8.35
7.	Chris Hunt (BYU)	8.30
8.	Lateef Crowder (UNM)	7.90