Hansen, Hardabura Earn Runner-Up Finishes at Rocky Mountain Open

Sparked by runner-up finishes by freshman David Hansen and senior Jason Hardabura, the No. 7 Nebraska men's gymnastics team had several members place well in the individual event finals Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Nebraska qualified six athletes for the second day of competition, including placing five athletes in the top eight on vault.

Head Coach Francis Allen was happy with the Huskers' performance.

"We're pleased that we got this meet under our belt," Allen said. "We're pleased that our younger guys did well. I think the team is going to gel from this point on."

Hardabura, who won the all-around title on Friday, finished second on vault, scoring a 9.000. The Oakville, Ontario, native, competed in four events Saturday, finishing third on high bar (8.550), fourth on pommel horse (8.250) and seventh on floor (7.700).

Hansen, a Lincoln Southeast graduate, competed in two events, highlighted by a second-place finish on parallel bars (8.550). Hansen also scored an 8.900 on vault to tie for fourth with fellow Husker Martin Fournier. Junior Jeff Kelly turned in a solid performance of his own, scoring an 8.750 to finish third on rings.

Freshman Steven Friedman also performed well, qualifying for four event finals in his first collegiate competition. Friedman finished third on vault (8.950), sixth on high bar (8.250), seventh on parallel bars (7.750) and 10th on rings (8.350). Sophomore Ryan Sneed was Nebraska's sixth Husker to compete Saturday. Sneed tied for sixth on vault (8.850) and finished seventh (5.800) in his first-ever pommel horse event final. Fournier also competed in the pommel horse final for the first time in his career, finishing eighth (5.550).

"I think the good thing about some of these events is that Sneed and Fournier qualified for the finals on pommel horse," Head Coach Francis Allen said. "That's the first time they've been in the finals, so that will be a good motivator. Jeff Kelly also did a nice job. That will motivate him to work a little bit harder too."

Oklahoma dominated the meet, demonstrating a well-balanced team as six different athletes won each of the event titles. Oklahoma won the team title Friday with a score of 209.750, while Nebraska finished second (200.050) and Air Force finished third (194.100).

Individual Event Finals (Top three plus Nebraska)

Floor		Pommel Horse
1.Brendan O'Neil, Oklahoma	9.475	1. Josh Landis, Oklahoma	9.150
2. Jock Stevens, Oklahoma	9.450	2. Daniel Furney, Oklahoma	8.950
3. Justin Jones, Air Force	8.550	3. Steve Van Etten, Oklahoma	8.800
7. Jason Hardabura, Nebraska	7.700	4. Jason Hardabura, Nebraska	8.250
		7. Ryan Sneed, Nebraska	5.800
		8. Martin Fournier, Nebraska	5.550
Rings		Vault
1. Brett Covey, Oklahoma	9.350	1. Jock Stevens, Oklahoma	9.250
2. Shannon Carrion, Oklahoma	9.200	2. Jason Hardabura, Nebraska	9.000
3. Jeff Kelly, Nebraska	8.750	3. Steven Friedman, Nebraska	8.950
10. Steven Friedman, Nebraska	8.350	4. Martin Fournier, Nebraska	8.900
		4. David Hansen, Nebraska	8.900
		*6. Ryan Sneed, Nebraska	8.850
Parallel Bars		High Bar
1. Daniel Furney, Oklahoma	8.750	1. Steve Van Etten, Oklahoma	8.950
2. David Hansen, Nebraska	8.550	2. Gabe Hansen, Oklahoma	8.675
3. Scott Lewis, Air Force	8.450	3. Jason Hardabura, Nebraska	8.550
*7. Steven Friedman, Nebraska	7.750	6. Steven Friedman, Nebraska	8.250

* indicates tie