Friedman and Rasile Advance Into Friday's Preliminaries

Nebraska's Steven Friedman and Josh Rasile advanced into Friday night's event preliminaries here Thursday night at the 2002 NCAA Men's Gymnastics' Qualifier at the Lloyd Noble Center.

The two Huskers advanced by placing in the top three among the individuals and the three teams that didn't qualify for Friday night's team finals.

"It was tough to see our guys go out and struggle like they did tonight," Head Coach Francis Allen said. "Now, we just have to have Josh (Rasile) and Steven (Friedman) go out tomorrow night and perform like I know they can. Steven just missed the all-around, but made it in on the parallel bars and vault, while Josh made it in the vault and can really make some noise there."

NU's lone all-around competitor Steven Friedman posted a 51.85, to just miss qualifying in the all-around. He finished in ninth place, just .575 points out of advancing. However, Friedman did advance on the vault and parallel bars. He turned in his best score of the night on the vault, where he just missed his season high (9.20) with a 9.15. He also scored a 8.525 to qualify on the parallel bars.

Friedman, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, opened on the floor exercise with an 8.725 and followed that up with an 8.15 on the pommel horse. The sophomore logged an 8.90 on the still rings. He finished his night with an 8.40 on the horizontal bar.

Josh Rasile opened his second NCAA Qualifier with a 9.20 on the vault that was good enough to advance into Friday's event preliminaries. The sophomore from Phoenix, Ariz., followed with an 8.65 on the floor exercise. He finished his evening with an 8.70 on the still rings.

Ryan Sneed, who is also competing in three events for NU, posted an 8.95 on the vault. The Omaha, Neb., native then recorded an 8.05 on the parallel bars and a 7.70 on the pommel horse.

Senior Martin Fournier began his fourth and final NCAA Tournament with an 8.50 on the vault. On his second event, Fournier scored an 8.30 on the horizontal bar; he failed to advance in either event.

Mace Patterson, a freshman from Beggs, Okla., struggled in his first NCAA appearance. He scored a team-high 8.75 on the floor, but then recorded scores of 7.75 on the parallel bars and 6.80 on the horizontal bar. Junior Jeff Kelly posted a 7.90 on the still rings.

Freshmen Josh Koopman and Karl Nessi also failed to advance into the event preliminaries. Koopman scored a 7.15 on the parallel bars, while Nessi recorded an 8.40 on the floor exercise.

Floor Exercise
23. Mace Patterson 8.75
t24. Steven Friedman 8.725
t28. Josh Rasile 8.65
40. Karl Nessi 8.40

Pommel Horse
T29. Steven Friedman 8.15
40. Ryan Sneed 7.70

Still Rings
T13. Steven Friedman 8.90
17. Josh Rasile 8.70
42. Jeff Kelly 7.90

Vault
T9. Steven Friedman 9.15
T12. Josh Rasile 9.20
T28. Ryan Sneed 8.95
49. Martin Fournier 8.50

Parallel Bars
T17. Steven Friedman 8.525
T33. Ryan Sneed 8.05
39. Mace Patterson 7.75
49. Josh Koopman 7.15

Horizontal Bar
T24. Steven Friedman 8.40
29. Martin Fournier 8.30
44. Mace Patterson 6.80