Huskers Finish Second At West Point Open

The University of Nebraska men’s gymnastics team finished second behind No. 2 Penn State, 214.125 to 210.90, at the West Point Open late Friday in West Point, NY. Nine total teams participated in the opening day of competition at the West Point Open, including No. 11 Army (208.70), No. 12 Temple (206.15), No. 14 Navy (200.35), and No. 15 Springfield (198.700).

After a disappointing 33.10 on the parallel bars, the first event of the competition, the Huskers managed to regroup, led by senior Josh Rasile and junior Mace Patterson, for scores well into the 35-range in all other events in the team competition.

"We started on the parallel bars and didn’t do very well," head coach Francis Allen said. "But the guys really pulled together and did the kinds of things that we needed to do and it paid off."

The turning point in the competition for the Huskers came during the final event of the night, where Nebraska earned its highest event score with a 36.65 in the vault. Trailing Army going in to the final rotation, the Huskers needed a strong vault scores to elevate them in to the second place position. Once again Rasile, the No. 8 vault competitor in the nation, led the way with a score of 9.50, which earned him a tie for fourth in that event.

"The entire team did great vaulting tonight," Allen said. "They knew that they needed to show something to get out in front of Army and they just went out and did it."

Patterson, who has set a total of four personal best scores this season, placed fourth overall. Not far behind was another Nebraska gymnast, sophomore Ray Hacker, who competed in the all-around for only the second time in his career and landed in eighth place with a score of 50.75. Hacker also saw a personal best in the pommel horse with a score of 8.75, which topped his previous high of 8.7.

Junior Tony Burtle also earned two career highs at West Point with an 8.75 on the high bar, and an 8.95 on the floor, which gave him a seventh and sixth place finish, respectively.

Nebraska’s next competition is tomorrow night, Saturday, Jan. 31, for the individual event finals portion of the West Point Open. Competition begins at 6:00 p.m. central time.

Team Scoring

No. Team Score
1. Penn State 214.125
2. Nebraska 210.90
3. Army 208.70
4. Temple 206.15
5. Navy 200.35
6. Springfield 198.70
7. Houston 198.55
8. James Mad. 188.00
9. So. Conn. 187.40
10. MIT 142.90

All-Around (Individual Finals Take Place on Saturday)
4. Mace Patterson 52.25
8. Ray Hacker 50.75