Nebraska Posts Season High In Final Meet

Lincoln ? In their final home meet of the season, the Nebraska men’s gymnastics team earned their highest team score in four years, but failed to topple No. 2 Oklahoma at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Friday evening. NU fell to OU, 219.20-218.525, while No. 16 Air Force came in third with a score of 203.125.

The event was Nebraska’s final home meet of the season, and Nebraska gymnast Josh Rasile was honored for his outstanding dedication and performance for the Huskers over the past four years during a special Senior Night ceremony.

"Josh has been great for us throughout his career," Head Coach Francis Allen said. "That’s what good seniors are all about. They are team leaders and awesome role players and that is exactly what Rasile does."

The Huskers began on the floor exercise where a series of strong performances set the stage for an outstanding meet for Nebraska. Freshman Jason Wassung started things off with a career-high 9.05, followed by a 9.0 performance by junior Tony Burtle and a 9.1 from Nebraska’s top floor competitor, Rasile.

Next, on the pommel horse, it was once again up to Wassung to lead off the lineup in his debut performance in pommel where he scored an 8.6. The Huskers followed suit, tacking on remarkable scores to accumulate their highest event score in the pommel horse of the season (36.60). An outstanding third-place performance by sophomore Derric Wood (9.25) lit a fire in NU’s pommel routine, an event that the Huskers have struggled with throughout 2004. Junior Mace Patterson continued Nebraska’s success with another 9.25 to tie Wood at third, and the event was topped off by a season-high score of 9.4 from freshman Paul Chumreonlert, who finished second overall, his highest place in an event all season.

Nebraska’s accomplishments on the pommel horse put them just behind the Sooners in the team competition, 72.600-72.625, heading into the still rings. In front of one of the largest crowds NU has seen this season, two Nebraska gymnasts landed some of the best performances of their careers for the first and second place positions in the event. Rasile hammered down a 9.625 for first, followed by a personal-best 9.525 from Chumreonlert to catapult the Huskers out in front of Oklahoma for the first time in the competition, 109.60-109.365, followed by Air Force at 101.425. Nebraska also earned their best event score in the still rings for 2004 with a 37.00.

Rasile continued to lead the Nebraska team toward victory during the vault routine where he stuck an amazing career-high 9.65 to secure the top-spot in that event. Rasile’s score was just one in a string of exceptional Huskers finishes, with nines across the board for Nebraska. Total, the Huskers gained four career-high marks on the vault, with landmark performances from sophomore Nic Matthews (9.25), Patterson (9.5), and junior Tony Burtle (9.525). Once again, the tremendous individual efforts by all of the Nebraska gymnasts accumulated into a season-high event score of 37.925 in the vault. This is Nebraska’s highest score in any single event in two years.

"We were good tonight," Allen said. "This is the kind of thing I coach for, to see a team chemistry come together like this. I’ll credit this to a great team performance."

Unfortunately, Nebraska lost ground in the fifth rotation during their parallel bar routine, and the Sooners completed an outstanding vault to overtake the Huskers. In the high bar, Patterson earned a career-high score of 9.6 for the title, followed by a 9.1 out of Burtle for third. Patterson also ended the meet with a career-high all-around score of 54.975 for first place, and another Nebraska gymnast, Matthews, earned his personal best of 52.425 for third.

Nebraska now heads into postseason competition at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships in Stanford, Calif. beginning on Friday, March 19 at 9 p.m. for preliminary competition and ending on Saturday March 20 also at 9 p.m. with the finals.