Huskers Finish Fourth In MPSF Team Competition

Stanford, Calif. ? The Nebraska men’s gymnastics team finished fourth overall Friday night during the team competition of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships held in Stanford, Calif. with a score of 211.525.  Teams finishing ahead of the Huskers included Cal (220.225), which came in first place in an upset over Oklahoma (219.600), and Stanford (214.675).  Air Force Academy rounded out the five-team competition with a score of  204.90.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

After nearly toppling second-place Oklahoma last week, the Huskers headed into this weekend’s competition hopeful that the momentum they had gained during that meet would carry through in the postseason.  However, NU actually lost ground as they generated a much lower overall team score, falling from a 218.525 against the Sooners to a 211.525, and earned only a single first place finish which came from senior captain Josh Rasile on the still rings (9.775).  This is a career-high score for Rasile who bested his previous score of 9.75, which he earned during the MPSF competition in 2003.

 

“Our ring team was excellent,” head coach Francis Allen said.  “But we gave the meet away on the pommel horse and parallel bars because we only hit scores around the 33 mark.”

 

The Huskers did in fact earn lower scores on both the pommel horse and parallel bars than they have seen thus far this year with a 33.65 and 33.75, respectively.

 

“It was a total team effort,” Allen said.  “No one really performed that well.  We just had an overall poor meet.”

 

Although Nebraska did not finish the team competition of the MPSF Championships as high as they had expected, they did manage to secure a place for themselves at the NCAA Championship competition, which is scheduled to begin on April 2 in Champaign, Ill.

 

Today, the Huskers will continue with the second portion of the MPSF Championships, as they compete in the individual event finals which begin at 9 p.m. (CST).  This portion of the meet includes only those gymnasts who finished among the top eight in each of the six events during Friday’s team competition.  NU will be represented by Josh Rasile (still rings and floor exercise), Paul Chumreonlert (still rings), Nic Matthews (vault), and Mace Patterson (high bar). 

 

Individual Event Final Qualifiers (NU Gymnasts Only)

Floor Exercise                       Score

9. Josh Rasile                          9.15

 

Rings                                     Score

1. Josh Rasile                          9.775
8. Paul Chumreonlert                9.30

 

Vault                                      Score

9. Nic Matthews                       9.05

 

High Bar                                 Score

8. Mace Patterson                    9.15