Young Talent Shines at Rocky Mountain Open

Colorado Springs, Colo. ? The Husker men's gymnastics team kicked off their 66th season with a second-place finish (206.625) at the annual Rocky Mountain Open in Colorado Springs, Colo, late Friday.  This is Nebraska’s highest finish at the RMO since 2001 when they also finished second. 

Hosted by Air Force, the meet welcomed teams from across the western half of the United States including Oklahoma, Arizona State, Washington State and members of the Olympic Training Center with Oklahoma taking top honors with a score of 215.425.

Senior co-captain Tony Burtle quickly stepped into the leadership role for the Huskers with a career-high 9.1 on the high bar to tie for second place in the event.  Although Burtle struggled on the floor exercise and vault, perhaps two of his best events, he feels the meet was a good way to assess where the team is at this point in the season.

“This meet really shows us where we are as a team,” Burtle said.  “From here we just get back at it and fill in the holes.”

Nebraska freshman Stephen T?trault made an outstanding collegiate debut as an all-arounder for the Huskers, earning Nebraska’s second highest high bar (8.75) and vault (8.9) scores and third highest pommel horse (8.6) score.  T?trault also finished fifth in the all-around with a score of 50.90.

“I really like the way T?trault competes,” Head Coach Francis Allen said.  “We just need to clean up a few things in his routines and he’s going to be a major force for us.”

Sophomores Paul Chumreonlert and Jason Wassung created additional bright spots in the evening with Chumreonlert putting up strong showings on the still rings (9.5) and pommel horse (8.95) for second and third place finishes, respectively.

Wassung landed a pair of career high marks in the still rings and vault with scores of 8.95 and 9.25, respectively and a third place finish in the vault.  He also grabbed Nebraska’s highest all-around score with a 52.225 for fourth place.

Responding to the absence of All-American Steven Friedman, head coach Francis Allen feels the younger athletes stepped up and made a remarkable contribution for the team.

“Our younger guys really helped us out tonight,” Allen said.  “I’m thrilled with their performance.  Now if we can just get some of our leadership back in the lineup we’ll be in great shape.”

The top-10 finishers in each event advance to the individual event finals tomorrow afternoon, Saturday, Jan. 15 beginning at 2 p.m. central time.  After Saturday, the Huskers will head east to compete in the West Point Open beginning with team competition on Jan. 28 at 6 p.m.

Team Scoring
No.       Team               Score
1          Oklahoma         215.425
2          Nebraska          206.625
3          Arizona State    193.325
4          Air Force           184.700
5          Washington St.  184.625
6          OTC                  119.300

All-Around (Individual Events take place on Saturday)
4          Jason Wassung   52.225
5          Stephen T?trault  50.900