No. 7 Huskers Travel to Penn State

The seventh-ranked Nebraska women’s gymnastics team will travel to State College, Pa., for the second of three consecutive away meets in February, facing No. 17 Penn State, Rutgers and Yale at PSU’s Rec Hall on Friday, Feb. 10, at 8 p.m. (CST).

 

With last Saturday’s 196.85-196.00 win over conference rival and No. 6 Oklahoma, the Huskers improved to 6-2-1 on the season and notched a team season-high score. NU also recorded season bests on balance beam (49.275) and floor exercise (49.175), while three NU gymnasts claimed four out of five individual event titles.

 

Sophomore Emily Parsons earned top honors on floor exercise (9.90) and balance beam with a career-high score of 9.925 en route to the all-around title (39.55). Freshman Tricia Woo tied with Parsons for the floor crown, while redshirt freshman Vanessa Meloche grabbed NU’s fourth title with a 9.875 on the uneven bars.

 

NU will continue away competition by traveling to IowaState on Sunday, Feb. 19, taking on the No. 9 Cyclones at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. The meet, which will be held at the same time as the NU-ISU wrestling match, is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

 

Parsons Featured in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd

Sophomore Emily Parsons is featured in the Feb. 6 issue of Sports Illustrated for her career-high all-around performance (39.625) against Michigan on Jan. 13. One of six athletes chosen nationally for the weekly feature, Parsons is also recognized for her Big 12 Gymnast of the Week accolades. The St. Charles, Mo., native, in fact, earned her fourth Big 12 Gymnast-of-the-Week honors of the year this week (Feb. 7), as she was also named for the weeks of Jan. 10, Jan. 17 and Jan. 31. She has earned a total of six gymnast-of-the-week honors while at Nebraska.

 

The award is the most recent addition to a growing list of conference, regional and national accolades. Parsons’ Feb. 7 recognition also makes her the first gymnast to be named the Big 12’s top weekly performer four times in one season since former Husker Richelle Simpson accomplished the feat in 2003 on her way to the NCAA all-around and floor exercise titles.

 

Kendig Builds One of Nation’s Top Programs at Nebraska

Head Coach Dan Kendig is the all-time winningest coach in the 30 years of Nebraska women's gymnastics history. In 13 seasons at Nebraska, Kendig is 291-106-4 overall and 207-38-2 in regular-season meets. Kendig enters his 23rd year of coaching and owns a career record of 404-218-4.

 

A six-time Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year, Kendig has guided the Huskers to eight conference championships and three straight regional championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

 

He has also led Nebraska to 10 NCAA Championships appearances in the past 12 seasons, including NCAA Super Six Finals appearances in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. Kendig was honored as the NCAA Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2003, a year in which the Huskers finished with a final ranking of fourth in the nation.

 

Under Kendig's tenure in 2005, Nebraska finished with a 21-13 overall record. The Huskers placed second (196.30) in the NCAA South Central regional behind Michigan and also placed sixth (196.425) in its seventh consecutive NCAA Championships appearance. Four of Kendig's gymnasts -- Emily Parsons (AA, V, BB, FX), Kristi Esposito (BB), Michele Zabawa (UB) and Desire’ Sniatynski (UB) -- earned a total of seven All-America honors.

 

Kendig is assisted by Danna Durante, who is in her fourth season with Nebraska, and Adrian Burde, who enters his fifth year on the Husker staff.

 

Super Sophomore Parsons Leads NU into 2006 Season

Sophomore Emily Parsons is leading the Huskers in 2006, after earning four All-America awards as a freshman. The St. Charles, Mo., native finished third on floor exercise in the individual event finals at the NCAA Championships to garner first-team All-America honors, while also grabbing second-team accolades on vault, balance beam and in the all-around.

 

In 2005, Parsons was also named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and shared the conference beam title with former Husker All-American Richelle Simpson. In a season that saw Parsons earn two All-Big 12 nods (vault and beam), she went on to claim NCAA South Central regional titles on vault and floor, as well as the all-around crown over 2000 Olympian Elise Ray of Michigan.

 

The beginning of Parsons’ sophomore season has been just as impressive as her freshman campaign, as she captured the all-around crown against Michigan with a career-high 39.625. Parsons also tied for the vault title with fellow Husker Stephanie Carter (9.90), and added first-place finishes on beam with a career-best score of 9.925 and floor, where she tied her best-ever mark of 9.95. Just one week earlier at the Super Six Challenge in Baton Rouge, La., Parsons earned the vault crown by tying her career high of 9.95, landing in a tie for first place with two-time NCAA vault champion Ashley Miles of Alabama. Parsons’ achievements have garnered her Big-12-Gymnast-of-the-Week honors for the weeks of Jan. 10, Jan. 17, Jan. 31 and Feb. 7.

 

After finishing first in the all-around (39.55), beam (9.925) and floor (9.90) against Oklahoma, she now owns 10 vault titles and 29 overall individual event crowns in less than two full seasons at Nebraska.

 

Husker All-Arounders Produce Three Career Bests

Nebraska has found its core in three all-around competitors this season: junior Stephanie Carter and sophomores Emily Parsons and Desire’ Sniatynski, all of whom produced career-high cumulative scores against Michigan on Jan. 13. Parsons bettered her old career mark of 39.55 set at the 2005 NCAA Super Six Finals by scoring a nation-leading 39.625 in the Huskers’ last meet, while Sniatynski improved her best to 39.20 to finish second. Carter, who was a mainstay in the team’s vault, beam and floor lineups in her first two seasons, has emerged as a strong four-event competitor in 2006, scoring a 39.10 in just her second career all-around appearance at Nebraska.

 

A Bright Future: The New Husker Class Contributes to NU Lineup

Four of Nebraska’s five freshman gymnasts have competed in the first four meets of 2006 -- redshirt freshman Vanessa Meloche and true freshmen Sabrina Long, Kylie Stone and Tricia Woo. While Meloche made her collegiate debut by tying for the uneven bars crown at the Super Six Challenge with a score of 9.875, she added a career-best 9.925 against Missouri to nab a second bars title. She added a third bars crown against Oklahoma last week, scoring a 9.875.

 

Woo has been crucial to NU’s balance beam and floor exercise lineups in her own right. The native of Milpitas, Calif., had a spectacular showing in the Huskers’ first home meet against Michigan, earning a 9.875 on beam to finish third and a thundering 9.925 on floor to place second behind event champion Emily Parsons (9.95). Woo won her first career individual event title at Oklahoma, tying with Parsons for the floor crown (9.90).

 

Long has competed on vault, beam and floor as well. A native of Tulsa, Okla., and Krafft Academy of Gymnastics -- the same program that produced NU assistant coach Danna Durante -- Long has shown consistent improvement on vault in her first five appearances. She opened her collegiate career with a 9.60 at the Super Six Challenge, followed by a score of 9.675 against Michigan, then a 9.775 at Utah, followed by a 9.725 versus Missouri and a mark of 9.775 in her home state of Oklahoma on Saturday. The 2003 Level 10 Junior Olympic national vault champion, Long also posted a season-high 9.775 on floor against the Sooners last Saturday.

 

Canadian Duo Headlines Freshman Class

Nebraska’s youngest class includes a pair of Canadian National Team members in redshirt freshman Vanessa Meloche and true freshman Kylie Stone. Meloche, who missed the 2005 season due to foot and knee injuries that kept her out of gymnastics for the past two years, entered the new season fully recovered and poised to contribute on the uneven bars and balance beam. A seven-year Canadian National Team member, Meloche has excelled on the two events, as evidenced by her 2002 national bars title and a third-place finish on vault and bars at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, that same year.

 

Meloche’s first competition as a Husker was nothing short of the NU coaching staff’s expectation, as she finished in a four-way tie for first on bars with junior Michele Zabawa (9.875) at the Super Six Challenge.

 

Headlining the heralded freshman class is Stone, who joined the Huskers after the fall semester. Stone competed in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, and could contribute as an all-arounder, as she finished 14th in the all-around standings at the 2004 World Championships in Anaheim, Calif. A native of Calgary, Alberta, she was the 2004 Canadian National all-around, beam and floor exercise champion, as well as a national titleholder on beam in 2003.

 

Stone’s first competition at the DevaneyCenter, however, produced a solid performance for the freshman, as she notched a score of 9.80 on bars and a 9.75 on beam. She most recently competed as an all-arounder for the first time at Oklahoma, finishing third with a mark of 39.00 and contributing a 9.80 on vault, 9.75 on bars and beam and a 9.70 on floor.

 

Scouting the Competition: PennState Nittany Lions

*Head Coach: Steve Shepherd (14th Year)

*2006 Record: 4-3

*2006 High Score: 194.875 (vs. Alabama/Arizona, 1/14/06)

*2005 NCAA Finish: 5th in Preliminaries (194.975)

*Last Meet: at Arkansas, 2/3/06 (W, 194.65-194.575)

Quick Facts about the Nittany Lions...

*PennState is ranked No. 17 nationally this week, as well as second in both the Northeast Region and Big Ten Conference.

*Senior Meredith Hoover won her first all-around title of 2006 last week, notching a score of 38.825.

*PennState and Nebraska last met at the 2005 NCAA Championships, where the Huskers                           finished third (195.875) over fifth-place PSU (194.975) in the first preliminary session. NU                  went on to place sixth (196.425) at the NCAA Super Six Finals the following night.

 

Scouting the Competition: Rutgers Scarlet Knights

*Head Coach: Chrystal Cholett-Norton (20th Year)    

*2006 Record: 5-2

*2006 High Score: 191.65 (vs. Temple, 1/25/06)

*2005 NCAA Finish: Did Not Qualify

*Last Meet: at Pittsburgh, 2/4/06 (W, 191.95-190.625)

Quick Facts about the Scarlet Knights...

*Head Coach Chrystal Cholett-Norton is in her 20th season with the Rutgers gymnastics program. She led the squad to a 2005 USA Gymnastics Collegiate national championship and was named USAG Coach of the Year.

*Rutgers’ Stephanie Zick and Beth Fittery earned USAG All-America honors.

*Friday’s meet marks the first meeting of Rutgers and Nebraska, as the two teams have

never competed in the Huskers’ 31 years of competition.

 

Scouting the Competition: Yale Bulldogs

*Head Coach: Barbara Tonry (33rd Year)    

 *2006 Record: 3-4

*2006 High Score: 187.675 (vs. Penn, 1/21/06)

*2005 NCAA Finish: Did Not Qualify

*Last Meet: at Fox Run Invitational, 2/4/06 (3rd, 187.525)

Quick Facts about the Bulldogs...

*Head Coach Barbara Tonry is in her 33rd year with the Yale gymnastics program, taking the helm in the year of its inception in 1973.

*Bulldog senior Alina Liao was named ECAC Rookie of the Week on Jan. 30 after scoring a meet-best 9.65 on floor in Yale’s win over rival Penn.

*Senior Anne McPherson is Yale’s top returning competitor, having scored a career-best 9.90 on floor exercise in 2005.