No. 7 Huskers Open Season at Super Six Challenge

No. 7 Huskers Open Season at Super Six Challenge

?Head Coach: Dan Kendig (14th Year)

?Current Record: 0-0

?2006 High Score: 196.85 (at Oklahoma, 2/4/06)

?2006 NCAA Finish: 5th (196.125)  

 

The seventh-ranked Nebraska women’s gymnastics team will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., on Friday, Jan. 5, to open its season at the Super Six Challenge. In their second straight appearance at the Super Six Challenge, the Huskers will face off with No. 15 Arkansas, third-ranked Florida, ninth-ranked LSU, No. 14 Penn State and No. 17 Denver.

 

Nebraska returns seven All-Americans who have combined for a total of 17 All-America awards over their Husker careers, including seven-time honoree Emily Parsons. First-team All-Americans Tricia Woo and Vanessa Meloche and second-teamers Stephanie Carter, Michele Zabawa, Desire’ Sniatynski and Kylie Stone highlight the group of 10 returning letterwinners, as well as Brittney Williams, Sabrina Long and Kylee Johnson. NU welcomes two newcomers in Maria Scaffidi, Kathryn Howard and Molly Ohnoutka.

 

Following a weekend off, Nebraska returns to action at IowaState on Jan. 19. Competition is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.

 

NU to Make Season Debut on ESPN2

Nebraska’s season opener at the Super Six Challenge on Jan. 5 is scheduled for a tape-delayed broadcast by ESPN2. The six-team meet is set to air Jan. 14 at 2:30 p.m. (CST).

 

Nebraska’s Competition Order at the Super Six Challenge

Rotation                 V              Bye         UB          BB           Bye         FX

1                              LSU        DU          Ark.         NU          PSU        UF

2                              UF           LSU        DU          Ark.         NU          PSU

3                              PSU        UF           LSU        DU          Ark.         NU

4                              NU          PSU        UF           LSU        DU          Ark.

5                              Ark.         NU          PSU        UF           LSU        DU

6                              DU          Ark.         NU          PSU        UF           LSU

 

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 311-115-4 overall and 215-41-2 in regular-season meets. Kendig is in his 24th year of coaching and owns a career record of 424-228-4.

 

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 guidance in 2006, Nebraska finished with a 26-11-1 overall record. The Huskers placed second (196.275) in the NCAA Southeast Regional behind Georgia and also placed fifth (196.175) in its eighth consecutive NCAA Championships appearance. Seven of Kendig's gymnasts -- Emily Parsons (AA, V, FX), Tricia Woo (BB, FX), Vanessa Meloche (UB) Michele Zabawa (UB) and Desire’ Sniatynski (UB), Stephanie Carter (FX) and Kylie Stone (V) -- earned a total of 10 All-America honors.

 

Kendig is assisted by associate head coach Danna Durante, who is in her fifth season with Nebraska, and assistant coach Tim Garrison, who enters his first year on the Husker staff.

 

Parsons Leads Huskers into 2007 Season

Junior Emily Parsons will lead the Huskers in 2007, after earning seven All-America awards in her first two years at NU. The St. Charles, Mo., native finished fourth on vault and sixth on floor in the individual event finals at the NCAA Championships to garner first-team All-America honors on the two events and the all-around.

 

In 2006, Parsons was also named the South Central Regional Gymnast of the Year and snagged Big 12 Conference crowns on vault and beam. In a sophomore season that saw Parsons earn four All-Big 12 nods (vault, beam, floor and the all-around), she went on to claim NCAA regional titles on vault, floor and the all-around for the second straight year. Over two years, Parsons has run away with a total of 50 individual event titles.

 

Stone Becomes Rock-Solid All-Arounder for NU

Kylie Stone gave fans a glimpse of her full abilities in the last meet of her freshman season at the 2006 NCAA Championships. The Calgary, Alberta, native, who had competed as an all-arounder since early February, tied or posted four career highs at the Super Six Finals to finish fourth in the all-around with a career-best 39.40. She added career-high marks on bars (9.85), beam (9.80) and floor (9.925), as well as a solid 9.825 on vault. In the afternoon reliminary session the day before, Stone notched a 9.85 on vault to earn second-team All-America honors on the event.

 

Stone headlined the steady 2006 freshman class and was an All-Big 12 honoree in the all-around with a 39.25 performance at the Big 12 Championships in Lincoln. She came to Nebraska with an impressive list of accomplishments, having been a 2004 Canadian Olympian and a four-time Canadian senior national champion.

 

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

Nebraska welcomes three true freshmen to its roster this season, as Maria Scaffidi, Kathryn Howard and Molly Ohnoutka joined the Huskers for 2007. A native of Sussex, Wis., Scaffidi is a former junior international elite gymnast. At the 2000 Junior Pan American Championships, Scaffidi led the U.S. team to a first-place finish, while also taking the all-around and beam crowns. Scaffidi is expected to contribute to NU’s vault, bars, beam and floor lineups in her first year.

 

Howard joined NU after the fall semester, having graduated early from KeystoneNationalHigh School. The Houston, Texas, native could make an immediate impact on Nebraska’s beam and bars lineups.

 

Ohnoutka, who hails from Omaha, Neb., will redshirt in 2007 while she rehabilitates an injury suffered during her senior year of high school.

 

Sophomore All-Americans Become Seasoned Veterans

Nebraska’s sophomore class includes a trio of returning All-Americans in Tricia Woo, Kylie Stone and Vanessa Meloche. Woo, a native of Milpitas, Calif., took first-team honors on floor at the NCAA Championships to finish 10th, and second-team honors on beam.

 

The class also boasts a pair of former Canadian National Team members in Meloche and Stone. Meloche, a first-team All-American and the reigning Big 12 champion on bars, came out strong in her inaugural season as a Husker to win six individual bars titles. A seven-year member of the national team, she was the 2002 Canadian National bars champion. Meloche will serve as one of the top performers in the Huskers’ bars lineup and may also see time on beam.

 

A second-team All-American on vault in 2006, Stone grabbed an all-around crown and a floor title at PennState in 2006 to break into the NU lineup full-time. Before beginning her career at Nebraska, Stone competed in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, and finished 14th in the all-around at the 2003 World Championships in Anaheim, Calif., making her the highest-finishing Canadian female all-arounder in World Championships history.