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Norman, Okla. ? In the midst of an unusually wintry afternoon in Norman, Okla., the Nebraska men’s gymnastics team warmed up nicely as it scored a 203.30, demolishing its season-opening mark of 189.70 from just one week ago.
The Huskers were led by outstanding performances from senior Jason Wassung, sophomore T.J. Schmidt and freshman Josh Rusler, with Wassung earning the third all-around title of his career with a score of 50.35.
Despite notching season-high scores in all six events, the Huskers fell to No. 1 Oklahoma, which finished with a team score of 213.20. Air Force finished third behind a score of 180.95.
“We gained a lot of momentum from our younger guys today,” Head Coach Francis Allen said. “We figured out how to keep going once we gained that momentum, and I’m happy with the improvement I saw. Our freshmen and sophomores really stepped up and are on track to be where we want them by the end of the season.”
Schmidt was perhaps the biggest momentum builder for Nebraska, setting career-high marks and leading the Huskers on the pommel horse (9.00), still rings (8.95) and parallel bars (9.35). Just one week after earning the first event title of his career on the pommel horse at the Rocky Mountain Open, Schmidt tripled his hardware collection with a pair of titles against Oklahoma and Air Force, including another crown on the pommel horse and his first title on the parallel bars. Schmidt also tied for second on the rings.
Freshman Josh Rusler also continued the success he found in Nebraska’s season opener, setting career-high marks on the floor exercise (8.40), vault (9.00) and high bar (8.50). The Norman, Okla., native’s score of 9.00 on vault was good to tie for third-place and Rusler had plenty of help celebrating his first career trip to the podium as a slew of hometown supporters braved the bad weather to cheer on Rusler and the Huskers.
Schmidt found his opportunity to shine early as Nebraska started on the still rings, bringing the meet in on a high note with a 34.60 team score. The mark shatters both NU’s 2006 (34.025) and 2007 (33.65) season highs in the event, which went through a scoring change following the 2005 season that put more emphasis on swing to strength skills.
Freshman Tony Maras lived up to his preseason billing as one of NU’s top ringmen with a phenomenal debut routine for a score of 8.65. Maras tipped off a series of solid performances from the Huskers with junior Stephen T?trault following with a score of 8.30 before Wassung set a season-high of 8.70 and Schmidt added his career-high of 8.95.
The Huskers maintained momentum on the floor exercise, led by Wassung with one of the most powerful floor performances of his collegiate career for a score of 9.15, nearly tying his career high of 9.20 on the event. As a team, Nebraska scored a 33.65, adding more than two full points to its score of 31.45 at the Rocky Mountain Open.
But while Nebraska stepped up on the floor, it again struggled through the pommel horse rotation, suffering three consecutive falls to open the lineup and finishing with just two scores above the 8.0 mark. Fortunately, one of those marks was Schmidt’s 9.00, followed by an 8.40 from T?trault for a team mark of 33.00.
The Huskers recovered on the high bar behind early success in the lineup, including a score of 8.10 from freshman Adrion Hernandez to start the rotation. Rusler added an 8.50 to lead the event for NU, while freshman Kyle Shanahan followed close behind with a career-high score of 8.45.
Nebraska added two full points to its vault score, going from a 32.70 to a 33.70, despite competing just five gymnasts. NU’s sixth competitor, 2005 vaulting All-American T?trault, was removed from the event to prevent further aggravating a knee injury he suffered on vault during warm-ups. The Husker freshmen stepped up to fill the hole left by T?trault, with Rusler leading the event with his score of 9.00, followed by Daniel Br?l?, who stuck a career-high of 8.65.
The Huskers saved the best for last as they capped an impressive afternoon with a team-high event score of 35.15 on the parallel bars, just one-tenth away from Nebraska’s 2006 season-high score of 35.25. Schmidt led NU with an almost flawless routine and his career-high score of 9.35, followed by an 8.85 from Wassung to tie for third and an 8.65 from Tetrault.
Nebraska remains on the road for one more week with a trip to the Stanford Open in Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday, Jan. 26 and Saturday, Jan. 27 where it will face Mountain Pacific Sports Federation foes Stanford and California. The Huskers return to Lincoln for their home-opener against the Sooners on Friday, Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Team Results Score
1. Oklahoma 213.20
2. Nebraska 203.30
3. Air Force 180.95
All-Around Score
1. Jason Wassung, Nebraska 50.35
2. Brennan Wolford, Air Force 44.35
3. Kurt Antonio, Air Force 42.70
Event Results (Top Three Only)
Floor Exercise Score
1. Chris Brooks, Oklahoma 9.65
2. Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma 9.60
3. Russell Czeschin, Oklahoma 9.50
Pommel Horse Score
1. T.J. Schmidt, Nebraska 9.00
2. Brian Carr, Oklahoma 8.50
3. Jason Laughton, Oklahoma 8.40
Still Rings Score
1. Taquiy Abdullah, Oklahoma 9.20
2. Ian Jackson, Oklahoma 8.95
T.J. Schmidt, Nebraska 8.95
Vault Score
1. Chris Brooks, Oklahoma 9.15
2. Kyle McNamara, Oklahoma 9.05
3. Josh Rusler, Nebraska 9.00
Ian Jackson, Oklahoma 9.00
Parallel Bars Score
1. T.J. Schmidt, Nebraska 9.35
2. Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma 9.30
3. Jason Wassung, Nebraska 8.85
Taquiy Abdullah, Oklahoma 8.85
High Bar Score
1. Ian Jackson, Oklahoma 8.75
Brian Carr, Oklahoma 8.75
3. Wes Aderhold, Oklahoma 8.70