Seventh-Ranked NU Travels to No. 22 Missouri

?Head Coach: Dan Kendig (14th Year)

?Current Record: 5-1 (1-0 Big 12)

?2007 High Score: 195.725 (at IowaState, 1/19/07)

?2006 NCAA Finish: 5th (196.125)

                               

The seventh-ranked Nebraska women’s gymnastics team will travel to Columbia, Mo., on Friday, Jan. 26 to continue its conference season at No. 22 Missouri. The competition will serve as a test drive for the 2007 Big 12 Championships, which will be held at MU’s HearnesCenter on Saturday, March 31.

 

Nebraska boasts a series record of 59-5 with Missouri, having defeated the Tigers seven straight times since a loss at the 2004 Big 12 Championships.

 

Following the MU-NU matchup, Nebraska returns to the BobDevaneySportsCenter on Friday, Feb. 2 for its first home meet with No. 8 Oklahoma. Competition is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. and also features the Nebraska and Oklahoma men’s dual. Fans will enjoy the DevaneyCenter’s “Dollar Days” promotion as well, with $1 admission, $1 hot dogs and $1 Pepsi products.

 

Nebraska’s Competition Order at Missouri

Rotation                 Missouri                Nebraska

1                              Vault                       Uneven Bars

2                              Uneven Bars        Vault

3                              Balance Beam     Floor Exercise

4                              Floor Exercise      Balance Beam

 

Scouting the Competition: No. 22 Missouri Tigers

?Head Coach: Rob Drass (Eighth Year)                         ?2007 Record: 2-4 (0-2 Big 12)

?2007 High Score: 194.025 (vs. Illinois, 1/12/07)          ?2006 NCAA Finish: Did Not Qualify

 

A Glance at the Tigers...

?MU’s top returning gymnast is sophomore Adrianne Perry, who was named the 2006 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year at last season’s conference championships. Perry qualified to the NCAA Championships as an all-around competitor and barely missed All-America honors on beam with a ninth-place 9.80 in the preliminary session.

?Missouri head coach Rob Drass has strong ties to the Nebraska women’s gymnastics program, as he served as a graduate assistant in 1992 and 1993 and was an assistant coach under Dan Kendig from 1994 to 1999.

 ?Nebraska and Missouri last met at the 2006 NCAA Southeast Regional in Athens, Ga., where the Huskers finished second (196.35) to earn a berth to the NCAA Championships. MU placed third with a 195.325.

?The Tigers last defeated Nebraska in a regular-season dual, 188.15-187.50, on Jan. 30, 1995. At the time, NU was led by Joy Taylor, who went on to become a second-team All-American on bars and is now married to Missouri coach Rob Drass.

 

Reviewing the Weekend: Nebraska at IowaState

?Nebraska achieved a 195.725-195.325 win at IowaState last Friday, marking its first victory in Ames since a 196.275-195.275 showing on Feb. 7, 2003.

?Junior Emily Parsons was dominant on her three events for the Huskers, capturing individual event titles on vault (9.95), beam (9.85) and floor (9.925).

?Sophomore Vanessa Meloche also took the bars title with a score of 9.825, giving her a career total of seven bars crowns.

?Junior Desire’ Sniatynski was NU’s top all-arounder, finishing second (39.925) behind ISU’s Janet Anson (39.125).

?Sophomore Kylie Stone set a career high on beam with a 9.825 to tie for second-place honors with teammate Tricia Woo.

 

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 316-116-4 overall and 220-42-2 in regular-season meets. Kendig is in his 24th year of coaching and owns a career record of 429-229-4.

 

A six-time Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year, Kendig has guided the Huskers to eight conference championships and three straight regional championships from 2000 to 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, 2005 and 2006. 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 is in his first year on the Husker staff.

 

Top-Ranked Parsons Named Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week

Junior Emily Parsons, the nation’s top-ranked vaulter, was named the Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week for the second time this season after her dominant performance at IowaState, the conference office announced on Jan. 23. Parsons was previously honored on Jan. 9 and has earned a total of eight weekly conference awards in her career. In addition to holding the No. 1 position on the national vault charts, Parsons is also ranked sixth on beam and 12th on floor.

 

This weekend’s trip to Missouri will mark a homecoming for Parsons, a native of St. Charles, Mo., who trained at GymQuarters Gymnastics, the No. 1 team in the state for four consecutive years. As a Level 10 gymnast, Parsons swept the 2003 Missouri State Championships by taking first-place honors in every event and the all-around, and she was the Missouri state beam champion in 2004.

 

At Nebraska, Parsons owns a total of 53 individual event titles in just over two years. She has earned seven All-America awards in the last two seasons and finished fourth on vault and sixth on floor in the individual event finals at the 2006 NCAA Championships. 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 her earn four All-Big 12 nods (vault, beam, floor and the all-around), Parsons went on to claim NCAA regional titles on vault, floor and the all-around for the second straight year.

 

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 preliminary 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.

 

In a solid 2007 season opener at the Super Six Challenge, Stone finished second in the all-around with a score of 39.125. Two weeks later at IowaState, she added second-place honors on beam with a career-high 9.825 and also finished fourth on vault (9.825).

 

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 made her debut as an all-arounder at IowaState, including scores of 9.75 on vault, 9.675 on bars and 9.60 on beam in the Huskers’ win.

 

Howard joined NU after the fall semester, having graduated early from KeystoneNationalHigh School. The Huntsville, Texas, native has made an immediate impact on the beam lineup, as she finished seventh (9.775) on the event at IowaState. Howard is also expected to challenge for time in the bars lineup.

 

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. She has been as solid as ever in her second year, as she tied for second on beam (9.825) at IowaState and added a third-place finish on floor (9.875).

 

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.