Huskers Finish Fourth at MPSF Championships

Berkeley, Calif. ? The Nebraska men’s gymnastics team finished fourth with a team score of 203.45 at the 2007 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships on Saturday night in Berkeley, Calif.

Oklahoma took home the team title for the third consecutive season and the eighth time in nine seasons with a score of 217.95, while Stanford (216.10) and Cal (215.00) wrapped up the second and third place spots, respectively. Air Force finished fifth with a score of 189.05.
 
“We had a really good week of practice, and I thought we would do a lot better than we did,” Head Coach Francis Allen said. “We have to get back in the gym and work some of these kinks out before the NCAA Championships because at this pace, we’re not going to do as well as we want.”
 
In his fourth and final MPSF Championship showing, senior Jason Wassung led the Huskers throughout the meet, finishing fourth in the all-around (51.25) for the second consecutive season and tying second on the vault with a season-high mark of 9.10
 
Sophomore T.J. Schmidt also captured a top-three finish on the pommel horse, finishing third with an 8.70.
 
“There were some bright spots in the meet,” Allen said. “T.J. (Schmidt) did a pretty nice job for us and after he got going, Jason (Wassung) gave a good performance as well.”
 
Nebraska got off to a rough start in the meet, scoring 31.90 on the pommel horse as a team, its second-lowest horse score of the season. The Huskers were hurt badly by three falls, including falls in two straight sets to start the order and another to cap the event. Only Schmidt (8.70) and freshman Kyle Shanahan scored above an 8.0, with Shanahan turning in a career-best 8.45.
 
Fortunately, Nebraska shook off the cobwebs in the second rotation, landing a solid score of 34.80 on the still rings. The Huskers were led again by Schmidt, this time with a career-high score of 9.10. He was matched by Wassung (9.10), who stuck the landing to his set for his highest rings score since Feb. 24.
 
Fueled by his rings routine, Wassung brought great energy into the vault in the third rotation and was rewarded with a season-high score of 9.10. Junior Stephen T?trault added a strong mark of 8.90, and the Huskers finished the event with a team score of 34.45, nearing their season best of 34.95, which NU set against Stanford on March 4.
 
After three rotations, Nebraska held fourth place overall with a score of 134.80. Oklahoma led the team competition (147.45), followed by Cal in second (145.40), Stanford in third (142.95) and Air Force in fifth (126.70).
 
Nebraska moved to the parallel bars in the fourth rotation, an event that typically serves up strong scores for the Huskers. The apparatus proved only lukewarm for NU on the evening, as the Huskers scored a 33.65, well behind their season average of 35.40. Schmidt grabbed Nebraska’s best single performance on the event, notching a score of 9.00.
 
Shanahan, who had marked a career-high of 8.45 on the pommel horse to open the meet, again emerged in the fifth rotation on the high bar, tallying his second career best of the night and leading the Huskers with an 8.80. Wassung added an 8.60 for a team score of 33.95.
 
Nebraska finished the 2007 MPSF Championships on the floor exercise (34.70), led once again by Wassung with a score of 9.10. Schmidt neared his career-high with an 8.70, and T?trault added an 8.55 to end the evening for the Huskers.
 
Nebraska’s score of 203.45 from the MPSF Championship will be doubled and added to its modified three-score of average of 204.60. The average of those two marks will then determine NU’s NCAA qualifying average and decide if the Huskers advance to the national championships, April 12-14 in State College, Pa. Nebraska should learn its fate for the NCAA Championships sometime early next week.

Team Results                            Score

1. Oklahoma                              217.95

2. Stanford                                216.10

3. California                               215.00

4. Nebraska                              203.45

5. Air Force                               189.05

 

 

All-Around Results                     Score

1. Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma    55.00

2. T. Abdullah, Oklahoma           54.60

3. David Sender, Stanford           53.60

 

Individual Event Results

 

Floor Exercise                           Score

1. Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma    9.70

2. Russ Czeschin, Oklahoma      9.65

3. Chris Brooks, Oklahoma         9.60

 

 

Pommel Horse                           Score

1. Chris Harper, Stanford            9.30

2. Tim McNeill, California            8.85

3. T.J. Schmidt, Nebraska        8.70

 

Still Rings                                 Score

1. Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma    9.80

2. David Sender, Stanford           9.75

3. Tyler Block, California            9.65

    Tim McNeill, California

 

Vault                                         Score

1. David Sender, Stanford           9.20

2. Jason Wassung, Nebraska   9.10

   T. Abdullah, Oklahoma

 

Parallel Bars                              Score

1. Tim McNeill, California            9.35

2. Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma    9.30

3. Collin Christ, California            9.25

 

High Bar                                    Score

1. Dylan Carney, Stanford           9.80

   Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma    

2. T. Abdullah, Oklahoma           9.30

    David Sender, Stanford