T?trault Named All-Around All-American

State College, Pa.? Nebraska junior Stephen T?trault was named an All-American in the all-around on Friday during the second day of competition at the 2007 NCAA Championships in State College, Pa. It is the second All-America award for T?trault, who also finished fifth in the vault in 2005, and the first all-around All-America accolade for the Huskers since Derek Leiter’s award in 2000.

 

T?trault finished seventh overall with a score of 52.05, and will also advance to the event finals on the pommel horse (9.00) on Saturday at 6 p.m. After an outstanding freshman season that led to his first All-America award, T?trault struggled with injury as a sophomore and was actually withdrawn from the all-around at the 2006 championships due to injury. But determination and hard work paid off the for Lincoln native, who tonight became the 17th Husker in NU history to earn an All-America selection in the all-around.

 

“This feels great,” T?trault said. “It’s vindication to anyone who ever thought that I wouldn’t come back after my freshman year. By getting here and becoming an all-around All-American, I think I proved that I really am a good gymnast.”

 

Also advancing to Saturday’s event finals is sophomore T.J. Schmidt, who qualified on both the pommel horse and parallel bars. Schmidt scored a 9.00 on pommel horse to advance, before putting together his most impressive parallel bars performance to date for a career-high mark of 9.40.

 

Nebraska’s other all-around finalist, senior Jason Wassung, missed out on a All-America honors by just one-tenth of a point, finishing ninth with a score of 51.75 behind Minnesota’s Andre Berry (51.85).

 

The first Huskers to see action were T?trault and Wassung, who competed simultaneously on the pommel horse and parallel bars, respectively. T?trault gave an expert performance on the horse, getting his evening off to a great start with a score of 9.00. Wassung followed just seconds later by sticking his dismount on the parallel bars for a score of 9.05.

 

The senior from Lincoln staggered in the second rotation however, catching his foot on the high bar and suffering a fall in an otherwise clean routine. Wassung received a score of 8.20 and fell to seventh in the all-around standings from fourth.

 

He would never recover from that fall and despite strong scores on the floor exercise (8.95) and still rings (8.85), was unable to make it back into the top eight. By not advancing to the event finals, the 5-4 senior co-captain officially ended a 14-year association with Nebraska gymnastics with five all-around titles, four consecutive trips to the NCAA Championships and a legacy of leadership for the Huskers.

 

T?trault meanwhile remained strong in his second event, posting a season-high score of 8.75 on the still rings and improving to fifth in the all-around standings.

 

T?trault was up on the vault next and took a small step on his landing and received a small deduction for a solid score of 8.95. After three rotations, T?trault was on pace to better his season-high all-around score of 52.30, which he set during Thursday’s qualifier.

 

Unfortunately, T?trault faltered on the parallel bars, scoring a 7.90. Always a determined competitor however, the Lincoln East graduate came back strong on the high bar with a mark of 8.75.

 

T?trault ended the evening on the floor exercise in the sixth rotation, scoring an 8.70 for an all-around total of 52.05 and seventh overall.

 

In the team finals, PennState captured its unprecedented 12th team title (221.00), topping two-time defending national champion Oklahoma (220.20). Stanford finished third (218.45), followed by Michigan (218.40), Illinois (217.30) and Minnesota (217.15).

 

T?trault and Schmidt will represent the Huskers tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. for the event finals, which feature the top 10 competitors on each event. The top eight from that field will be crowned All-Americans. T?trault will be hunting for his third All-America award, while Schmidt is competing for the first of his career.

 

Individual Event Qualifiers (Nebraska Only)

Pommel Horse               Score

T.J. Schmidt                  9.00

Stephen T?trault            9.00

 

Parallel Bars                  Score

T.J. Schmidt                  9.40