Husker All-Arounders Lead Young Team in 2007

In gymnastics, a team’s all-arounders are typically the building blocks that breed success. As the most frequent competitors in the lineup, these athletes must provide consistency, talent and most of all, leadership. In 2007, Nebraska featured not one, but two outstanding all-arounders in junior Stephen T?trault and senior Jason Wassung. It was from this foundation and the supporting roles of NU’s event specialists that the Huskers were able to build another successful season.

 

Together, T?trault and Wassung led Nebraska to its fifth consecutive NCAA Championships appearance, where the Huskers finished 10th overall. The pair also shared a trip to the national all-around finals, making Nebraska one of just three teams to place more than one all-arounder among the elite field. T?trault finished seventh (52.05) for the second All-America award of his career, while Wassung missed out on All-America honors by just one-tenth of a point (51.75). Wassung, a Lincoln native, had led the Huskers as an all-arounder three consecutive seasons and ranked as high as third in the national polls in 2007.   

 

While the NU all-arounders took on the responsibility of leading the Huskers in 2007, several event specialists emerged as stalwart contributors. Sophomore T.J. Schmidt was among the most successful, leading the team with 10 event titles and gaining his first All-America award with a fifth-place finish (9.075) on the pommel horse at the NCAA event finals. Freshmen Kyle Shanahan and Tony Maras also made significant contributions, while gaining valuable experience. Shanahan was the only Husker newcomer to compete in the all-around and also tallied NU’s top floor exercise score in more than two years with a career-high mark of 9.35. Maras emerged as Nebraska’s top ringman with a team-high mark of 9.45 and was the only Husker freshman to earn an event title with crowns on the still rings and vault.

 

Nebraska achieved success in 2007 despite being challenged by injuries to nine members of a 17-man roster. T?trault, Shanahan and Maras found themselves among the group of athletes fighting to overcome injuries. Through the adversity, the Huskers matured, grew and triumphed to develop a strong sense that a return to the pinnacle of college gymnastics is on the horizon for the Huskers.

 

Nebraska opened the 2007 season without two of its top freshman ringmen at the Rocky Mountain Open due to injury and illness. Freshman Garrett Durst, a product of the Nebraska School of Gymnastics, missed the entire season with injury, while Maras was sidelined for the season-opener with an illness.

 

Despite an incomplete roster, the Huskers headed to Colorado Springs, Colo., to take on Oklahoma and Air Force on Jan. 13, finishing second with a score of 189.70. Nebraska was led by Wassung, who finished second in the all-around, followed by T?trault in third. Schmidt came out of the gate strong for Nebraska, earning the first of 10 event titles on the year with the pommel horse crown (8.55).

 

Nebraska produced an impressive improvement the next week by posting a 203.30 in Norman, Okla., on Jan. 20 to finish second behind the Sooners (213.20).

 

The Huskers were led by outstanding performances from Wassung, Schmidt and freshman Josh Rusler, with Wassung earning the third all-around title of his career with a score of 50.35. Schmidt was perhaps the biggest momentum builder for Nebraska, setting then 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 and was subsequently named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Week for his efforts. Rusler also continued the success he found in Nebraska’s season opener, setting a career-high mark on vault (9.00) to tie for third in front of his hometown crowd.

 

The Huskers remained on the road the following week as they traveled to Palo Alto, Calif., for the 2007 Stanford Open on Jan. 27. Schmidt grabbed his fourth event title in three weeks by earning the parallel bars crown with a score of 9.10. As a team, Nebraska finished third (202.90) among three NCAA squads, with meet-host Stanford taking the top spot (209.65) followed by California in second (207.50).

 

After nearly a month on the road, Nebraska returned home to the BobDevaneySportsCenter on Feb. 2 for the first of four home contests. The Huskers opened with Oklahoma in a dual meet accompanied by the Husker women. The Nebraska men scored a then season-high team mark of 205.95 in front of 4,125 fans that packed the arena, but NU’s performance wasn’t quite enough to topple OU, which posted a score of 213.30 for the win.

 

The attendance number marked the largest crowd to watch an NCAA men’s gymnastics competition in 2007. The Husker Nation had plenty to cheer about, as Wassung set a pair of career-high marks en route to the parallel bars crown (9.40) and a second-place finish in the all-around (51.90). In addition to his career high on the parallel bars, Wassung added a career-best 9.20 on high bar for second place on the event, and then season-high scores on the still rings (8.90) and vault (8.70).

 

Wassung’s parallel bars title was one of two event crowns for the Huskers, as Tony Maras tied with Oklahoma’s Jonathan Horton for the vault title (8.90). Maras became the first in Nebraska’s nine-man freshman class to reach the top of the podium in 2007.

 

Nebraska returned to the road on Feb. 24 as it dropped a nailbiter to the Iowa Hawkeyes, 205.05-204.20, in Iowa City. It was the second straight dual between the two programs decided by less than a point, as Iowa topped Nebraska, 209.60-209.45, in 2006.

 

Despite the loss, Nebraska earned four individual event titles, including a pair from Schmidt on the pommel horse (8.85) and parallel bars (8.95). Schmidt shared his parallel bars crown with T?trault (8.95), while Maras added Nebraska’s third title with a 9.45 on the still rings. Maras’ score tied for the highest on any event for Nebraska in 2007.

 

Wassung finished off the Husker event winners with the top spot on the high bar (8.50). Wassung also won the all-around with a mark of 52.50. T?trault followed Wassung in second (51.80) in his first all-around appearance since Nebraska’s season-opener at the Rocky Mountain Open, as the Lincoln native had been held out of the floor exercise and vault following a knee injury at Oklahoma on Jan. 20.

 

As the Huskers returned to Lincoln for a three-meet homestand to close the regular season, five gymnasts faced injury or illness in a one-week period. Nebraska was limited to six competitors on just three events for two consecutive weeks, in typical fashion, the Huskers responded with determination and drive.

 

The Huskers notched a then season-high team score of 206.30 in a loss to Stanford (216.85) on March 4. Wassung claimed the runner-up spot in the all-around with a season-high score of 52.80, followed by T?trault in third (51.20). Schmidt captured an event title with his score of 9.25 on the parallel bars.

 

The Huskers dropped another tough contest the following weekend on March 11, 205.45-213.55, against Minnesota. Still working with a depleted roster, new competitors stepped up to fill several lineups for the first time all season, including freshman Adrion Hernandez (floor exercise and vault) and Stefan Wallof (vault). 

 

The help of young Huskers allowed Nebraska to scratch out a win to end the regular season on March 17 over Air Force, 207.75-190.10. Nebraska swept the top three spots on four events, while Wassung notched the fifth and final all-around title of his career (52.40).

 

Nebraska captured the top three places on the pommel horse, vault, parallel bars and high bar against the Falcons, making it the first time the Huskers had swept any event in 2007. T?trault and Schmidt each captured a pair of titles in the win, with T?trault’s on the vault (9.00) and high bar (9.05), and Schmidt’s on the pommel horse (9.20) and parallel bars (9.25).

 

With the regular season behind them, the Huskers headed back to California for the 2007 MPSF Championships in Berkeley on March 31. Nebraska managed a team score of 203.45 to finish fourth for the sixth consecutive season. In his fourth and final MPSF Championship showing, Wassung led the Huskers throughout the meet, finishing fourth in the all-around (51.25) for the second consecutive season and tying for second on vault with a season-high mark of 9.10. Schmidt also captured a top-three finish on the pommel horse, finishing third with an 8.70.

 

Nebraska finished 2007 at the NCAA Championships, April 12-14, on the PennState campus in State College, Pa. The Huskers posted a season-high mark of 209.10 to earn 10th place at the meet. Although Nebraska did not advance to the team finals, a goal the Huskers had held all season, NU didn’t go home empty handed. The Huskers enjoyed their first All-America honors in two years as T?trault earned his second and third All-America awards (all-around and pommel horse) and Schmidt gained his first (pommel horse).

 

At the 2007 Nebraska gymnastics banquet, several Huskers walked away with awards, including Wassung, who earned the prestigious Jim Hartung Award, an honor given to the top senior each season. Schmidt was recognized as Most Valuable on the year, while sophomore James Mauldin earned Most Improved honors. Shanahan was selected as the Newcomer of the Year and Maras was recognized with the Husker Perseverance award.

 

Along with the success in the gym, Nebraska was stellar in the classroom, placing 10 gymnasts on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Fall Honor Roll and four gymnasts (T?trault, Schmidt, Wassung and Eric Daigle) on the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Academic All-Conference team.