Huskers Wrap Up 2008 NCAA Championship Appearance

Palo Alto, Calif.-The Nebraska men's gymnastics team wrapped up its sixth-consecutive team appearance at the NCAA Championships on Friday night, as all four individual event qualifiers were unable to advance to the event finals held on Saturday, April 18, at 7 p.m.

Nebraska finished ninth out of 12 teams on Thursday, April 18, which is NU's best NCAA finish since the 2004 season. Although the team was eliminated in the first round, senior Stephen T?trault, junior T.J. Schmidt, sophomore Tony Maras and freshman Anthony Ingrelli advanced to Friday's individual qualifying session. Despite tough performances by all four gymnasts, no Husker was able to vie for All-America honors on Saturday night.

T?trault got things started off for the Huskers on pommel horse with a score of 14.20, which is one of his top-three scores of the season. Schmidt was up next on pommel horse, notching a score of 13.85. However, neither score would be enough to send the Nebraska natives to the event finals.

"Frenchy (T?trault) had a great meet," Head Coach Francis Allen said. "He really did a nice job. He had a terrific meet because of all the things that have happened to him with his injured foot and all of that. It would have been awesome if he would have made it to the finals, but he did really well today. I don't know what happened to him. We thought for sure he was going to make it. It's hard when you go up so early though."

By not advancing to the final round, T?trault finished a 14-year association with Nebraska gymnastics with three All-America titles, four consecutive trips to the NCAA Championships and a name that will live on in Husker gymnastics history.

"I think his (T?trault's) performance goes back to the kind of kid he is," Allen said. "He's a hard-working kid. Some guys get hurt and they won't work through it. If this is any indication of what he's going to be able to do the rest of his life, he'll be fine. He'll be a very successful person

Anthony Ingrelli continued on still rings for the Huskers, posting his fourth best score of the season with a 15.10. Ingrelli's score would not be enough to advance him to the still rings finals, ending his freshman season with two event titles on rings.

Tony Maras was the lone Husker on vault, where he scored one of his season-best scores of 15.70. Despite the high score, the Ramsey, Minn., native would not move on to the event finals, finishing his sophomore season with two event titles on still rings.

Schmidt wrapped up his third NCAA appearance with a score of 14.45 on parallel bars. Schmidt, a 2007 All-American, ended his stellar junior season with a team-best 10 individual event titles between pommel horse and parallel bars. In just two years, Schmidt has accumulated 20 event titles on both pommel horse and parallel bars. 

Although the Nebraska gymnastics season is over, tonight's session can be seen on a tape-delay basis on Thursday, April 24, at 2 p.m. Central on ESPNU.