Perdue Qualifies for Finals at NCAA Championships

Norman, Okla. - Freshman Grant Perdue hit a 15.40 on floor exercise Friday night to qualify for the individual event finals at the NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships. The freshman from Sugar Land, Texas finished fourth overall on the night to capture NU's first event finals appearance since 2010.

 Three other Huskers competed on the evening, with sophomore Donovan Arndt scoring a 14.20 on still rings, sophomore Eric Schryver picking up a 14.20 on parallel bars and senior Andreas Hofer finishing with a 14.30 on high bar. Perdue also saw competition on vault on the evening, posting a score of 14.65.

Friday night also served as the team finals at the NCAA Championships, where Illinois captured their first championship title since 1989, scoring a mark of 358.850. Top-seeded Oklahoma was edged out and finished in second place at 357.350. Penn State rounded out the top three, picking up a score of 354.800.

Arndt kicked off the night for the Huskers, competing in the second rotation on still rings. Arndt hit a solid mark of 14.20 on the evening, beating his qualifying mark from yesterday afternoon (14.10). Arndt finished at 27th overall on the evening among still rings competitors.

Perdue was up next, appearing on floor exercise, his first of two events on the evening. Perdue nailed a 15.40, identical to his program-record and career best mark from yesterday evening. Perdue finished fourth overall on the night, qualifying him for the event finals tomorrow night.

Schryver competed in the fourth rotation for Nebraska on parallel bars. The native of Richardson, Texas had a slight stumble in his dismount but recovered to pick up a solid mark of 14.20. Schryver would finish 26th overall among parallel bars competitors on the night.

The fifth rotation took Hofer to high bar for the Huskers, where the senior from Heidelberg, Germany stuck his routine for a score of 14.30 on the evening. Hofer finished at 17th place overall on the evening, just out of contention for the event finals.

Perdue took to vault in the sixth and final rotation of the evening as the freshman looked to duplicate his sucess earlier in the night on floor. Perdue hit his landing with a small hop, scoring out at a 14.65 to finish at 30th overall on the evening.

Perdue will compete tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. in the individual event finals alongside the other nine top scorers on floor exercise from Friday night. The top eight finishers tomorrow night will earn All-America honors in their respective events. Perdue will look to become Nebraska's first All-American since 2010 (Anthony Ingrelli, SR) and NU's first freshman All-American since 2005 (Stephen Tétrault, V).

2012 NCAA Championships
Team/All-Around Finals
Individual Semifinals
Lloyd Noble Arena
Norman, Okla.

Floor Exercise
Grant Perdue: 15.40 (4th)

Still Rings
Donovan Arndt: 14.20 (27th)

Vault
Grant Perdue: 14.65 (30th)

Parallel Bars
Eric Schryver: 14.20 (27th)

High Bar
Andreas Hofer: 14.30 (17th)

Team Finals
1. Illinois: 358.850
2. Oklahoma: 357.450
3. Penn State: 358.800
4. California: 353.00
5. Stanford: 352.650
6. Michigan: 351.050

All-Around Champion
Jake Dalton (OU): 91.000