NU Freshman Fan Attends All 10 Weekend Home Events

Randy York N-Sider

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Realizing how inappropriate it is to stand up and cheer when you’re reading Huskers.com or camped out on our popular Facebook page, I ask Big Red fans everywhere to give it up today and recognize an 18-year-old freshman female who wants to be an athletic trainer someday.

Meet Alyssa Pierson from Sioux Falls, S.D. When the former Sioux Falls O’Gorman High School soccer player learned that Nebraska would host 10 sports events this past weekend, including eight on Saturday, she made a vow to attend all 10, especially when she learned she would get a little help from three of her friends, who also decided to see all eight Saturday events.

That’s the beauty of being part of the Big Ten, the nation’s oldest collegiate conference. Joining Pierson for a monster daylong fan-fest Saturday were Ali Dorn, a broadcasting major and meteorology minor from Chicago; Lexi Hartman, a psychology major and business minor from Blue Hill, Neb., and Cara Buettner, a business major from Beatrice, Neb.

Pierson was the catalyst after attending Nebraska’s first-ever women’s match at the Dillon Tennis Center Friday. That launched a three-day marathon, capped Sunday when the Huskers hosted Iowa's wrestling team in front of a school-record 3,952 fans at the Devaney Center.

Freshman Alyssa Pierson shot this montage of photos while attending 12 sports events in last weekend's marathon in Lincoln.

South Dakota Native: ‘I’ve Always Wanted to Come to Nebraska’

Even though Pierson was born and lived her first six years in La Vista, Neb., she lived the next 12 in Sioux Falls. “I’ve always wanted to come to Nebraska and always been a big fan of sports,” she said. “I love the medicine side of things, so I wanted to work with athletes as well, so coming here was the perfect fit for me. I wanted to be in a big athletic training program, and there's just nothing like it in South Dakota."

As a freshman athletic training major, Pierson observes the professionals in action and is currently observing women’s basketball. Majors who enjoy observations and are motivated by the possibilities must then interview to be accepted into the program. “They only accept a few people," Pierson said, “but I like what I’m observing. I just love to watch sports. I drug my friends along with me and they enjoyed it too, but probably not as much as I did."

Since Pierson knew a girl on the South Dakota State team, Nebraska’s Friday night tennis match “kind of started it all,” she said. “I knew that I wanted to go to tennis, and I was like, 'Well, I might as well try to go to every event of the weekend.’"

Ethan Lottman, a senior from Omaha, earned the highest pommel horse score in Nebraska men’s gymnastics history last weekend.

Women's/Men's Gymnastics Earned Last Weekend’s Highest Praise

So that’s what Pierson did. Her No. 1 experience in a 12-event weekend was Saturday night's women’s and men’s double dual gymnastics meet. "Growing up, my mom and I loved watching gymnastics on TV and as soon as I came to Nebraska, she was already jealous that I got to go watch gymnastics," Pierson said. "I was telling my mom all about the meet on the phone, so that was the best part because it brought us together, even though she wasn’t here."

All four female freshmen fans put gymnastics at the top of the experience chart. "We were all saying to each other, 'It's so hard to watch, almost,' because there's just so much going on and you want to see every little part of it because everything and anything they do is amazing. It was exciting that the men’s gymnasts were competing at the same time because none of us have seen them compete live. We enjoyed seeing both compete in one place."

A season ticketholder for men’s basketball, Pierson attends games regularly and admits if Nebraska could have held on and upset Michigan, that probably would have been the weekend’s top experience. “Everyone was just so excited about it and it was a big game to watch,” she said. “It was a long day but a good day to begin watching women’s swimming and diving in the morning and finishing with gymnastics at night.”

Four Freshmen Had to Leave Some Venues Early to Get to Next Event

The foursome also watched men’s and women’s track and field and men’s tennis. "To hit every event, we had to leave some places early, obviously, but we saw something that was really exciting from every place,” Pierson said. “You see student-athletes walking around campus, so it’s fun to watch them compete. We would all definitely do it again. We all said that whenever we don’t have homework, we want to see more Husker events.”

The collegiate experience even included free pizza for being the first fans to attend the double dual gymnastics meet at the Devaney Center. That was an unexpected bonus for all four freshmen. This Saturday, Alyssa will celebrate her 19th birthday, so please consider this a collective card from coast-to-coast Cornhusker fans. Happy Birthday, Alyssa Pierson. You’ve already done what loyal Husker fans should do at least once in their life...regardless of age.     

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