Seven Huskers Advance to Finals at NCAA Championships

Columbus, Ohio --- Seven members of the Nebraska men's gymnastics team advanced to the individual event finals at the 2016 NCAA Championships on Saturday, April 16 at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio. 

Senior All-Americans Sam Chamberlain and Ethan Lottman, along with Austin Epperson, Anton Stephenson, Antonio Castro, Connor Adamsick and Kyle King all qualified for the finals after their performances on Friday afternoon at the first preliminary session of the championships. 

Epperson and Adamsick will compete in the floor finals, Chamberlain will compete in the vault and parallel bars finals, while Lottman and Castro will compete in the pommel horse finals. K. King advanced to the vault finals and Stephenson will compete in the parallel bars finals. 

As a team, Nebraska had a stellar start on still rings posting a team score of 70.15. Ryan Irick and Alex Magsam stuck their landings. The pair, along with Epperson had the highest scores for the Huskers on the event with 14.10. J. King and Joshua Everitt notched scores of 14.00 and 13.85, respectively. Stephenson, competing in the all-around notched a 13.50. As a team, Nebraska was in third place after the first event. 

The Huskers moved to vault where K. King led the team with a 15.05. Magsam and Chamberlain each added support with 14.65. Antonio Castro earned a 14.35 for his routine, while Stephenson tallied a 13.05. Nebraska remained in third place after the second rotation. 

On parallel bars, NU had a strong performance (70.25) and moved into second place halfway through the meet. Chamberlain and Stephenson led the effort with scores of 14.85, and finished with the highest score of the session. Epperson posted a 14.10 and K. King earned 13.30. Daniel Leal added a 13.15. 

Next for Nebraska was high bar, where Lottman posted a career-best score of 14.30 and led the team on the event. J. King and Leal pitched in score of 14.10 and 13.85, respectively. Castro earned a 13.75, while Stephenson scored 12.65. The team moved down one spot to fourth place after the event.

On floor, the Huskers earned a team score of 71.40 and moved back into third place. Epperson (14.95) and Connor Adamsick (14.45) led the effort, with help from K. King who earned 14.25. Stephenson pitched in a score of 14.05, while Andrew Zymball added a score of 13.70. 

Heading into the sixth event, Oklahoma had a large lead on second place, but Minnesota, Penn State and Nebraska were all within two points of each other and were fighting for second and third places and spots in the team finals Saturday night. 

Nebraska put on a stellar performance on pommel horse, earning a team score of 71.35. Irick started the team off strong with a 13.90. Castro powered through his routine and earned a 14.95. Stephenson and J. King added 14.10 and 12.95, respectively. Lottman, the anchor on the event, led the team and had the highest overall score (15.40), giving the Huskers a shot at finishing in the top three.

Despite a tremendous effort, Nebraska missed out on a spot in the finals by .400 points. The team finished fourth in its session, with a score of 423.550, behind Oklahoma (441.200), Minnesota (426.400) and Penn State (423.950). California finished fifth (421.350) and Navy placed sixth (410.100). 

Stanford, Ohio State, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Air Force competed in the second qualifying session,  at 7 p.m. Stanford (434.350), Ohio State (433.400) and Illinois (432.050) held the top three spots and advanced to the team finals. Iowa placed fourth (423.250), Michigan took fifth (422.150) and Air Force placed sixth (412.650).

Oklahoma, Minnesota, Penn State, Ohio State, Standord and Illinois will compete in the team finals on Saturday night, which begin at 7 p.m. (ET).