Steven Friedman Season 2004-05

2005

• Big 12 Commissioner's Fall Honor Roll
• NCAA Event Qualifier (V; PH-17th)
• MPSF Championships Event Finals (V-4th; PB-4th)

2004

• Big 12 Commissioner's Fall Honor Roll

2003

• All-American (PB-5th)
• NCAA Finalist (AA-13th)
• MPSF Championships All-Around (3rd)
• MPSF Championship Event Finals (PH-8th; SR-8th; V-t5th; PB-t6th)
• NCAA Midwest Athlete of the Week

2002

• NCAA Qualifier (AA)
• MPSF Championship Event Finals (SR-7th; V-7th) 
• MPSF Athlete of the Week

2001

• NCAA Qualifier (AA)
• MPSF Championships All-Around (7th)
• MPSF Championship Event Finals (SR-6th)

2005 (Senior): Friedman was unable to compete until the Huskers’ meet with Oklahoma on Feb 13. The meet was his first in almost two years and saw him immediately mark a 9.15 on the still rings. Against Minnesota, the fifth-year senior received career-high scores of 9.60 on the rings and 9.45 on the vault for a pair of third-place finishes. In Nebraska’s final home dual against Air Force, he tied for his first event title of the season with a score of 9.45 on the still rings. Friedman qualified for event finals on both the vault and parallel bar at the MPSF Championships, earning eighth (9.10) and fourth (9.05), respectively. At the NCAA Championships, Friedman advanced to the event preliminaries on the vault and parallel bars, finishing 17th on the parallel bars overall.

2004 (Redshirt): Friedman redshirted for Nebraska during the 2004 season due to injury.

2003 (Junior): The first Husker to break the 54-point mark in the all-around competition since the NCAA scoring change in 2000, Friedman had an explosive junior season that ended with an All-America honors on the parallel bars. Friedman became the first NU All-American since 2000 with his fifth-place finish (8.837) on the event. In another first, he competed in the finals of the all-around at the NCAA Championships and finished 13th. Competing at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, Friedman earned his career-high all-around score of 54.125, finishing the meet in third place. Entering the NCAA Championships, he stood 13th in the nation on the still rings, 19th on the parallel bars and 13th in the all-around.

2002 (Sophomore): The only Husker to qualify for nationals in the all-around, Friedman advanced to the preliminaries on the parallel bars (8.475) and vault (8.70), but failed to advance to the event finals on either event. The 2002 NCAA meet marked the second consecutive trip for Friedman as an all-around competitor. During the regular season, the sophomore set a career high on the floor exercise (9.00) in a quadrangular with Oklahoma, Michigan, and Ohio State. Friedman earned four individual event titles, claiming two in the all-around against Oklahoma (51.65) and Air Force (52.65), one on the floor exercise (Air Force, 8.95) and one on the parallel bars (Air Force, 8.70).

2001 (Freshman): Friedman qualified for the NCAA Championships in the all-around where he had the Huskers’ best score of the season (51.45). His best performance at nationals came on the parallel bars where his 8.75 placed him eighth after the preliminaries. He placed sixth at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships on the still rings with a score of 8.55.

Prior: Coached by Mike Szabo, Friedman boasted an impressive resume loaded with national team experience. After winning five event titles (floor, vault, parallel bars, rings and high bar) at the 1998 South African Junior Olympics, Friedman was named the 1998 South African Maccabi Junior Sportsman of the Year. In 1999, he was chosen as the youngest member to compete for the South African Senior Men’s National Championship team at the Tianjin Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. At the 2000 South African Senior Men’s National Championships, Friedman used first-place finishes on floor and rings to propel him to a third-place finish in the all-around. In November of 2000, Friedman added another rings victory and runner-up finishes on floor, high bar and parallel bars en route to capturing the Junior African all-around title in Tunisia.

Personal: Steven is the son of Dr. Raymond and Adele Friedman. He has three sisters Robyn, 24, Lauren, 20, and Jacqui, 18. Friedman was born May 6, 1982 in Johannesburg, South Africa and is a graduate of Crawford College in South Africa. He is a finance major at NU and was honored as part of the Big 12 Commissioner’s honor roll in 2004.