Huskers Head to NCAA Championships

Last Time Out

Nebraska is coming off a second-place team finish in Session I of the Big Ten Qualifiers with a team score of 404.350, their fourth-highest score of the season. Nine Huskers qualified for Session II of the Big Ten Conference Finals, with Sam Phillips placing among the top 6 of the all-around competitors and earning a spot on the first-team All-Big Ten. Dillan King finished third on high bar finals, earning Big Ten High Bar Bronze Medalist honors, as well as second-team All-Big Ten and B1G Sportsmanship Award. Chris Hiser was honored as B1G Freshman of the Year.

Michigan claimed the B1G Conference Championship honors, and Michigan’s Paul Juda was named Gymnast of the Championship, along with B1G Gymnast of the Year and all-around title accolades. 

Looking ahead, NU is ranked fourth overall moving into week fourteen. Following the all-around, Nebraska ranks second on pommel horse, vault and high bar, fourth on parallel bars, sixth on floor, and eighth on still rings. Michigan’s Head Coach Yuan Xiao collected B1G Coach of Year.

In the NCAA, senior Charlie Giles ranks sixth on vault and third on pommel horse. Junior Taylor Christopulos holds fifth position on vault. Junior Sam Phillips is fifth on high bar. Junior Donte McKinney and Senior Dillan King are ranked eighth and tenth nationally on high bar, respectively.

Scouting the Competition

NU will compete during the first pre-qualifying competition on Friday, April 15 at 1:00 p.m. CT. No. 5 Illinois, No. 12 Springfield, No. 1 Stanford, No. 9 California, No. 8 Penn State will all be a part of the first round. 

No. 1 Stanford enters the competition as back-to-back NCAA Champions. The Cardinal also secured their first MPSF conference title since 2011 with a score of 417.300. Nebraska holds the record for five NCAA Championship titles, last earned during 1979-1983.

The second qualifying session will consist of No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 10 Air Force, No. 3 Michigan, No. 11 Army, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Navy.

The top 3 teams and the top 3 all-around competitors not on one of the qualifying teams, plus the top 3 individuals on each event not already qualified on a team or as an all-around

competitor, will advance from each qualifying session to the championships finals.

Follow the Huskers

Fans can follow @NebraskaMensGym on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for live updates during the meet. All three sessions can be streamed on www.SoonerSport.tv. Saturday’s championship session will also be televised by Stadium College Sports Central.