No. 8 Husker gymnasts show improvement, ready for Minnesota rematch

The Husker men's gymnastics team is ready to take on the No. 6 team in the nation after moving up three spots to No. 8.

Nebraska jumped three spots in the rankings from No. 11 to No. 8 this week with a team average of 335.217. But the current rankings are not what head coach Chuck Chmelka is after.

"The only ranking that really matters to me is at the end of the year after conference," Chmelka said, "because it makes a difference who we actually have to compete against in the NCAA prelims. But it is nice when we move up."

NU will travel to Minneapolis this Saturday to face off against the Minnesota Golden Gophers for the second time in two weeks. Last weekend the Huskers fell to the Golden Gophers 340.00-336.500 in the Big Ten Conference opener.

"They got such a big lead on us early," Chmelka said. "There weren't enough events to let us catch up, and we're an end team."

Last weekend the Huskers started off with a few mistakes on pommel horse, while Minnesota started off strong.

"We need to start strong on pommel horse this weekend," Chmelka said. "If we start strong I know we'll do well."

The Huskers have used this past week to put a lot of emphasis on pommel horse, working especially hard on dismounts which have been earning NU too many deductions at the past few meets.

"Every day we've been working on dismounts," Chmelka said, "We lost a lot of points on them and to start off strong we need fewer deductions."

Freshman Hayden Henrioulle recognizes the two spot gap in the rankings, but is looking forward to playing Minnesota again after this week's practices.

"They're ranked higher than us," Henrioulle said, "and it was really cool that we kind of closed the gap last week, so it's going to be interesting to see if we can hold them this week."

Henrioulle is currently competing with a torn rotator cuff, allowing him to only compete in two of the six events – floor exercises and parallel bars. The date to fix Henrioulle's shoulder is set for after this year's season, which limits the events Henrioulle can compete on this year.

"I'm just trying to work through this and do the events I can right now and get better by summer," said Henrioulle, "I can at least deal with it right now."

Henrioulle is open to compete as an all-around, competing in all six events, but Chmelka is content with where Henrioulle is now.

"His first year's been going great," Chmelka said, "he's been competing in two events and he's been working on horse and vault.

After Henrioulle's shoulder heals, he plans on competing in all six events again. "I expect a lot from him," Chmelka said, "He's a real powerful and explosive kid, he's an extremely hard worker, someone has tell him to stop or he'll just keep going. And really good things happen to kids like that."

After facing the Golden Gophers last week and falling to them by 3.5 points, the Huskers know what to expect, but are still keeping a clear head.

"They're better than I thought they were, to be truthful," said Chmelka, "I know they were always a sound and well-coached team, but they have guys in key areas that have gotten better since I saw last."

Chmelka and the team knows the capabilities of Minnesota, but the Husker's confidence level has risen along with their team average, and NU is looking forward to competing with the Golden Gophers again.

"We're ready," Chmelka said, "I still think we're a better team than them, we just have to go on the floor and show it.

"I do know that Minnesota will be nervous. But they'll be ready for us because they know we're after them. It's going to be good."

MichelleOdonnell@dailynebraskan.com