Women’s gymnastics squad rebounds to win at Oklahoma meet

For every problem there is a possible solution not too far away.

For the Nebraska women's gymnastics team, its problem last Saturday was the squad's struggle on the beam event. This weekend the Huskers' goal was to improve on their performance and gain back their confidence when they traveled to Norman, Okla., to compete in a quad meet against No. 5 Oklahoma, No. 25 Minnesota and Centenary.

The No. 9-ranked Huskers found their solution.

After being narrowly defeated by No. 20 Missouri last weekend, 195.725-194.550, the Huskers finished first in their quad meet Friday, topping their opponents with a 196.750 score.

It was NU's energy and confidence that made the difference for the team, according to coach Dan Kendig.

"They had high energy heading into the meet and during the meet," he said. "They were ready to show everyone how good Nebraska is and they did that."

Nebraska (196.750) placed ahead of the second place Sooners (196.475), the Gophers (194.55) and Centenary (188.60).

The Huskers began the meet with gymnast Emily Wong who kicked the team off with a 9.825 score on bars.

Kendig said the sophomore's performance help set the tone for the rest of the lineup.

"That first person is so important," he said. "She had a great day in every event for us."

Junior Lora Evenstad ended the event with a season-high score of 9.900, assisting NU to a 49.225 first-place tie after one rotation with OU.

Next was the unbalanced beam.

Janelle Giblin, who scored a career-low 8.100 last weekend, led the Huskers off with a 9.750 performance. The junior was then followed by gymnasts Jamie Schleppenbach, Evenstad and Jessie DeZiel who tallied 9.050, 9.725 and 9.850 scores.

But Huskers Wong and Katelyn Busacker's career-highs helped Nebraska finish with a 49.075 team score on the event, an improvement from their previous meet of 46.950.

Wong took home the Huskers' first event title scoring a 9.925. She also finished the day second in the all-around hitting a 39.450. Busacker tied her career mark with a score of 9.825, rounding out the beam lineup.

Coming into practice last week, Nebraska didn't speak about their previous struggles on beam, and that is what helped the team improve their scores, according to Busacker.

"I think that was important because we didn't focus on the negative and how we felt," the gymnast said. "Focusing on the positives and what we're capable of doing last week helped us this weekend."

Busacker has started for the Huskers the last two meets, and improved her score on beam Friday from her 9.475 performance in her debut on Jan. 28 against the Tigers.

Although Busacker is in her first season at Nebraska after transferring from Ball State, she said beating the Sooners on their home turf made the win that much sweeter.

"I didn't know what to expect but I knew (Oklahoma) was a big rivalry for us," the Papillion, Neb., native said. "The other girls and I got really into the meet because we knew it would be competitive."

The team then moved to the floor event, where they began with what looked like a discouraging beginning.

Although Schleppenbach led off with a 9.825 performance, junior Brittany Skinner followed with an 8.275 performance, her first performance on floor this season. But it didn't take long for her team to pick back up the pieces.

"The rest of the lineup hit and were unbelievable," Kendig said.

Following Skinner, DeZiel and Evenstad had 9.875 and 9.925 performances to help the Huskers tally a 49.175 floor score. DeZiel would go on to win the all-around for the third time this season with a score of 39.500.

Evenstad tied her career-high on floor and finished third for the Huskers with an all-around score of 39.325.

But those weren't the only two that impressed Kendig.

"Lauer was the last one up and we need every little bit of what she had," Kendig said.

The freshman ended the rotation with a 9.725 score, a career-high.

After an impressive career-high performance on floor by Evenstad, Nebraska was ready to compete in their final rotation, vault.

"It was exciting going into the last event. We all knew it was a close score and had to performance our best to finish on top," Busacker said.

Heading into what has been arguably their most successful event so far this season, the Huskers, who usually perform the event first at home, felt confident, according to Kendig.

"We rocked vault and the rotation was my favorite," the coach said.

Lauer began the Huskers with a 9.750 performance, followed with an equivalent score by Skinner. After that, the numbers only improved.

Evenstad, Wong and DeZiel followed their teammates with 9.775, 9.875 and 9.925 scores. Schleppenbach captured the crown title with a 9.950 score.

The performance helped Nebraska improve to a 3-1 overall record, improving tremendously from previous meets, Kendig said.

"I never counted a major mistake and we scored over 49 in every event," he said. "It was great to see them get excited and see how hard their work is paying off. Physically we were healthier this meet than we have been in a while.

"We needed everybody and it was a total team effort. I really liked the enthusiasm they showed when they hit routines. Things are working out for us and I'm proud of them."

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