Feb. 14, 2008

STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford men's gymnastics team will return to team competition this weekend at home against No. 12 Nebraska at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Burnham Pavilion. Stanford most recently sent nine gymnasts to last weekend's Winter Cup Challenge, where seven gymnasts qualified for the finals and senior David Sender finished sixth overall.

The meet will be Stanford's second dual-meet of the season, and first at home. This will be the second showdown this season between the two teams, as Stanford defeated the Huskers, along with Cal (357.90), on January 26 at the last team competition the Cardinal competed in, the Stanford Open, 361.350-333.850. The Cardinal have never lost to Nebraska in the series' history, with a five games to none edge over the Huskers. Stanford is currently 0-1 in dual meets, losing to Cal on January 18, but have finished first in the Windy City Invitational along with the Stanford Open, and sport an 8-1 record overall. Last week's Winter Cup did not count towards team standings.

Stanford remains second in the national ranks as of February 11, less than a point behind top-ranked Penn State in average team score. Bay Area and MPSF rival California is in the third spot, followed by Oklahoma and Illinois, respectively, to round out the top five.

In each of the six events, the Cardinal is ranked first in high bar, second in floor exercise, third in pommel horse, vault, parallel bars, and fifth in still rings. The Cardinal also currently holds four of the top 20 spots in both parallel bars and pommel horse. Individually, Sender is second only to Penn State's Casey Sandy in all around and floor exercise, averaging 88.937 and 15.617, respectively. Sender is also in the second spot in still rings (15.962) and vault (15.062).

Redshirt junior Sho Nakamori is within the top ten positions in floor exercise (No. 7), pommel horse (No. 9) and parallel bars (No. 3). Nakamori is also ranked fourth in all-around, averaging a score of 88.550.

In Nebraska head coach Francis Allen's 38th year in Lincoln, the Huskers are led by junior T.J. Schmidt, who was the first gymnast in Nebraska history to advance to the finals of the Winter Cup. Senior Stephen Tetrault and junior Kyle Shanahan also contribute exceptional performances for Nebraska in all-around competition. The Huskers last competed as a team against Oklahoma, where they fell 355.550-337.750. Nebraska is 4-6 overall in 2008, taking third in the Rocky Mountain Open and the Stanford Open, losing to Oklahoma twice, and defeating Air Force.

Admission to Saturday's meet will be free. The event will also be webcasted, and the link to the streaming video can be accessed on the left side of the schedule page under 'Next Event'. Current GymInfo national-rankings and statistics can be viewed at http://troester.com/gym/MRankings/2008/0211/MNational.htm