Nebraska Men Advance to NCAA Gymnastics Finals

Huskers will be one of six teams contending for the title Saturday night

Nebraska Athletics

The Nebraska men's gymnastics team will compete for a national championship Saturday night.

The Huskers advanced to the six-team NCAA Finals with a second-place finish during the Session I qualifying round Friday in Columbus, Ohio. Nebraska's session score of 413.123 was bested only by the 417.389 posted by Stanford, the team that figures to be one of the favorites on Saturday night.

Movin' on! ➡️

Huskers qualify to National Championship Finals after finishing 2nd in Session I! pic.twitter.com/A80AJAZpwc

— Nebraska Men's Gymnastics (@HuskerMGym) April 19, 2024

Third-place Illinois will join Stanford and Nebraska in Saturday's championship finals along with the top three finishers in Friday night's Session II competition, Oklahoma, Michigan and Ohio State.

The finals begin at 5 p.m. CDT Saturday at the Covelli Center in Columbus and will be live-streamed at this link. 

While Illinois had three first-place individual performances in the six events during Session I, no Husker finished better than second place individually. Team-wise, however, Nebraska won three events  -- floor, vault and high bar -- while Stanford won on the horse, rings and parallel bars.

Stanford and Nebraska evenly split the first-place finishes in the six events. / NCAA

Here are capsules of the Huskers' performances, courtesy of Nebraska Athletics:

Floor
The Huskers began on floor, where they scored a 69.965 as a team for first place. Toby Liang led the lineup where he put up a 13.533. Luke James scored a huge 14.366, good for second overall. Chase Mondi matched the energy with a solid 14.30, landing in third. Sam Phillips registered a 13.80, while Taylor Christopulos anchored with a 13.966 in seventh, respectively. 

Pommel Horse
Nebraska earned a team score of 68.032 on pommel horse for third place. York collected a 13.30 as lead off for the squad. Travis Wong followed where he earned an impressive 14.266 for NU and landed in seventh. Yanni Chronopoulos scored a 12.133 following a fall. Cooper Giles showed out with a big 14.533, good for fourth overall. Christopulos anchored with a 13.80 for Nebraska.

Rings
On the third rotation, NU collected a 67.699 team score on still rings, good for second place. James Friedman opened the rotation with a score of 13.433. Wong put up a 13.00, while Asher Cohen collected a 13.966 and fourth place finish, respectively. Chris Hiser earned a 13.60. Phillips capped the rotation with a score of 13.70 in eighth position.

Vault
Nebraska launched into the vault rotation and notched a team score of 72.231 for first place in the event. The Cornhuskers were led by Mondi who earned a strong 14.433 and 10th place finish for Nebraska. James posted a 14.366, while Nathan York collected a 14.066, respectively. Zac Tiderman impressed with strength after scoring a 14.166 and tying in fourth. Christopulos rounded off the rotation with a huge 14.70 for NU, tying for second place.

Parallel Bars
The Huskers combined for a team score of 67.832 for third place on parallel bars. Friedman made way for the squad, notching a 13.50. Cole Partridge registered a 13.766 for Nebraska. Cohen put up a 13.40, while Phillips posted a 13.766, respectively. Christopulos anchored the event with a score of 13.40.

High Bar
The Huskers closed the meet on high bar, where they rallied to earn a 67.364 team score for first place in the event. Led by Max Odden with the stick, the freshman tallied a personal-best 13.833 and took second place on the event. Partridge collected a 13.533, good for seventh. Tiderman took 10th after registering a 13.366 for Nebraska, while Phillips earned a 12.966, respectively. Christopulos closed out the final event of the afternoon in fifth with a score of 13.666.