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Gym team ready for NCAAs
By Jason Merrihew >v'
Staff Writer
All the blood and sweat that went
into this season will show today, as the
fifth-ranked Nebraska women’s gym
nastics team will try to prove its
weight in gold competing in Boise,
Idaho, in the NCAA National
Championship.
“We need to go out and do the
same type of things that we did at
regionals,” NU Coach Dan Kendig
said. “We still had a little bit of trou
ble, so if we can avoid a little bit of
trouble, our score can be higher.”
NU begin competition at 8:00
p.m. Central Standard Time in the
night session.
“I looked on the computer and
saw the teams ranked above us
(Michigan, UCLA, Georgia and
Utah). If we hit our routines, we have
every reason to beat all those teams,”
Senior Nicole Wilkinson said.
In order to advance to the Super
Six, which is held Friday, the Huskers
must finish in the top three spots in
their opening session.
« Out of the 11 other teams,
Nebraska has faced nine of them and
boosts av7-5 record.
NU takes on top-ranked Michigan
first. Nebraska faced Michigan in the
Super Six in January, losing to the
Wolverines 194.925 to 193.325.
The Huskers also have drawn the
second-ranked team, UCLA. NU
defeated UCLA in the Super Six by a
193.325 to 193.225 margin.
West Virginia fell victim to
Nebraska when it canie to Lincoln for
the Masters Classic.
The Huskers get their turn at
revenge, as eighth-ranked Iowa State
will compete in the evening session as
well. The Cyclones stunned NU dur
ing the Big 12 Championships by
beating the Scarlet and Cream to earn
die school’s first conference tide.
Nebraska is coming off its first
Regional Championship since 1983,
and the team hopes to build on its suc
cess.
“We all knew that we could win
regionals, but actually doing it opened
our eyes,” Wilkinson said. “We can
win a national championship.”
Kendig feels this team has what it
takes to be labeled as national cham
pions cbme Saturday.
“I really don’t see how this meet
Mike Warren/DN
JESSICA WERTZ and the HU gym
squad begin compntttiaa taaight at
8 in Raisa, Idaho, la search af their
first national champieaship.
will be any different from any other
meet this season,” Kendig said. “We
believe we have a legitimate shot at
doing really well.”
Sport Clobs
This Weekend at Home
Women’s Rugby - Dual match this Saturday
at Whittier Field (22nd & W Streets) 10:00 am
vs. University of Kansas and 3:00 against
Lincoln City Women’s team.
On the Road
Men’s Rugby - taking on the University of
South Dakota, Saturday in Vermillion.
Women’s Soccer - traveling to Crete on
Sunday to challenge Doane at 1:00 pm.
Baseball - competing against University of
Colorado in Boulder this weekend.
«For more information regarding any of the
UNL Sport Clubs events - Please contact the
Office of Ckmpus Recreation 472-3467
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Results
Water Polo -traveled to St. Paul, MN this past
weekend. The club ended the University of
Minnesota tournament with a 2-2 record. NU
defeated Bellvue and Iowa, losing to Western
Illinois and Nordic.
Over the weekend NU Rugby clubs competed
in the Missouri River tournament held in South
Sioux City, NE. The Men won both of their
games defeating SDSU and Lincoln City. The
Women split games beating Drake and losing
to USD.
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Brink mourns as career ends
By Jason Merrihew
StaffWriter :
As a couple of tears ran down her
face, senior All-American Heather
Brink reflected on her career at the
University of Nebraska.
The tears came from an athlete
who’s in love with the sport she com
petes in and who realizes her path is
coming to an end.
“Pm kind of nerv
tears never may have flowed. Brink
hated gymnastics and waS burned out.
“After her club career, she hated
gyimiastics and didn’t really want to
do it anymore,v Wilkinson said.
Brink is good, very good, at her
sport, and she has been for quite some
time. At the young age of 12 years old,
the Lincoln native moved to
Oklahoma, away from her family, to
train with some of the best coaches
and gymnasts in the nation.
ous. Brink said. I m
going to have so much
time on my hands, and I
don’t know what to do
with it”
“Since the age of four,
I’ve been in and out of the
gym. Gymnastics has
been my life.”
Brink is currently
ranked fourth in die nation
overall, with a second
place ranking on the vault
Ttaough die course of
the season, Brink has
amassed 29 individual
titles, including the all
around title she claimed
during the Region 3
Championship held in
tt She is a
leader by
example.
She is one
of the best
team
players on
the team.”
Nicole Wilkinson
NUgymnast
in me uiympic level
it is so much of the indi
vidual. You want to make
die team,” Brink said.
While in Oklahoma,
Brink trained under
Olympic Coach Steve
Nunno for 5'A hours a day
for four years.
“At that point in time I
was so burnt out, I was so
tired of going to the gym
and working out 40-phis
hours a week,” Brink said.
“I missed my home, I
missed my family and I
missed my friends.”
She came to Dan
Kendig’s program with
the me-first mindset the
lucson, Anz.
“She is a leader by example,”
teammate and fellow senior Nicole
Wilkinson said. “She is one of the best
team players on the team.”
Brink’s senior season resume con
sists of 12 vault titles, five floor exer
cise titles, four uneven bar titles and
eight all-around titles.
Out of the top 11 high scores in
the all-around in Nebraska’s school
history, Brink owns seven of them.
Brink also owns the school record in
the vault (10), uneven bars (9.975)
and floor exercise (9.95).
“If she can focus on just one event
at a time as she does in the gym, she
shouldn’t have any problems,” NU
Coach Dan Kendig said.
Brink also has been recognized by
the gymnastics community as one of
the top performers in the sport. She is
the first Husker to be named Big 12
Gymnast of the Year, and she is one of
six finalists for the AAI All-American
award, which is awarded to the top
senior in the nation.
“I accomplished so many things
throughout my career in gymnastics,”
Brink said. “I’ll remember this year
the most because of die team’s cama
raderie - the team aspect of the sport”
If she had not stepped foot on the
Lincoln campus four years ago, the
chib Systran ingrained into her head.
“It was so hard for me when I first
came in here as a freshman to adjust to
tiie team,” Brink said. “I can remem
ber going into meets wanting to win
the all-around, and that was all it was
about.”
Four years later Brink has a new
found love for her sport; consequent
ly, there’s a newfound success.
“It is such a different feeling now,
to go in there and want the team to
excel because each one of the girls
come in here and work just as hard as
I do,” Brink said. “Without this team,
I’m nothing.”
Ironically, Brink is having a career
year individually. She has tied or bro
ken almost every individual record in
school history, including not one, not
two, but three perfect scores on her
bread and butter, the vault
After the season concludes, Brink
will continue to train for a possible
shot at representing the United States
in the summer Olympics in Sydney,
Australia.
Because of the politics of the
Olympic team, the cards are stacked
against Brink.
“Being in college for four years
puts her in a disadvantage,” Wilkinson
said. “If she puts her mind to it, she
can do it”
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