The Nebraska Cornhuskers women's gymnastics team competes as part of NCAA Division I, representing the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the Big Ten Conference. Nebraska has hosted meets at the Bob Devaney Sports Center since 1976.

Since being established in 1975, the program has won twenty-five conference championships and qualified for the NCAA tournament twenty-nine times. Most of the program's success came under head coach Dan Kendig, who led NU for twenty-five years and made twelve Super Six appearances. Michelle Bryant, Heather Brink, and Richelle Simpson combined to win five individual NCAA championships and are among eighty-three Cornhuskers All-Americans. The team has been coached by Heather Brink since Kendig's retirement in 2019.

History

Nebraska established a women's gymnastics program in 1975 and hired Karen Balke to lead a team of entirely freshmen and sophomores. Judy Schalk took over the following season, leading the Cornhuskers to five conference titles and an AIAW tournament bid in six seasons as head coach. Schalk resigned in 1983 and Nebraska hired Georgia head coach Rick Walton.[2] Walton's program captured four consecutive Big Eight championships from 1987 to 1990, beginning a stretch of fifteen conference titles in twenty-one seasons. Michele Bryant became NU's first NCAA champion with a record-setting vault performance in Corvallis in 1990.[3]

After a pair of disappointing seasons, Walton was pressured to resign by athletic director Bill Byrne and men's coach Francis Allen.[2] On Allen's recommendation, Byrne hired Dan Kendig, a former Schalk assistant who nearly got the job over Walton ten years prior.[2] Nebraska's Big Eight (and later Big 12) dominance continued under Kendig. The Cornhuskers reached the new "Super Six" finals for the first time in 1997, beating top-ranked Utah to claim the final spot.[4] Heather Brink and Richelle Simpson each won two our NCAA championships in the early 2000s; Simpson was the first NU gymnast to become a first-team All-American in all four events in the same year.[3] Kendig and Nebraska made eleven more Super Six appearances during his twenty-five-year tenure as head coach, but never finished higher than fourth nationally.

Kendig abruptly retired months prior to the 2019 season.[5] It was later revealed he had provided over $30,000 in impermissible benefits to a volunteer assistant through a fictitious company.[6] Nebraska self-reported the violation and received Level II sanctions.[6] Longtime assistant Heather Brink was named interim head coach, and later Kendig's permanent replacement.

Conference affiliations

Coaches

Coaching history

No. Coach Tenure Overall
1 Karen Balke 1975–1976 11–21 (.344)
2 Judy Schalk 1976–1983 171–122–3 (.583)
3 Rick Walton 1983–1993 173–121 (.588)
4 Dan Kendig 1994–2018 599–229–4 (.722)
5 Heather Brink 2019–present 49–54 (.476)

Coaching staff

Name Position First year Alma mater
Heather Brink Head coach 2019 Nebraska
Brian Amato Associate head coach 2020 Portland State
Mollie Korth Assistant coach 2024 Kentucky
Sam Scherwinski Assistant coach 2024 Wisconsin–La Crosse

Venues

Nebraska played its first season at the NU Coliseum before moving to the NU Sports Complex (now the Bob Devaney Sports Center) upon its completion in 1976. When Nebraska's basketball programs moved to the newly constructed West Haymarket Arena (known as Pinnacle Bank Arena for sponsorship purposes) in 2013, the Devaney Center underwent a $20-million remodel to reconfigure and shrink its main arena.[7]

Nebraska opened the Francis Allen Training Complex in 2020 to house its men's and women's gymnastics programs; at 46,000 square feet it is among the largest gymnastics practice facilities in the country.[8]

Championships and awards

Super Six appearances

  • 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2018

Team conference championships

Tournament

  • Big Eight: 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996
  • Big 12: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011
  • Big Ten: 2012, 2013

Regular season[a]

  • Big Ten: 2014, 2017

Individual awards

  • Honda Sports Award: Heather Brink (2000)
  • National coach of the year: Dan Kendig (1997)
  • Conference gymnast of the year: Heather Brink (2000), Alecia Ingram (2001), Richelle Simpson (2003), Emily Parsons (2007), Kylie Stone (2009), Emily Wong (2014)
  • Conference coach of the year: Rick Walton (1987, 1989), Dan Kendig (1994–1998, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012)
  • Conference freshman / newcomer of the year: Kim DeHaan (1994), Misty Oxford (1996), Heather Brink (1997), Bree Dority-O'Callaghan (1999), A. J. Lamb (2000), Alecia Ingram (2001), Emily Parsons (2005), Lora Evenstad (2009), Jessie DeZiel (2012), Taylor Houchin (2017)

NCAA champions

  • Michele Bryant – 1990 (V)
  • Heather Brink – 2000 (AA, V)
  • Richelle Simpson – 2003 (AA, FX)

First-team NCAA All-Americans

  • Patty Carmichael-Gerard – 1979 (AA, FX)
  • Renee Reisdorff – 1979 (BB)
  • Tami Bair – 1989 (BB, V)
  • Michele Bryant – 1989 (UB, V), 1990 (UB, V)
  • Crystal Savage – 1989 (UB)
  • Shelly Bartlett – 1997 (UB)
  • Heather Brink – 1997 (V), 1999 (AA, FX, V), 2000 (AA, FX, UB, V)
  • Misty Oxford – 1997 (FX, V)
  • A. J. Lamb – 2000 (FX), 2002 (UB, V), 2003 (AA, BB, FX)
  • Gina Bruce – 2001 (V), 2003 (V)
  • Tami Harris – 2001 (UB)
  • Alecia Ingram – 2001 (AA, UB)
  • Julie Houk – 2002 (UB), 2003 (UB)
  • Jess Wertz – 2002 (V)
  • Richelle Simpson – 2003 (AA, BB, FX, UB, V)
  • Kristi Esposito – 2004 (AA, BB), 2005 (BB)
  • Libby Landgraf – 2004 (UB)
  • Emily Parsons – 2005 (FX), 2006 (AA, FX, V), 2007 (FX, V), 2008 (BB)
  • Vanessa Meloche – 2006 (UB)
  • Tricia Woo – 2006 (FX), 2007 (BB)
  • Michelle Zabawa – 2007 (V)
  • Desire Sniatynski – 2008 (UB)
  • Lora Evenstad – 2010 (V), 2011 (FX)
  • Brittany Skinner – 2010 (V)
  • Erin Davis – 2011 (FX, V)
  • Janelle Giblin – 2011 (V), 2012 (V)
  • Maria Scaffidi – 2011 (UB)
  • Jamie Schleppenbach – 2011 (V), 2014 (BB)
  • Emily Wong – 2011 (UB), 2012 (BB), 2013 (AA, FX, V), 2014 (BB, FX)
  • Jessie DeZiel – 2012 (AA, FX), 2014 (BB), 2015 (AA)
  • Hollie Blanske – 2014 (BB), 2015 (FX), 2016 (V)
  • Sienna Crouse – 2017 (V), 2018 (FX)
  • Taylor Houchin – 2018 (V)

First-team WGCA All-Americans

  • Jesse DeZiel – 2013 (AA, V)
  • Emily Wong – 2013 (AA, BB, FX, UB), 2014 (AA, FX)
  • Sienna Crouse – 2018 (V)
  • Megan Schweihofer – 2018 (FX)
  • Taylor Houchin – 2020 (V)

Seasons

Regular season champion[a] Tournament champion
Year Coach Overall Conference
tournament 		Postseason[b]
Big Eight Conference (1976–1996)
1975–1976 Karen Balke 11–21 5th AIAW Regional
1976–1977 Judy Schalk 18–7 2nd AIAW Regional
1977–1978 28–10 1st AIAW Regional
1978–1979 29–21–3 1st AIAW T–11th
1979–1980 32–23 1st AIAW 16th
1981 13–22 3rd AIAW Regional
1981–1982 27–14 1st NCAA 8th
1982–1983 24–25 1st NCAA 10th
1983–1984 Rick Walton 19–10
1985 14–10 2nd NCAA Regional
1986 14–14 3rd NCAA Regional
1987 18–20 1st NCAA 10th
1988 18–19 1st NCAA 10th
1989 26–7 1st NCAA 4th
1990 30–6 1st NCAA 5th
1991 10–11 2nd NCAA Regional
1992 12–11 2nd NCAA Regional
1993 12–13 2nd NCAA Regional
1994 Dan Kendig 17–8 1st NCAA Regional
1995 25–9 1st NCAA 11th
1996 25–8 1st NCAA 10th
Big 12 Conference (1997–2011)
1997 Dan Kendig 28–11–1 1st NCAA 6th
1998 16–8 1st NCAA Regional
1999 26–10 1st NCAA 6th
2000 36–9 2nd NCAA 4th
2001 26–7–1 1st NCAA T–5th
2002 23–8 1st NCAA 5th
2003 32–4 1st NCAA 4th
2004 15–9–1 4th NCAA 10th
2005 21–13 1st NCAA 6th
2006 26–11–1 2nd NCAA 5th
2007 26–12 1st NCAA 6th
2008 13–9 4th NCAA Regional
2009 16–7 2nd NCAA Regional
2010 23–8 2nd NCAA 7th
2011 22–12 1st NCAA 4th
Big Ten Conference (2012–present)
2012 Dan Kendig 24–7 1st NCAA 8th
2013 19–5 1st NCAA Regional
2014 27–11 2nd NCAA 6th
2015 28–9 3rd NCAA 8th
2016 28–9 2nd NCAA 8th
2017 29–10 4th NCAA 7th
2018 28–15 2nd NCAA 6th
2019 Heather Brink 12–5 4th NCAA Super Regional
2020 8–4 Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 1–20 9th
2022 6–10 6th
2023 12–13 6th NCAA Regional
2024 15–13 7th NCAA Regional

[3]

Olympians

Olympiad City Gymnast Country Medal(s)
2004 (XXVIII) Greece Athens Kylie Stone Canada Canada
2020 (XXXII) Japan Tokyo Emma Spence Canada Canada
2024 (XXXIII) France Paris Csenge Bácskay Hungary Hungary
Emma Spence Canada Canada

Notes

  1. ^ a b The Big Eight and Big 12 did not award a regular-season championship.
  2. ^ The AIAW ran the premier women's collegiate gymnastics championship until the first NCAA tournament was held in 1982.

References

  1. ^ "The Power of Color" (PDF). Nebraska Athletics Brand Guide. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c John Gaskins (8 April 1999). "Kendig devotes life to gymnastics coaching". The Daily Nebraskan. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d "2024–25 Women's Gymnastics Media Guide" (PDF). Nebraska Athletics. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  4. ^ "Exciting Times - 1997 Review". Utah Athletics. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  5. ^ "Nebraska women's gymnastics coach Dan Kendig retires abruptly". ESPN. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  6. ^ a b Matt Hardesty (28 April 2020). "Nebraska women's gymnastics coach Dan Kendig retires abruptly". The Daily Nebraskan. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  7. ^ Evan Bland (30 January 2025). "Nebraska volleyball to expand Devaney Center with goal to reach 10,000 seats". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  8. ^ Clark Grell (11 April 2020). "New Francis Allen Training Complex is a game changer for Nebraska men's and women's gymnastics". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
Allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska_Cornhuskers_women%27s_gymnastics
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