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 Nicole Jones since 2026.

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. 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.

After a pair of disappointing seasons, Walton was pressured to resign by athletic director Bill Byrne and men's coach Francis Allen. On Allen's recommendation, Byrne hired Dan Kendig, a former Schalk assistant who nearly got the job over Walton ten years prior. 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. 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. 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. It was later revealed he had provided over $30,000 in impermissible benefits to a volunteer assistant through a fictitious company. Nebraska self-reported the violation and received Level II sanctions. Longtime assistant Heather Brink succeeded Kendig as head coach.

Brink's contract was not renewed following the 2026 postseason and Michigan State head coach Nicole Jones was named her replacement.

Conference affiliations Big Eight Conference (1975–1996) Big 12 Conference (1997–2011) Big Ten Conference (2012–present)

Coaches Coaching history 1 Karen Balke 1975–1976 11–21 2 Judy Schalk 1976–1983 171–122–3 3 Rick Walton 1983–1993 173–121 4 Dan Kendig 1994–2018 5 Heather Brink 2019–2026 65–82 6 Nicole Jones 2026–present 0–0

Coaching staff Nicole Jones Head coach 2026 Michigan State Devin Wright Associate head coach 2026 Chamberlain Jordan Gamboa Assistant coach 2026 Oklahoma Brett Wargo Assistant coach 2026 James Madison

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.

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.

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 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 Heather Brink – 2000 Richelle Simpson – 2003

First-team NCAA All-Americans

First-team WGCA All-Americans Jesse DeZiel – 2013 Emily Wong – 2013 , 2014 Sienna Crouse – 2018 Megan Schweihofer – 2018 Taylor Houchin – 2020

Seasons

Karen Balke 11–21 5th AIAW regional 1976–77 Judy Schalk 18–7 2nd AIAW regional 1977–78 28–10 1st AIAW regional 1978–79 1st AIAW T–11th 1979–80 32–23 1st AIAW 16th 1981 13–22 3rd AIAW regional 1981–82 27–14 1st NCAA 8th 1982–83 24–25 1st NCAA 10th 1983–84 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 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 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 2021 1–20 9th 2022 6–10 6th 2023 12–13 6th NCAA regional 2024 15–13 7th NCAA regional 2025 8–14 9th NCAA regional 2026 8–14 12th NCAA regional

Olympians Olympiad City Gymnast Country Medal(s) 2004 (XXVIII) Athens Kylie Stone Canada 2024 (XXXIII) Paris Csenge Bácskay Hungary

Notes

References