NEBRASKA’S NATIONAL POWER
One of the nation’s premier athletic programs, Nebraska is dedicated to and successful
in all 24 of its varsity sports. Nebraska has won a total of 25 team national championships
since 1970, including five football titles, eight men’s gymnastics championships, six bowling
crowns, three volleyball titles and three women’s track and field championships. In 201213, 12 Husker teams finished among the top 25 in their respective sports, including the
Nebraska football team which posted its fifth straight nine-win season.
The Husker football team also led a list of 11 Husker squads that advanced to NCAA
postseason competition in 2012-13, as Bo Pelini’s team made a New Year’s Day appearance
in the 2013 Capital One Bowl. The national power Husker bowling team won its sixth
national championship with a victory over top-ranked Vanderbilt. The NU softball team
made its seventh trip to the Women’s College World Series with a Super Regional win
over No. 3 Oregon and finished the season ranked eighth in the final polls, its highest
finish since 2002. The women’s basketball team made its second NCAA Sweet 16 trip
in four years, while the women’s tennis made its first-ever NCAA Sweet 16 appearance.
Nebraska’s volleyball team was one win away from reaching the Final Four, reaching the
Sweet 16 for the 29th time in 31 seasons. During their first season of sand volleyball in
the spring, the Huskers finished the year ranked seventh. Nebraska’s wrestling team was
one of six Big Ten teams to finish in the top 15 at the NCAA Championships, with the
Huskers finishing 13th. The NU men’s track and field team won its first Big Ten title in
2013 at the conference outdoor meet and then contributed a tie for 15th at the NCAA
Outdoor Championships - its second straight top-15 finish. The rifle team finished seventh
at the NCAA Championships and doubled its win total from 2012 under first-year Head
Coach Stacy Underwood, while the men’s gymnastics team finished 11th at the NCAA
Championships.
With just one senior on the 2013 team, Nebraska’s bowling team captured its fourth
national title in the past 10 seasons. The NU women’s tennis team won its first Big Ten
title, and qualified for the NCAA Championships for the fourth-straight year. The Huskers
were also selected as a women’s tennis regional site for the first time in school history.
Along with a trip to the Women’s College World Series and a 45-win season, the softball
team hosted a regional at Bowlin Stadium for the fifth time since the park opened in 2002.
The Husker women’s basketball team ran to the second-highest win total in school history
with 25 victories, while also finishing second in the Big Ten with a 12-4 conference mark.
Individual success also highlighted a stellar 2012-13 for Nebraska Athletics. On the
gridiron, Spencer Long was named a second-team All-American, marking the fourth-straight
year that Nebraska has had either a first or second-team All-America selection. Mary
Weatherholt rewrote Nebraska women’s tennis history, as the fifth-year senior finished
runner-up to defending champion NCAA champion Nicole Gibbs. After clinching Nebraska’s
bowling team national title, Kristina Mickelson won the X-Bowling Intercollegiate Singles
title. Chad Wright nearly claimed a second straight national championship in the men’s
discus, with his personal-best throw of 209-1 resulting in a runner-up finish. Overall in
2012-13, 37 Husker student-athletes combined to capture 53 All-America awards across all
sports. As a testament to Nebraska’s national recruiting prowess, the All-Americans came
to NU from 16 states and four foreign countries. The Cornhusker state showed its success
in keeping the best and brightest of its future leaders at home, as nine All-Americans came
from the state of Nebraska.
All-American Mary Weatherholt had a historic run in the NCAA Singles
Championship to cap her final year as a Husker. She stormed her way into
the championship match with five straight wins before falling to two-time
champion Nicole Gibbs of Stanford.
Top: Chad Wright won the shot put at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships
and then finished second in the discus at the NCAA Outdoor Championships,
after winning the NCAA discus title in 2012.
HUSKERS.COM | THIS IS NEBRASKA
Bottom: The Nebraska men’s track and field team captured the 2013 Big Ten
Outdoor title. It was the 105th conference title in program history and Head
Coach Gary Pepin’s 69th conference title dating back to his first Big Eight win
in 1981.
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