"Exciting!" That's University of Nebraska's Head Coach Dan Kendig's favorite descriptive word for his expectations of the coming gymnastics season. His second: "scary."

Why exciting and scary in nearly the same breath? To address the latter, Kendig explained the team recently lost key sophomore All-American Alecia Ingram to shoulder surgery. With that loss, Kendig has come to terms with the fact that a make-up of a team can literally change over night. Each athlete is at the mercy of the sport she loves so much. As a result of Ingram's injury, the team now sports just ten gymnasts.

Those ten gymnasts, however, are dedicated, now more than ever, to make up for the gap Ingram left in the lineup. This is what Kendig believes is so exciting. Over the past weeks, Kendig has witnessed his team develop into a group of talented athletes devoted to constant improvement, a characteristic common across every one of his teams.

"These athletes are always ready to pick up the pace," Kendig explained. "They train hard, and I believe one of our greatest assets is our athletes. We are blessed they have this sort of commitment. It's so great is that they get along with each other so well, and they are friends both in and out of the gym."

What's even more exciting, Kendig said, is the fact that each Husker will contribute to the team's all-around performance this year. Some of the major contributions will come from sophomore All-American Tami Harris, junior All-American A.J. Lamb and her classmate Scholastic All-American Jessica Wertz.

The Huskers replaced senior Amy Ringo with two newcomers, sophomore Richelle Simpson and freshman Carrie Gloudemans. Simpson transferred to Nebraska after competing one season with the Penn State Nittany Lions. "She will definitely fill Alecia's void," Kendig said. "I don't know where we'd be without her right now." Kendig believes Simpson has unlimited potential along with great beam skills and will be one of the top-two all-arounders.

Wisconsin-native Gloudemans is the only true freshman on the team. Kendig feels she is a powerful and explosive gymnast who will likely appear on three events: vault, bars and floor. She will compete with a 10.0-valued vault, big tumbling and equally big release moves on bars.

Even with a smaller group of gymnasts, Kendig will approach the 2002 season the same, as if it were any other season. The team looks to improve from meet to meet and remain a strong contender for the Big 12, regional and national titles. The team also maintains academic goals, namely for each member to retain a 3.0 or higher grade point average.

Kendig contended it is still too early to determine what his team's best events this year will be. As far as singling out individuals and skills, Kendig pointed out senior Laura Goss performs a Yurchenko full-on, back pike off. On beam, Kendig considers his team "top-heavy," with three really good beam workers and three that lack consistency. Harris, Simpson and junior Jen French have proven themselves most reliable on that event. "I think we are known for just doing good, clean gymnastics," Kendig said. "This is what we want to be known for, as opposed to doing big tricks we don't always hit."

And if all goes according to plan, as soon as his final gymnast competes at the 2002 NCAA Championships here in Tuscaloosa, Kendig will immediately be looking forward to the 2003 Championships. For the first time, Nebraska will play host to the competition, a goal Kendig has had throughout his eight-year Husker tenure. He used his two favorite adjectives to describe his feelings about the event, as well.

"You know, it's going to be scary and exciting to host nationals here," Kendig said. He is worried the Nebraska program does not have the fan base the likes of Alabama's, Utah's or Georgia's, all of whom have hosted handfuls of national championships in years past. Kendig aims to increase attendance over the next two years in preparation for the event.

Attendance issues, however, are overshadowed by the thrill of having so many talented athletes on his school's campus at one time. "It's going to be a great event, just as good as what Alabama, Utah and Georgia have to offer," Kendig said. "Lincoln is a great town, and we are looking to welcome all the other schools here in 2003."