Nebraska men’s gymnastics coach Francis Allen sat down on the scorers' table midway through his team’s dual against Air Force and spoke about the concept of finally becoming a team.

And the Huskers finally were able to come together and put together a complete meet.

No. 10 Nebraska earned a 353.650-335.100 win against No. 15 Air Force on Saturday at the Devaney Sports Center.

The team score was a season high, as NU finished the regular season 5-8, its best record since 2006.

“This looks like a team ready for the championship,” Allen said. “Halfway through the meet, I thought, ‘God, we’re going to make it easy, but it wasn’t so easy.’”

Nebraska had a 176.800-167.150 lead after three rotations.

The Huskers had some problems in the final rotations, having to count falls on the parallel bars and high bar.

“We had a chance to have really smoked them if we could have finished on high bar,” Allen said. “But down here (in the track area) the high bar isn’t quite anchored to the floor and it’s tough.

“Even though we had a tough time, Air Force did, too. But it’s good to be in a different environment, and we did a good job.”

It was the third time this season the two teams have met, with NU coming out ahead in each meeting.

Nebraska took the top two spots in the all-around. Sophomore Kyle Shanahan won with a 87.450 score. It was Shanahan’s second straight all-around title. Fellow sophomore John Robinson, in just his second all-around competition, was second (86.300). 

Robinson, who fell from the high bar and finished eighth, won the vault. He was fourth on the pommel horse. 

“I’m pretty excited, except for high bar,” Robinson said. “I’m excited about the (pommel) horse because it’s one I’ve been struggling on. So it was really exciting.”

Robinson was inserted into the all-around lineup because of an injury to senior Stephen Tétrault.

Tétrault, a Lincoln East graduate, injured his foot in a meet against Iowa. He competed in just one event Saturday.

“When we get Tétrault back and get him to do a little more, we will be impressive at the NCAA Championships,” Allen said. “We can make an impact.”

NU freshman David Spitdowski won the floor, while T.J. Schmidt won the parallel bars and pommel horse.

Nebraska’s next meet is the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships on April 5 at the Devaney Center.

Reach Lori Griffin at 473-7174 or lgriffin@journalstar.com