A Closer Look

Feb. 3, 2001

On February 3, the Sooners traveled to Iowa City for a dual with the fourth-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes. Beginning on pommel horse, OU's nemesis this season, team captain Brendan O'Neil led off the Sooner attack with a somewhat shaky but hit set. O'Neil's gutsy start paved the way for OU's best pommels performance of the season, a 35.4 team total.

"I was thrilled to see the team finally live up to my expectations on this event," head coach Mark Williams said. "I definitely feel that all the extra work we put in the previous week paid off. We'll probably have to maintain extra focus on horse to continue to excel on this event, but I truly believe that we have the potential to be a great pommel horse team."

On a roll, the Sooners followed up their excellent horse rotation with a strong floor performance. Sophomore Josh Landis set the tone early in the line-up with a 9.25. Anchoring the team were freshman Jock Stevens (9.2) and O'Neil (2-1/2 punch front, punch full mount, 1-1/2, punch front full, Rudi second pass), who earned a whopping 9.6 to maintain his spot at the top of the national floor rankings.

Vault was highlighted by Stevens' Kasamatsu 1/2 (9.1), as well as senior Steve Van Etten's event-winning stuck Kasamatsu (9.25).

The Sooners solidified their lead after rings, widening the gap over Iowa with a 37.025 team total, more than a point ahead of the host's rings total. OU's rings prowess was thanks mostly to strength stars Shannon Carrion, David Johnston and Brett Covey. Carrion and Johnston earned matching 9.4s with similar sets (iron cross, Maltese, back uprise, Maltese, bounce cross), while Covey, the only gymnast in the meet to have a 10.0 Start Value on this event, earned a whopping 9.5 (Azarian, planche, back uprise Maltese, bounce cross, Maltese).

"Rings, an event we struggled on last season, is shaping up to be one of our best events under the new rules," Williams said. "Shannon, David and Brett are all potential All-Americans on this event."

On high bar, junior Ryan Hillyer, competing in his first meet this season, earned the event high score (8.9) with a high-flying display (layout Tkatchev, Tkatchev, Gienger, layout double-double dismount, stuck).

"I was proud to see Ryan step up and improve and his difficulty and consistency to earn his spot in the line-up," Williams said. "He's worked really hard and it shows."

Ending the meet on parallel bars, the Sooners continued to soar with impressive performances from Everette Bierker (8.8), in his first meet this year after suffering an injury on this event in the pre-season, and Daniel Furney (8.9), who also claimed the all-around crown with a 52.075 total.

O'Neil added his second event title of the night with his 9.125 p's performance, which included a new 1-1/4 front that upped his Start Value by two tenths.

The win assured, the Sooners suffered their only setback of the night when senior Gabe Hansen crashed on his final event, parallel bars, injuring his shoulder and sacrificing the all-around. (Hansen's injury will most likely keep him out of the Sooner line-up for at least two weeks.)

"With the exception of our concern for Gabe," Williams said, "I was pleased with the performance throughout the competition, where we really displayed no weak event. I think it was important for us to have a good meet on the road at this point in the season. We have a lot of confidence now going into future away meets. We're able to compete at our best anywhere and we know that now."

When the dust settled the Sooners had posted a new national high score of 215.55, passing Michigan for the number one spot. "To me the most important thing that came out of this weekend's competition was our movement into the number one position," Williams stressed. "The energy, excitement and motivation being number one implies is immeasurable. Obviously that's a position we'd like to maintain throughout the season and secure at NCAA Championships."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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