O'Neil Named Nissen Award Finalist

March 30, 2001

NORMAN, Okla. - University of Oklahoma senior men's gymnast Brendan O'Neil has been named a finalist for the Nissen Award, the most prestigious award in collegiate men's gymnastics. Founded by trampoline inventer George Nissen, the award has been handed out annually to the nation's top senior men's collegiate gymnast since 1966.

An All-American on the floor exercise and parallel bars last season, O'Neil is currently ranked first nationally on the floor by .25 points, the largest margin between first and second place in any individual event, and recently won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship in that event. He has won a total of five titles on floor this season. O'Neil is also ranked seventh nationally on the parallel bars and is serving as team captain for the 2001 Sooner squad.

Oklahoma has won more Nissen Awards (four) than any other school in the nation and is the only program to produce back-to-back winners. OU's Nissen Award recipients include Bart Conner (1981), Jarrod Hanks (1991), Dan Fink (1998) and Todd Bishop (1999). Fink and Bishop were former teammates of O'Neil, while Hanks served as an assistant coach at OU during O'Neil's freshman and sophomore campaigns.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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