OU Men's Gymnasts Earn 10 All-America Honors

April 7, 2001

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Six University of Oklahoma men's gymnasts - seniors Brendan O'Neil and Steve Van Etten, junior Ryan Hillyer and sophomores Josh Landis, Daniel Furney and Brett Covey - earned 10 All-America honors at the NCAA Individual Event Finals in Columbus, Ohio. The six Sooners to attain All-America status is an OU record while the 10 total All-America certificates tied the school mark previously set in 1997 and 1991. Van Etten attained All-America status on three events (floor exercise, pommel horse and horizontal bar), tied for the most by any gymnast at this year's championships, and Landis (floor and horse) and Furney (horse and parallel bars) earned honors on two events.

Three Sooners earned All-America honors on both floor exercise and pommel horse. O'Neil (9.487) was runner-up on floor while Van Etten (9.137) and Landis (9.112) placed fifth and sixth, respectively. It was the second time that O'Neil and Van Etten earned All-America honors on floor. Van Etten also placed second on pommel horse (9.262). Furney and Landis were also All-Americans on horse. It was the second straight season Landis earned All-America honors on horse and the three All-Americans on horse set a school record. OU had never had multiple All-Americans on horse and had only five All-Americans on the apparatus in the history of the program. Sophomore Brett Covey tallied a 9.45 to place third on rings. Furney placed fourth (9.05) on parallel bars for his second All-America certificate. Van Etten (9.25) and junior Ryan Hillyer (9.237) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, on horizontal bar.

"Tonight was a tremendous way to finish the season," said OU Head Coach Mark Williams. "We had the most number of qualifiers to the individual finals and all 10 earned All-America honors. To bring home the most All-Americans in Oklahoma history is very special. I'm especially pleased with the finish of Steve Van Etten's career. Earning three All-America honors as a senior is a great way to go out. To see how excited he was to end his career on such a high. Also, Ryan Hillyer came off the bench much of the season. He was the 13th man on at last year's NCAA Championships. Not only to make the team this season but also to finish as an All-American on the horizontal bar is almost a storybook ending to his season. I'd like to congratulate Brendan O'Neil for not only his performance as an NCAA runner-up but the leadership he showed as captain for out tremendous team. The other All-Americans were also well deserving of recognition."


INDIVIDUAL EVENT FINALS

Floor Exercise          Pommel Horse          Still Rings

Clay Strother, Minnesota    9.525 Clay Strother, Minnesota  9.662 C. Lakeman, Penn State  9.55

Brendan O'Neil, OU          9.487 Steve Van Etten, OU       9.262 Scott Vetere, Mich.  9.487

Brad Golden, Mich. State    9.287 Antonio Cesar, Iowa    9.175 Brett Covey, OU  9.45

Jamie Natalie, Ohio State   9.20  Michael Ashe, Cal.        9.100 Kevin Tan, Penn State  9.40

Steve Van Etten, OU         9.137 Jon Plante, Mich. State   8.825 M. Erwin, Stanford      9.375

Josh Landis, OU      9.112 David Lloyd Eaton, Cal.   8.50  C. Parzuchowski, Mich.  9.375

Kris Zimmerman, Mich.       9.00  Daniel Furney, OU         8.425 Leo Oka, Illinois       9.325

Tal Moscovitz, Cal.         8.912 Josh Landis, OU    8.275 Linh Hoang, Illinois  9.20

Cody Moore, Cal.    8.90  Jamie Natalie, Ohio State 8.062 Daren Lynch, Ohio State 8.925

Andrew Thornton, Iowa    8.85

Bryan McNulty, UMass        8.425

Vault                  Parallel Bars          Horizontal Bar

Daren Lynch, Ohio State    9.50  Raj Bhavsar, Ohio State   9.412 Michael Ashe, Cal.  9.512

Brad Golden, Mich. State    9.375 Kris Zimmerman, Mich.    9.25  D. Diaz-Loung, Mich.  9.362

Dominic Brindle, Penn State 9.25  Jamie Natalie, Ohio State 9.137 Kris Zimmerman, Mich.  9.312

Raj Bhavsar, Ohio State    9.20  Daniel Furney, OU         9.05  Steve Van Etten, OU     9.25

Jay Kim, Penn State    9.125 Scott Vetere, Mich.    9.012 Ryan Hillyer, OU   9.237

Dan Gill, Stanford    9.087 Daniel Diaz-Loung, Mich.  8.725 Scott Vetere, Mich.  8.95

Brad Kenna, Mich.    8.975 Dick Huntwork, Ohio State 8.437 J. Natalie, Ohio State  8.825

Jamie Natalie, Ohio State   8.775 Cody Moore, Cal.    7.95  Cody Moore, Cal.  8.075

  David Lloyd Eaton, Cal.   7.95

University of Oklahoma Athletics

OU Men's Gymnasts Earn 10 All-America Honors

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