Title Defense Begins With Defeat Of No. 6 Michigan

Jan. 18, 2003

NORMAN, Okla.- The top ranked Oklahoma (1-0) men's gymnastics team started slowly on pommel horse but battled back to defeat No. 6 Michigan (3-3) in front of 1,000 fans at the Cliff Keen Arena. Oklahoma was forced to count four falls on its opening event, the pommel horse, and would head into the fifth rotation in a deadlock with Michigan before pulling away for the 214.275-208.650 victory.

"I was a little surprised to see the team start so poorly," said OU Head Coach Mark Williams. "I think that we were a bit anxious and the team felt like they had to be perfect from the very start. I saw a good amount of our championship spirit as we battled back and overcame our early deficit."

Oklahoma snagged five of six individual event high scores, to go along with five of six team event final scores. The early struggles on pommel horse kept the Sooners from recording the sweep.

Senior Brett Covey received the Newt Loken award, given to the meet's most outstanding gymnast, for his performance on the still rings. Covey scored a 9.850, easily the highest score of the evening, while landing the top spot on rings.

"Brett was the key for us tonight," said Williams. "He had a great routine and stuck his landing. Brett, along with the rest of the senior class led this team to the victory tonight. This is something I expect them to do all season."

Senior co-captains Daniel Furney and Josh Landis collected three first place finishes between the pair. Furney topped the standings on parallel bars and high bar with scores of 9.300 and 9.250, respectively. Landis recorded a 9.200 on the floor exercise to top the final standings.

Sophomore David Henderson, who scored 50.575, was the only competitor to participate in the all-around. Henderson also notched a first place finish on the vault with a score of 9.375.

"We made some early mistakes," said Williams. "It was more important to see the team battle back the way they did. The mistakes can be fixed in practice. The guys just need to get more reps in."

OU has now won four consecutive meets and defeated its last 16 opponents during that span.

In 2001, the Sooners suffered their only regular season loss at Michigan. Oklahoma would go on to finish second at the NCAA Championships that season, before taking the national title in 2002.

Oklahoma returns to actions Jan. 24-25, when they travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., for the Rocky Mountain Open. OU opens the home slate on Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. against Iowa, in a dual meet with the women's gymastics squad. For ticket information, call (8000 456-GoOU.

For more information on the OU men's gymnastics team, visit www.soonersports.com.

Team Scores FX PH SR V PB HB Total 1. Oklahoma 35.050 32.750 37.950 37.075 35.500 35.950 214.275 2. Michigan 33.900 34.950 35.900 36.200 34.750 32.950 208.650

ALL-AROUND 1. David Henderson, OU 50.575 2. Daniel Furney, OU 44.950

FLOOR EXERCISE 1. Josh Landis, OU 9.200 2. Jock Stevens, OU 9.100 3. Eddie Umphrey, U-M 8.850 4. Gerry Signorelli, U-M 8.600 5. David Henderson, OU 8.550 6. Brian Berends, U-M 8.450 7. James Myers, OU 8.200 8. Shannon Carrion, OU 8.200 9. Mike Gehart, OU 8.150 10. Jamie Hertza, U-M 8.000 11. Kevin George, U-M 7.600 12. Derek Croad, U-M 7.550
POMMEL HORSE 1. Scott Vetere, U-M 9.250 2. Justin Laury, U-M 8.750 Josh Gore, OU 8.750 4. Jamie Hertza, U-M 8.650 5. Brian Peterson, U-M 8.300 6. Eddie Umphrey, U-M 8.200 7. Kevin George, U-M 8.150 Josh Landis, OU 8.150 9. Daniel Furney, OU 8.100 10. Jamie Henderson, OU 7.750 11. Brian Trause, OU 7.500 12. David Henderson, OU 7.400
STILL RINGS 1. Brett Covey, OU 9.850 2. Jamie Henderson, OU 9.550 3. David Henderson, OU 9.450 4. Justin Laury, U-M 9.300 5. Conan Parzuchowski, U-M 9.200 6. Daniel Furney, OU 9.100 7. Kevin George, U-M 8.800 8. Shannon Carrion, OU 8.650 9. Brian Peterson, U-M 8.600 Jock Stevens, OU 8.600 11. Eddie Umphrey, U-M 8.500 12. Gerry Signorelli, U-M 8.200
VAULT 1. David Henderson, OU 9.375 2. Mike Gehart, OU 9.350 3. Andrew DiGiore, U-M 9.250 4. Daniel Furney, OU 9.200 5. Shannon Carrion, OU 9.150 6. Jock Stevens, OU 9.100 7. Gerry Signorelli, U-M 9.050 8. Brian Peterson, U-M 8.950 Derek Croad, U-M 8.950 10. Brian Berends, U-M 8.900 11. Eddie Umphrey, U-M 8.650 12. James Myers, OU 0.000

PARALLEL BARS 1. Daniel Furney, OU 9.300 2. Brian Trause, OU 9.000 3. Gerry Signorelli, U-M 8.950 4. Conan Parzuchowski, U-M 8.900 5. David Henderson, OU 8.700 6. Kris Zimmerman, U-M 8.650 7. Josh Gore, OU 8.500 Josh Landis, OU 8.500 9. Shannon Carrion, OU 8.400 10. Eddie Umphrey, U-M 8.250 11. Brian Peterson, U-M 8.100 Justin Laury, U-M 8.100

HORIZONTAL BAR 1. Daniel Furney, OU 9.250 2. Josh Gore, OU 9.050 Josh Landis, OU 9.050 4. Justin Laury, U-M 8.700 5. Brian Berends, U-M 8.600 Shannon Carrion, OU 8.600 7. Kris Zimmerman, U-M 7.950 8. Gerry Signorelli, U-M 7.700 9. Kevin George, U-M 7.300 Quinn Rowell, OU 7.300 11. David Henderson, OU 7.100 12. Eddie Umphrey, U-M 0.000

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Title Defense Begins With Defeat Of No. 6 Michigan

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors