Sooners Gymnasts Square Off On Valentine's Day

Feb. 12, 2003

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Welcome Home
After a successful outing for Sooner individuals at the Winter Cup, the OU squad begins its home season with a top-10 matchup against No. 7 Iowa on Friday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m., inside the Lloyd Noble Center.

"We hope to have a great home performance," said OU Head Coach Mark Williams. "It is one of our later dates to begin the home season, so hopefully our early success has generated a good amount of local interest. We 'd like to expand on our performance from Nebraska and draw from an emotionally charged environment inside the Lloyd Noble Center. Our goal is put on a good performance in front of the home crowd and post a score that keeps us among the NCAA top two."

OU heads into the home opener riding a streak of 22 wins against collegiate opponents. Oklahoma defeated Iowa three times in Norman last season. The Sooners opened the season with a easy defeat of the Hawkeyes and knocked them off twice during the NCAA Championship qualifying and final rounds. OU has racked up six consecutive victories over the Hawkeyes, dating back to the 2000 season.

Iowa enters the meet at 6-1, with impressive victories over Nebraska and conference foe Minnesota. The Hawkeyes are led by freshman Michael Reavis, who took first place honors at the Winter Cup with a 9.450 finish on vault. Reavis also finished 12th in the all-around competition.

"The Winter Cup was a very good showing for Oklahoma as a program," said Williams. "We had gymnasts in five of the six event finals. At this point in the college season our guys still haven't peaked yet. I look forward to strong results as we move towards championship season."

Admission to the meet is $5 for adults and $2 for children. For more information on tickets, call (800) 456-GoOU.

Among The Nation's Best

Currently the Sooners have 20 competitors in the NCAA's individual event rankings Top 20. Tops among the Sooners are Brett Covey (still rings) and Daniel Furney (vault) who ranked No. 1 on their events and have posted the nation's two highest scores at 9.850 and 9.700. Furney, No. 3 in the all-around, is ranked No. 15 or higher in five events. David Henderson is No. 9 or higher in three events and Josh Landis No. 13 or higher in three events.

Weekly Notes

- OU also extended its winning streak against collegiate opponents to 22, which is the longest current streak in the sport.
- OU has defeated Iowa six consecutive times dating back to 2000, when Iowa finished third at the national championships, one spot above OU.
- Penn State will remain in the No. 1 spot with a season- high of 219.400 but the Sooner inched closer with a score of 217.250, which matches Penn State's highest road score. The rankings for the NCAA Championships are based on an average of highest home score, road score and conference championship score.
- OU defeated every opponent remaining on their 2003 schedule during the 2002 regular season.
- OU men's gymnastics squad will hold coed dual meets with the No. 16 Women's gymnastics team Feb. 14 and Feb. 21.

Sooner Notes

Shannon Carrion - Reached the high bar finals and finished fifth at Winter Cup.
Brett Covey - Owns the NCAA's top two scores this season with 9.850 and 9.700 (tied with Daniel Furney).
Daniel Furney - Finished in fifth place in Winter Cup All-Around.
Michael Gehart - Gathered one of the nation's top vault scores with career-high of 9.400.
Josh Gore - Collected two career-highs on high bar (9.125) and p-bars (8.625) at RMO.
David Henderson - Competed in all-around at Winter Cup but missed out on event finals.
Jamie Henderson - Joined teammates in Winter Cup scoring a high of 8.600 on pommel horse.
Josh Landis - Brought home a first place trophy for his 9.300 on the pommel horse at Winter Cup.
Heath Mueller - Competed for the first time this season and scored 52.250 in his first ever all-around performance at Nebraska.
James Myers - Did not compete at Nebraska.
Curtis O'Rorke - Solid 9.100 earned freshman second place on floor at Nebraska.
Quinn Rowell - Was held out of Nebraska meet due to nagging wrist injury.
Jock Stevens - All-American did not compete at Nebraska.
Brian Trause - Injured his left knee on parallel bars during RMO team finals.

Coach's Points
Coach Williams on Josh Landis' First Place Finish at Winter Cup- "Josh was terrific on the two events he competed on and made the finals on. He ended up tying Brett McClure for the first on the pommel horse, which is a great accomplishment considering McClure was a semifinalist on the event at the World Championships last year."

On Daniel Furney's Winter Cup- "Daniel Furney was considered for one of the two national team spots after his strong finish in the meet. He has been invited by the selection committee to work out with the National team in April.

On Iowa- "We hope to have a geat home performance. It is one of our later dates to begin the home seaosn, so hopefully our early success has generated some interest. We 'd like to expand on our performance from Nebraska and draw from an emotionally charged environment inside the Lloyd Noble Center. Our goal is put on a good performance in front of the home crowd and post a score that keeps us among the NCAA top two."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Gymnasts Square Off On Valentine's Day

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