Furney Wins Nissen Emery Award

April 10, 2003

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Senior Daniel Furney of the Oklahoma men's gymnastics team received the Nissen Emery Award, given to the top collegiate gymnast, Thursday evening during a banquet prior to the NCAA Championships. Furney, who was one of eight finalist, is the fifth gymnast in OU history to receive the prestigious award. The New Braunfels, Texas, native set himself apart this season while leading the Sooners to the No. 1 ranking and undefeated regular and conference season.

"This has been a dream my entire life," said Furney, "I never expected to win it. I have to thank Coach (Mark) Williams and (Assistant Coach) Yuan Xiao for all their time and effort. I also have to thank my teammates for pushing me this year and during my entire career as a Sooner. Hopefully, this is start of a special weekend for Oklahoma gymnastics. We definitely have a bigger prize in sight."

Furney has put together one of the best individual seasons in Oklahoma and NCAA history. At the top of his numerous accolades is the 2003 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Year and MPSF All-Around Championship. The top ranked all-arounder set the NCAA record with a score of 56.350 on March 7. Furney has also racked up more NCAA Gymnast of the Week awards (4) and MPSF weekly awards (3) than any other gymnast, while also being the only individual to garner the awards in back-to-back weeks. The senior co-captain enters the postseason ranked No. 1 on parallel bars, No. 2 on vault, No. 5 on pommel horse and high bar and No. 8 on still rings.

"I have said all season that Daniel will go down in Oklahoma history as one of the best," said Williams. "He is right there with Sooner greats Bart Conner, Dan Fink, Jarrod Hanks and Todd Bishop. He has been a great leader and student-athlete since he began in our program and no one deserves this honor more than him."

The other finalist for the award where Rah Bhavsar (Ohio State), Aaron Jackson (Air Force), Cody Moore (Cal), Marshall Erwin (Stanford), Clay Strother (Minnesota), Kevin Donohue (Penn State) and Cameron Schick (Iowa). Last season, former Sooner David Johnston was a finalist for the award.

The Oklahoma men's gymnastics team begins defense of its 2002 NCAA title, Friday at 7 p.m., at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pa. The Sooners enter Friday's team qualifiers, as the top seed and will compete in the second session against No. 4 California, No. 5 Michigan, No. 8 Illinois, No. 10 Nebraska and No. 11 Temple. The top three teams from the two qualifying sessions advance to the NCAA Team Finals, Saturday, at 4 p.m. The meet will be televised on ESPN, Monday at 3:30 (CST).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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