Sooners Take First In Collegiate Division At Rocky Mountain Open

The Oklahoma men's gymnastics team opened up its title defense by taking first in the team finals of the collegiate division at the Rocky Mountain Open in Colorado Springs, Colo. With a team score of 211.400, the No. 2 Sooners defeated No. 6 Iowa (211.300), No. 10 Nebraska (204.825) and No. 15 Air Force (192.850). The only team to defeat the back-to-back champions was the U.S. Olympic Training Center, a team that consists of former Olympians and world champions.

Despite a long day of travel, OU extended its current win streak over NCAA opponents to 41, including 27 now on the road. What looked to be an easy day of travel for the men's team turned into a long day that resulted in a cancelled flight, a three hour drive to Dallas, a flight delay and arriving to the meet just 15 minutes prior to start time.

“I am very proud of the guys on the team that were able to take an adverse situation and turn it around and make it a positive,” said head coach Mark Williams about Friday's travel. “They were determined to not give up until we got there and got our team score.”

The defending champs started out on the still rings and scored a 35.85. That performance was anchored by sophomore Jamie Henderson. The 2003 All-American on the event was solid for the Sooners recording a 9.400 on the rings and also contributing was junior-transfer Kyle Fernandez, with a 9.200 in his debut as a Sooner. After a bye, OU returned to action on the vault with a 36.150. Senior Jock Stevens and junior David Henderson scored a 9.200 and 9.000 respectively.

Parallel bars followed for OU where Junior Josh Gore set a new career high, recording a 9.350 in the event. Gore's tally was also the team high in the event that saw OU score another 36.150. Senior Brian Trause also scored a career high, with a 9.200. The Sooners scored 34.350 on the high bar before heading to the floor exercise. On floor, Stevens' 9.20 and Junior David Iammatteo's 8.85 led the team score of 34.600 with one event remaining. In the last event of the evening, OU pulled out a 34.300 to edge out Iowa by a tenth of a point.

Added Williams, “It was not always pretty out there today, but based on the experiences we had to just get to the competition was maybe the victory we were seeking. The effort was certainly there throughout the competition even though the score is not where I think we ought to be this point of the season. We know we can do better in circumstances we can control. I am very thankful that we came out with a victory and realize we have a lot of work to do in order to move forward and put ourselves in a position to defend our national championship.”

Individually, OU had three events where Sooners topped the collegiate division. Senior Heath Mueller (52.850) took "Falcon" honors in the all-around, after performing consistent on all six events. Joining him against the collegiate opponents, was Gore on the parallel bars (9.350) and Stevens on the floor (9.200).

The Rocky Mountain Open event finals begin Saturday at 1 p.m. Sooners who finished in the top-10 on specific events during the team finals qualified for Saturday's finals. Below is the complete list of OU competitors:

Pommel Horse - Heath Mueller and Josh Gore
Rings - Kyle Fernandez and Jamie Henderson
Vault - David Henderson, Mike Gehart and Jock Stevens
Parallel Bars - Heath Mueller, Brian Trause and Josh Gore
High Bar - James Myers, Quinn Rowell and Heath Mueller
Floor Exercise - Jock Stevens and David Iammatteo

“Tomorrow is going to be a whole different situation, the guys will have a chance to get some rest,” said Williams. "The finals event is a fun meet because there are not many opportunities throughout the college season to collect individual awards. I am very happy for our guys in the finals, I think every single guy is in at least one event and I can't recall that happening in my five years here.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Take First In Collegiate Division At Rocky Mountain Open

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