No. 4 Oklahoma Heads To No. 5 Iowa On Saturday

MEET 3 - OU at Iowa
January 31, 2004, 2 p.m.
Iowa City, Iowa
UI Field House

Teams:
No. 4 OKLAHOMA
No. 5 Iowa

Preview
The No. 4 Sooners head back to the road this week with a showdown with No. 5 Iowa on Saturday, January 31 at 2 p.m. CST. The Hawkeyes fell to OU in the first meet of the season for the Sooners at the Rocky Mountain Open by a tenth of a point (211.400-211.300).

Iowa is coming off a victory over then-No. 11 Nebraska 217.75- 213.975 last Sunday in Lincoln, NE. Iowa broke the previous school team record of 215.6 set in 2003. In addition, the Hawkeyes also won five event titles, four individual event champions, and broke a total of six school records, since the new scoring code was established in 2001.

In addition to the Rocky Mountain Open and the Nebraska meet, Iowa also competed in the Windy City Invitational where they defeated Illinois-Chicago and Minnesota while losing to Ohio State, Illinois and Michigan. Hawkeye head coach Tom Dunn enters his 23rd year at the helm of the Iowa program. Going into the 2004 season, Dunn had established a record of 179-73-2. This year's squad returns 11 lettermen (five seniors) from the 2003 squad that finished third at the Big Ten Championships.. All-American and Big-Ten horizontal bar Champion Linas Gaveika leads the Hawkeyes, along with All-American Michael Reavis.

"Iowa should be an interesting challenge due to the fact that at the Rocky Mountain Open there was one tenth of a point separating us," said Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams. "And being on the road at Iowa I am sure they will be primed to do better at home. This meet should be interesting in terms of the implications it has towards national rankings with us being four and them five. We want to keep the momentum going from our home meet against Air Force and post a good score on the road."

The Sooners are coming off a victory over then-No. 16 Air Force, a meet that saw the defending champs score a season-high team score of 217.650. Leading the Sooners over the Falcons was junior David Henderson recording a new career high in the all-around with a 54.125 score that was tops in the meet.

OU's next meet will take place after the Winter Cup (individual competition) on Feb. 13 in Columbus, Ohio with current No. 1 Ohio State. The next home meet for the Sooners will occur in McCasland Field House on Feb. 21 with No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Nebraska and No. 9 Minnesota.

Top 15
The Oklahoma men's gymnastics team moved up two spots this week to the No. 4 position after a 217.650 score last weekend against Air Force at home bumped their season average to 214.525.

OU is coming off a NCAA National Championship undefeated season in 2003 and was voted No. 2 in the GymInfo Coaches' preseason top-15 poll. The Sooners got three first-place votes and trailed only Ohio State, which received nine first-place votes.

The Sooners are also ranked in the top six of every event, with 20 individuals ranked in their respective events, including Josh Gore (third-parallel bars) and David Henderson (third-all-around).

Streaks
OU opened the 2004 season at the Rocky Mountain Open by extending their winning streak up to 42 straight wins overall over their opponents. That includes 27 on the road, where the Sooners last lost at Stanford on March 9 of 2002. At home, the Sooners have rattled off 27 straight victories. The last time an OU team lost in Norman was on January 28 of 2000, against Ohio State. The school record for consecutive victories is held by the football team, who won 47 straight from 1953-1957.

Head Coach Mark Williams
One of the most respected gymnastics authorities in the nation, Mark Williams has coached at every level of the sport, from beginners to Olympians. Williams was named head coach of the program in 2000 and produced immediate results. With the 2003 and 2002 squads claiming national championships, he now has the program positioned as a legitimate national contender every year.

Williams has done a lot of winning during his stint as head coach, producing five conference titles, in addition to being named “Coach of the Year” by the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation four times and NCAA National Coach of the Year twice. In 2003, the Sooners went 26-0 winning the NCAA National Championship in Philadelphia, Pa. Williams was named NCAA Coach of the Year and became the first coach in NCAA history to win two national titles in his first four years as head coach. Williams reached the 90-win plateau (93-7 career) faster than any other coach in NCAA history and owns the highest winning percentage of any active NCAA coach at 93 percent. Wiliams' squad will enter the 2004 season with winning streaks of 38 overal over opponents, 24 on the road and 26 at home.

Wiliams owns the NCAA record for wins (93) and winning percentage (.930) in a coach's first four seasons. In his 23 years as a professional gymnastics coach, Williams has guided gymnasts to World Championship, Pan American Games and University Games teams.

Sooner Notes
Mubarak Abdullah-Simmons- junior-college transfer, looking to make collegiate debut.

Brian Carr- freshman made his Sooner debut last weekend against Air Force. In his lone event, pommel horse, Carr recorded an 8.900. That score ranks him 12th in the nation among averages.

Kyle Fernandez- Made the most of his home debut scoring a 9.475 on rings, a new career high.

Mike Gehart - Recorded new career highs on the rings (8.8) and high bar (8.650).

Josh Gore- Tied his career high on pommel horse with a 9.3 against Air Force in Sooners' home opener.

David Henderson- Won all-around against Air Force at home with new career high, 54.125

Jamie Henderson- Recorded new season-highs last weekend on pommel horse (9.1), p-bars (8.3) and a career-high on the high bar, 9.525 (t-first).

David Iammatteo- Scored a new career-high on the vault against Air Force, 9.100.

Heath Mueller- Finished second in the all-around last weekend with a new career high, 53.450. He also recorded new career-highs on floor (9.3), and rings (8.75).

James Myers- Scored a career high of 9.200 on high bar in event finals at RMO.

Curtis O'Rorke- Made his 2004 debut against Air Force, scored 8.3 on floor and a 9.050 on vault.

Quinn Rowell- Tied for first on high bar against Air Force with a 9.525, a new career high for the 2002 All-American on that apparatus.

Jock Stevens- Placed in the RMO event finals in two events; took fifth in floor exercise and sixth in vault.

Brian Trause- Advanced to event finals of RMO, and finished eighth with a 8.750 score.

Last Time Out (vs. Air Force - January 23 at Lloyd Noble Center)
The University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics team won their home opener over the Air Force Academy (217.650-195.275) on Friday night in front of a record crowd of 1,475 at the Lloyd Noble Center. Junior David Henderson won the all-around with a new career-high, 54.125. Senior co-captain Heath Mueller was second in the all-around with a season high 53.450. OU has now won 42 straight meets, including 27 straight at home.

“David Henderson was the best all-arounder we had tonight,” said Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams. “He has not done all-around all that much in the past but he is one of those key guys we need to step up and he did that today against Air Force. He did really well on horse, the best routine he has probably done, had great rings and went for an extremely difficult vault.”

The Sooners improved to 4-0 on the young season and scored over six points higher than their last meet. OU came into tonight after a successful 3-0 weekend in their season opener at Air Force, where they managed to score 211.400. The score last weekend dropped OU from No. 2 in the GymInfo poll to No. 6 this week, but with a 217.650 score over No. 16 Air Force, they are likely to move back up the ranks depending on how the top five performs. Coming into the meet, Williams really wanted to score in the 216 range and build off of some of last week's miscues.

“I am pleased with everybody in terms of performance,” said Williams. “Parallel bars was kind of a thorn for us tonight, where as last weekend it was our strongest set. If we put together a good p-bars routine, then we probably post one of the higher team scores across the country so far this season. So we still have some areas to improve on, this team is a little different after losing four seniors last year. However, this team as a group is capable of stepping up and not necessarily replacing the guys lost to graduation last year, but they can definitely fill in the scores to be successful and we are only going to get better as the season rolls on.”

The Sooners really stepped it up Friday night on the high bar, where last week as a team they struggled posting a 34.350. Against Air Force on Friday, they recorded a 37.450, counting scores all above 9.0 towards the team total. Amongst that bunch was a pair of 9.525 from senior co-captain Quinn Rowell and sophomore Jamie Henderson.

Career Highs
Thirteen different career-highs were tied or broken when the defending champs defeated Air Force last weekend with a season-high score of 217.650.

* Brian Carr (Pommel Horse - 8.9)
* Kyle Fernandez (Still Rings - 9.475)
* Mike Gehart (Still Rings - 8.8) (High Bar - 8.650)
* Josh Gore (Pommel Horse - 9.3 tied) (High Bar - 9.250 tied)
* David Henderson (High Bar - 9.1) (All-Around 54.125)
* Jamie Henderson (High Bar - 9.525)
* David Iammatteo (Vault - 9.1)
* Heath Mueller (Floor - 9.3) (Still Rings 8.75)
* Quinn Rowell (High Bar - 9.525)

Record Home Crowd
When the men opened up their season at home last Friday, they scored their season best score in front of a new regular season record crowd for an Oklahoma Gymnastics' meet. On 1/23/04, 1,475 faithful fans attended the meet against Air Force, also featuring the OU women against the Falcons' women. The old record for a Sooner gymnastics meet was set last year when the men hosted Ohio State and the women hosted Penn State on March 7, 2003 in front of 1,227 at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Season Debuts
Two Sooners made their season debuts at home on Friday, sophomore Curtis O'Rorke and freshman Brian Carr. Both came out strong against Air Force in Norman last week. O'Rorke competed on floor and vault putting up scores of 8.300 and 9.050 respectively. Carr opened up his Sooner career with a 8.900 which ranks him 12th in scoring average in the nation.

All-Around Talent
So far this year in two meets, three Sooners have competed in the all-around for OU. Senior co-captain Heath Mueller is the only Sooner to do so in both of OU's meets this season. Mueller earned his first Falcon (award given to top three finishers at Rocky Mountain Open) by taking first in the collegiate division with a 52.850. Again against Air Force last week in Norman, Mueller topped his previous season-high with a 53.450, just short of his career-high (53.900).

The Hendersons (David and Jamie) are the other two all-arounders for the squad so far this year. Jamie competed at the RMO and was fifth in the collegiate division 50.650. David won the all-around at home last week with a new career-high or 54.125. David also was also tops on parallel bars, pommel horse and still rings.

Travel Woes = Road Success
On their way out to Colorado Springs for the RMO, the OU men's gymnastics team had some changes in their travel plans before arriving late Friday night to win the meet. Their scheduled flight out of Oklahoma City that day was cancelled (fog) and the team had no choice but to drive down to Dallas, Texas to catch a re-scheduled flight from there to Colorado Springs, Colo. From Dallas, the flight was delayed for an hour due to maintenance issues on the runway and the team did not arrive in Colorado till after 6 p.m., with the meet scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Fifteen minutes before the RMO started, the two time defending champions arrived and won the meet by a tenth of a point to keep their winning streak of 41 victories alive.

NCAA Record
Ever since the new scoring system's inception in 2001 in college gymnastics (Federation de Internationale Gymnastics Code Scoring System), Oklahoma has dominated the top team scores around the nation. Not only did the Sooners break the record twice last season, but they also currently own ten of the top 20 scores. On March 7, 2003 at home against Stanford and Ohio State, OU topped their old mark of 220.650 with a 222.500. That record would only last till the end of the month, when at the MPSF Championships the team recorded a 223.500. The only other schools to hold top 20 scores are Penn State, Ohio State and Illinois.

Rings Leads The Way
The Sooners are ranked No. 2 in the nation on rings with a scoring average of 36.500, just short of Penn State's 37.175. In addition OU had three individuals ranked amongst the top 20 in the nation. Two of those Sooners are no strangers to success on the apparatus. David and Jamie Henderson have both achieved All-American status on rings and rank 19th and 15th respectively. The other culprit is Penn State transfer Kyle Fernandez. The junior has been impressive in his first two meets wearing the Crimson and Cream. Fernandez opened up the season with a 9.200, a mark that qualified for the Rocky Mountain Event Finals. In his home debut, he broke his previous career-high of 9.400 (at Penn State) with a 9.475, good for a second place tie.

What A Difference A Week Makes
In their season debut in the Rocky Mountain Open Oklahoma narrowly edged out Iowa by a tenth of a point with a team score of 211.400. That score required an unusual challenge for the Sooners because of travel difficulties and a limited warm-up time. This week at home, the Sooners took advantage of the situation and posted a score six points higher than the RMO score. Head coach Mark Williams was hoping to come out of the meet with a score in the 215-216 range. His team topped that with a 217.650 that defeated Air Force (195.275).

Where Are They Now
After a short retirement, 2003 Nissen Emery Award Winner Daniel Furney emerged back on the gymnastics scene two weeks ago in Colorado Springs at the Rocky Mountain Open. Furney limited to four events was only able to compete on pommel horse but made the most out of his appearance qualifying for the event finals and taking first with a 9.250 competing for OU's club team, also featuring assistant coach Guard Young. Young and Furney will again see action at the Winter Cup in Las Vegas, Nev. on Feb. 5-7. Other departed Sooners from last year's National Championship team are still contributing to the team as team managers, Josh Landis and Shannon Carrion. That leaves Brett Covey who was last competing on the national stage for Canada.

The MPSF
The Sooners have won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federations Championship five years in-a-row, four straight under Williams. This season OU is looking to do much of the same en route to defending their national championship as well. So far in 2004, OU has competed against the likes of two MPSF teams, Air Force and Nebraska. The Sooners are 3-0 against those teams, beating Air Force on two occasions. The next conference foe for OU is Nebraska again at home on February 21 at McCasland Field House. Seven days later OU will travel to Palo Alto, Calif. (home of this year's MPSF Championship) to face Stanford.

Sooner's Home Schedule (McCasland Field House)
*Feb. 21 vs. Minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska, 2 p.m.
*March 6 vs. Illinois, 7 p.m.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

No. 4 Oklahoma Heads To No. 5 Iowa On Saturday

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