Jamie Henderson Impressive At USA Qualifiers

Colorado Springs, Colo. - Oklahoma sophomore gymnast Jamie Henderson completed one of the better all-around performances in his collegiate career by finishing fourth at the U.S.A. Qualifiers at the Olympic Training Center on Saturday, April 24.

Jamie Henderson will be at the U.S.A. Championships in June after finishing in the top 13 of the all-around at qualifiers. Henderson posted a 54.025 finishing fourth overall and first among qualifiers at the meet. He only trailed Brent McClure (56.025), Alexander Artemeu (55.250) and Todd Thornton (54.625) , all gymnasts that had previously qualified for the U.S. Championships.

"Jamie put together a great meet today," said Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams. "This is the best he has competed this year and it is awesome for him to put everything together at a meet with the nation's best gymnasts. He only finished behind three great gymnasts and the fact that he was the No. 1 qualifier says a lot about his performance today."

The meet consisted of some of the nation's best male gymnasts including Oklahoma senior Heath Mueller, junior David Henderson and assistant coach Guard Young.

Jamie's brother David was a scratch for the event due to an illness. Jamie took sixth on three events including a 9.400 on the high bar. Henderson also recorded scores of 9.35 and 9.05 on the still rings and parallel bars respectively. Jamie was an All-American this season after finishing in the top sixth at the NCAA Championships on the still rings. Henderson also earned All-America honors during his freshman campaign on the same event.

The men's qualifier is the only route for athletes not already on the Senior National Team to qualify for the 2004 U.S. Championships, June 2-5 in Nashville, Tenn., the 2004 U.S. National Team program, and to qualify to compete in the 2004 Olympic Trials, June 24-27 in Anaheim, Calif.

Mueller and Young previously qualified for the June championships and will use Saturday as tune-up before the championship meet.

Mueller pre-qualified for the U.S. Championships by finishing fourth in the all-around at the 2004 NCAA Championships behind Penn State's Luis Vargas (Puerto Rico), Stanford's Dan Gill (pre-qualified) and Ohio State's Randy Monahan. Young joins Gill as gymnasts that were already qualified for the U.S. Championships because of their Senior National Team status.

Young competed on three events and finished first on the vault with a 9.55 and second on both the floor and parallel bars with scores of 9.375 and 9.55 respectively.

Mueller was solid on his three events as well finishing in the top 15. Mueller competed on the high bar, parallel bars and pommel horse.

"We are excited to have three gymnasts competing at the U.S. Championships in June," added Williams. "We are especially thrilled that Jamie had such a tremendous all-around performance at the qualifiers to join Heath and Guard in Nashville."

For more results from the U.S.A qualifiers click here.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Jamie Henderson Impressive At USA Qualifiers

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