Men's Gymnastics Completes Recruiting Class

NORMAN, Okla. The University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics team and head coach Mark Williams announced on Tuesday that Nick Campagna and Jacob Messina have signed letters of intent to compete for OU next season. The new additions join an already talented class that includes Jonathan Horton, Taqiy Abdullah and Joseph Weaver who all signed last November.

“The signings of these two athletes will have an immediate impact on this team next season,” said Williams. “They give us an outstanding class of five incoming freshmen that will assist in maintaining the program's excellence and keep us in the hunt for the national championship. This might be the best class I have recruited at Oklahoma.”

Campagna (CAM-pag-na) is a member of the Cypress Academy where he trained with Horton under Tom Meadows, a former All-American gymnast at Oklahoma in 1992. Campagna is from Cypress, Texas where he currently attends Cy-Fair High School. The junior elite member placed third in the all-around at the Texas State Meet and fourth on still rings and vault in 2003. In addition, the 5'4” Texas native placed fifth in the all-around at the 2002 U.S. Championships Qualifier and placed 19th in the all-around in the preliminaries of the 2002 U.S. Championships.

“We are glad to have the duo of Campagna and Horton on this team next year,” said Williams. “Those two should only improve the excellent team chemistry that is present at OU. We will be looking for Campagna to develop into a utility guy and use him on his strong events, rings, floor and vault.”

Campagna earned First Team Academic All-America honors in 2002 and 2003 and lists finance and law as academic areas of study. He is the son of Nick and Karen Campagna and has two siblings, Gina and Rene.

Messina (Ma-seen-a) is from Charlotte, North Carolina and is a member and captain of the G&J Speedway team under coach Jie Ding. At this year's state meet in March, Messina took second on the parallel bars and finished first on every other event, including the all-around.

“Jacob is another regional team member and he will help us out immediately on floor and vault,” Williams said of Messina. “We will train him as an all-arounder and see what other areas he can help us out on. We are happy to have received Jacob's letter. Jacob and Nicholas are two gymnasts that will fit into this program and fills some of the holes left by our graduating seniors.”

In 2001, Messina was a member of the Junior National Team (Class 3) and was the Region 8 pommel horse champion in 2003 and 2004. The 5'4” Messina attends East Mecklenburg High School and is an Academic All-American and a National Honor Society member. He is the son of Salvatore and Barbara Messina and has one sister, Gabrielle.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Men's Gymnastics Completes Recruiting Class

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