OU Takes Team Title at Rocky Mountain

NORMAN, Okla. - The University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics team opened the 2005 season in successful fashion with a first-place finish over Nebraska and the Air Force Academy at the Rocky Mountain Open in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Friday.

The No. 1 Sooners (2-0) outpaced the competition in each event and combined for a 215.425 score to keep their regular season unbeaten streak alive. OU has defeated its last 28 regular season opponents dating back to its last loss, March 9, 2002 at Stanford.

"Its the beginning of the season and we are happy to come out on top in this year's Rocky Mountain Open," said Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams. "We had a number of great individual performances."

Complete Results (PDF)

Among those Sooners that performed well were freshmen Jonathan Horton, who finished second in the all-around (53.9) and junior Jamie Henderson, who took third place in the all-around (52.5). Freshman Jacob Messina also put together a solid performance in his first collegiate meet with a fifth place finish in the all-around (51.9).

OU recorded 35.65 on the floor exercise, 34.425 on the pommel horse, 36.5 on the still rings, 36.2 on the vault, 36.35 on the parallel bars and a 36.3 on the high bar. Nebraska finished second in the competition (206.625) and Air Force was third (184.7).

"We had a really solid meet until our final event, the pommel horse, which really cost us from having a high score," added Williams. "Other than that one event, we appear to be on track for this time of the year. We expect a lot of good things from this team once it becomes healthy."

The Rocky Mountain Open event finals begin Saturday at 1 p.m. (MST). Individuals who finished in the top-10 on each event during Friday's action, qualified for Saturday's finals. No more than three athletes per team can compete on the same event and if that occurs, the 11th place finisher or beyond will receive the spot. Below is the complete list of Sooners that qualified for competition on Saturday:

Jonathan Horton- floor exercise, still rings, parallel bars and vault
Jamie Henderson- floor exercise, still rings, parallel bars, high bar and vault
Jacob Messina- high bar
Joseph Weaver- floor exercise and pommel horse
Brian Carr- pommel horse and high bar
Josh Gore- pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar
James Myers- high bar
Mike Gehart- still rings and high bar
David Iammatteo- vault
Brian Trause - parallel bars

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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