Henderson Headlines Day One

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. The first day of competition at the 2005 Visa U.S. Championships in Indianapolis, Ind., is over and three Sooners remain in contention led by senior Jamie Henderson who finished sixth in the all-around in Wednesday night's competition. Sophomores Jonathan Horton and Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons finished 12th and 16th, respectively.

“Jamie had a pretty good competition,” said OU head coach Mark Williams. “Everyone at the competition seemed to have mistakes and the key is to minimize those mistakes. Jamie seemed to do that well and appears to be in a good spot heading into Friday's finals. As a group, we could have been better, it wasn't our best effort.”

Henderson's all-around score of 51.000 is just 1.9 points off current leader and U.S. National Team member Todd Thornton's score of 52.900.

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Wednesday night's scores count 50 percent toward the total all-around and event scores used to determine national champions, which will be named following the conclusion of the men's finals on Friday night.

Horton's 9.6 on the vault was the fourth highest score on the apparatus, but the freshman struggled after suffering an injury to his bicep on the parallel bars.

“Jonathan had a real tough day,” remarked Williams. “He already had a small injury to his hand and then tonight, he suffered an injury to his bicep after a hard landing on the parallel bars. We are going to have to wait until Friday to see if the swelling goes down on how much he can do.”

Abdullah-Simmons was competing in only four of the six possible events (pommel horse, still rings, parallel bars and high bar) due a knee surgery that the sophomore is recovering from.

“From where he's at physically, Taqiy did a decent job on three of four events,” added Williams.

Friday's final kicks off at 7 p.m. (CST) in the Conseco Fieldhouse and will determine the open spots for the U.S. National Team.

Selection for the U.S. National Team will be determined by the finish in the all-around competition and the points received for competition in the different events. The top two gymnasts in the all-around and the top six gymnasts in total points will become members of the U.S. National Team. Six additional gymnasts will also be selected by the U.S. National Team Selection Committee based on their performance at the Visa Championships.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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