OU Dominates Rocky Mountain Open Event Finals

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. The University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics team, ranked No. 1 in the preseason coaches' poll, not only took the team title at Friday night's Rocky Mountain Open, but placed 11 gymnasts in Saturday's event finals.

On Saturday, the 11 gymnasts were responsible for 12 top-three finishes including sophomore Jonathan Horton, who placed on all five events that he was competing on.

“It's exciting that we had so many gymnasts in the event finals,” said OU head coach Mark Williams. “We had a sweep on the still rings and the high bar, so that's a nice accomplishment and it caps off a great opening weekend for this team.”

RMO Day One Recap | 2006 Statistics

To qualify for the event finals, an individual had to finish in the top 10 on an apparatus in Friday night's competition. No more than three athletes per team could qualify on the same event. The Sooners placed the maximum three gymnasts on each event.

Freshman Russell Czeschin opened the day for Oklahoma on the floor exercise, the event he posted an impressive 9.0 in his first action as a Sooner Friday night. The Independence, Mo., native was given the score of 8.85, good for third place.

Next, Jonathan Horton, one day removed from taking the all-around title (52.6), took to the floor and defended his 2005 Rocky Mountain Open title on the event with the exact score that he posted in 2005, a 9.4.

“I felt pretty good today,” said Horton, a sophomore captain. “I was a little tired, the thin air affects you a little bit, but I was happy with what I did and with how everybody else did.”

Brian Carr was the first OU gymnast to compete on the pommel horse and he improved his previous night's score of 7.9 by posting an 8.5. Jamie Henderson was up shortly after his teammate and scored an 8.75 to finish second, picking up Oklahoma's lone medal on the apparatus.

On the still rings, it was a Sooner sweep as third-place finisher Jacob Messina opened up the OU scoring with an 8.7 before runner-up Horton followed with an 8.95. Henderson finished the event by successfully defending his 2005 RMO still rings title with a 9.0.

Horton was Oklahoma's lone medalist on the vault after posting a score of 9.2. Freshman Kyle McNamara finished fourth with an 8.95 mark.

Joseph Weaver picked up OU's third event title when he posted an 8.35 on the parallel bars to share the event title with Nebraska's Derric Wood. Horton followed for his fourth medal of the day by finishing third on the p-bars with a score of 8.3

The final event of the night, the high bar was another sweep for the Sooners. The third and final freshman in Saturday's competition, Chris Brooks finished his first weekend of collegiate competition by taking the title on the high bar with a mark of 9.1. After posting the top score on the apparatus Friday night (9.1), Brian Carr's score dropped a bit (8.85), but the junior still managed to finish second behind his Oklahoma teammate. Horton completed the sweep with a score of 8.1 and a third-place finish.

Oklahoma returns to Norman this Friday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m., for its home opener against Air Force inside the Howard McCasland Field House