No. 1 Sooners Take Pacific Coast Classic

OAKLAND, Calif. The No. 1 University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics team took the team championship and improved to 14-0 on the season at the 2006 Aquafina Pacific Coast Collegiate Classic in Oakland, Calif., late Saturday night.

The Sooners score of 217.3 was good enough to edge second-place Stanford's 216.075 for the top spot in a competition that featured seven top-10 teams in No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 3 Stanford, No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Iowa, No. 8 Cal, No. 9 Minnesota and No. 10 William & Mary.

Individually the Sooners were led by Jonathan Horton who took first in the all-around with a season-high 55.5, first on the still rings (9.75), second on the vault (9.2) and high bar (9.55) and third on the floor. Freshmen Russell Czeschin and Reed Pitts also secured individual titles, on the vault (9.25) and floor exercise (9.7), respectively.

Complete Results | 2006 NCAA Championships in Norman

“This was a pretty good night for us,” said OU head coach Mark Williams. “We started out smoking on the pommel horse and had a knockout score. After that, we stayed steady through the remainder of the competition. Stanford put some pressure on us towards the end, but we came out with the NCAA's highest score of the season.”

OU began the night on the pommel horse where it posted a season-high 35.1. The score topped the previous high, 33.9, which was set last week versus Ohio State and Cal. Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons (8.45), Horton (8.75) and Jacob Messina (8.8) all posted season-highs before senior Jamie Henderson wrapped up the event with OU's top score, 9.1, and a second-place finish.

Riding an emotional high from the pommel horse, the Sooners moved to the still rings and hit a 37.8 mark. Horton notched his first-place 9.75 on the apparatus and Abdullah-Simmons and Henderson tied for fourth with scores of 9.45.

Next up for OU was the vault which saw OU post a 36.0 and take the top two individual spots with Czeschin (9.25) and Horton (9.2) finishing one-two in the event's standings.

Oklahoma was on the parallel bars next and posted its second-highest score of the season with a 34.8, behind only its 35.4 in its Jan. 27 win over Michigan. Abdullah-Simmons led the way by powering his way to his second-highest score of the season, 8.95.

The Sooners entered the next event, the high bar, as the nation's top-ranked team on the apparatus and did not disappoint, posting a 36.575. Once again, Horton led the way, this time with a second-place 9.55. James Myers had a season-high 9.375 which gave the senior third-place honors. Brian Carr also topped the nine-point mark with a 9.0.

Oklahoma was in the bye slot for the sixth rotation and able to rest for the final rotation where the team took to the floor exercise and saw the freshmen take over as Wesley Aderhold (8.65), Czeschin (9.2) and Pitts (9.7) all posted career-highs on the event.

The Sooners return to action next Sunday, March 20, when they travel to Lincoln, Neb. to take on Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival Nebraska.