Sooners Earn Top Seed in NCAA Finals

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - Iowa rallied with a strong performance on the high bar Thursday to prevent Ohio State from making its 26th consecutive appearance in the NCAA men's gymnastics championships.

Entering the final rotation, the Hawkeyes trailed the Big Ten champion Buckeyes by .75 points but made up the deficit with a 36.75 on the high bar. Tom Buese and Bryan Bourland each posted scores of 9.3, Michael Reavis had a 9.2 and Matt Beiler put up an 8.95.

``We're just so ecstatic that we made it,'' Reavis said. ``It's something that we've been working for and thinking about all year long.''

2006 NCAA Championships Central | Results | OU Notes

No. 2 seed Stanford had the best score in the session with a 215.9 and No. 6 seed Penn State also advanced with a 213.45. Iowa, the No. 7 seed, scored 212.425 while Ohio State finished fourth with 211.7. The top three teams from each of Thursday's two qualifying sessions advanced to Friday's finals.

In the evening session, top-seeded Oklahoma (217.225) had the high score and moved on along with Illinois (214.775) and California (213.9). The Sooners are the defending champion and have won three of the last four NCAA titles.

Video Highlights - Session 1 | Session 2 (OU)

``I wasn't really uncomfortable at all, though you always feel like, well, it just doesn't seem to be clicking real well so far and it's kind of excruciating,'' Oklahoma coach Mark Williams said. ``But almost every year we've had the same experience in the qualifier.

``It's always been, well, we're kind of not into it completely but we do want to qualify. There's that dilemma that they're trying to hold back a little energy for tomorrow and they've been great when we've needed to be great so I'm not panicking.''

Michigan failed to extend a streak of seven straight top six finishes that began with the Wolverines' NCAA title in 1999. Nebraska and Temple also did not qualify. William & Mary and Minnesota were knocked out in the first session.

But the surprising elimination was Ohio State, the runner-up from last year.

``I wasn't thinking we were going to be able to beat Ohio State because they won the Big Ten in good fashion,'' Iowa coach Tom Dunn said. ``I'm pleasantly surprised.''

Ohio State finished on the parallel bars with a score of 35.275, allowing Iowa to move ahead.

``We just didn't obviously have enough,'' Buckeyes coach Miles Avery said. ``Obviously we weren't prepared enough to come in here and not finish fourth. That's our one goal: Relax and just not finish fourth in this competition and just get to the second day and we obviously did not do that.''

The Buckeyes hadn't missed the NCAA championships since 1980 and won three national titles since then, the last coming under Avery in 2001.

``It's very disappointing,'' Avery said. ``We haven't been in this position in 26 years. The longest streak of anyone getting to the championship just ended.''

The Buckeyes' score was dragged down by a 32.65 on the pommel horse that Avery called ``incredibly bad,'' but he thought the team's struggles weren't limited to one apparatus.

``We had our share of not doing well,'' Avery said.

Oklahoma's Jonathan Horton, the American Cup champion who's the favorite in the all-around, fell twice on the pommel horse but recovered to score a 9.0 or higher on his other three events, beginning with a session-high 9.65 on the rings. He didn't participate on the vault or high bar.

``Jonathan's that kind of guy. When it's more important, he's better,'' Williams said. ``He said he wasn't very nervous heading into the pommel horse. He said he feels better when he's nervous.''

Reavis, a contender for the all-around title and a member of the U.S. senior national team, had the third highest all-around score of the day (52.85). Stanford's Sho Nakamori had the highest score at 54.025 and Penn State's Derek Helsby was second with 54.0.

``The past two years, I've competed at the all-around without my team,'' Reavis said. ``Now that the team is going to be behind me and I'm going to be competing for my scores to count for the team and for the all-around, it definitely makes it easier to compete and it makes it a lot more special.''

For tickets to Friday and Saturday night's NCAA Championships, please call the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (405) 325-2424 or toll-free at (800) 456-4668.

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