Sooners Ready for US Championships

NORMAN, Okla. Coming off a second consecutive NCAA title in 2006, several members of the OU men's gymnastics team have set their sights on a bigger goal this summer competing in the Visa U.S. Championships and the opportunity to earn a spot on the American squad for the World Championships.

A total of six Oklahoma gymnasts will take part in the U.S. Championships, Aug. 16-19 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. NCAA all-around champion Jonathan Horton and teammates Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, Jacob Messina, Jamie Henderson, Chris Brooks and Jason Laughton each scored well enough at the U.S. Men's Qualifier in July to garner a place in the event.

OU head coach Mark Williams said he is extremely pleased that so many of his charges will have the chance to represent OU in Minnesota.

“It's something I think we can be pretty proud of to have this many athletes from a university program who have aspirations beyond just the NCAA season,” Williams said.

“My expectations are that we ought to have at least a couple guys make the national team. We've come to a point where I expect to recruit athletes who want to do that, to work toward making national teams and have an opportunity to compete internationally.”

USA Gymnastics

Oklahoma gymnastics has a proud tradition in national and international competition. Fifteen Sooners have been members of the U.S. National Team, including two Olympians. Guard Young won a silver medal at the 2004 games in Athens while an assistant coach at OU, and Sooner legend Bart Conner competed in three different Olympic games, claiming two gold medals. OU has also had three gymnasts on the World Championship team, three World University Games team members, three Pan-American Games team members and three Pan-American Gymnastics Championship participants, including Horton and Henderson in 2005. Abdullah-Simmons also has experience as a Senior National Team member.

Williams said there are pros and cons to having so many participants from his team in national and international events.

“In a lot of respects it does create some extra competitions that are good for them in terms of their consistency in the sport,” Williams said. “The downside might be that there's often a little bit more energy expended in having, really, two significant seasons. I think these guys recognize that they're both important and in lots of ways I think we've used the NCAAs to have them be better competitors for this type of meet.”

The chance to represent the United States at the international level stands as an ultimate goal for most competitive gymnasts. Getting a spot on the U.S. team for such an event is a tremendous achievement.

“It's huge,” Williams said. “There are only six guys who represent the U.S. at any given World Championships or on the Olympic team. I think it's what a lot of these guys aspire to do coming into the sport.”

The Sooner with perhaps the best chance of qualifying is Horton, who comes into the competition as one of the prohibitive favorites after winning the 2006 NCAA all-around title and capturing the all-around title at the 2006 Tyson American Cup. The Houston, Texas, native also led the U.S. to a victory at the USA/Swizerland/France tri-meet in June, finishing second in the all-around competition. Horton has been a member of the U.S. Senior National Team since 2003.

“He's in a position where that's a possibility,” Williams said. “I think this time we know that we're working for that to happen. It's not just let's go and compete and see how we do.' It's a little bit more like our teams that have won national championships. We go in with the expectation that we can win.

“So, it may be a little bit of a different challenge for him on the mental side of preparation. We've done a lot of good training throughout the summer. Obviously he's going to have to come out and have two good competitions for that to happen, but I feel good about his chances.”

A junior at OU, Horton said he relishes the opportunity to compete internationally and feels his experiences as a collegian are great preparation.

“It's a lot of fun,” Horton said of competing at the national and international level. “Being in NCAA competition actually helps out a lot. Being on the road every weekend competing with these guys at OU makes you feel really consistent and really confident with your gymnastics. Every time I go internationally I usually have a pretty good meet and I credit that a lot to the amount that I compete as a collegiate gymnast.”

With so many of his OU teammates set to compete with and against him at the U.S. Championships, Horton said the team spirit and camaraderie remains intact.

“It's actually really nice to have them by your side,” he said. “You're competing against them, but they're always your team in the back of your mind and you want them to do their best even if they happen to beat you.”

Horton bio | Abdullah-Simmons bio | Brooks bio Laughton bio | Messina bio | Henderson bio

According to Horton, having so many fellow Sooners competing at the elite level is a source of great pride for the program.

“I think it shows that this gymnastics team is very dominant right now,” Horton said. “We've got a lot of depth and a lot of talent here, and I think it shows that we're going to be strong again next year and that this team really know how to work hard.”

Williams is hoping that depth and talent show up in St. Paul, where the competition for the six spots on the World Championships roster will be fierce.

2005 U.S. all-around champion Todd Thornton and 2006 Tyson American Cup bronze-medalist David Durante will join the six Sooners and 73 others at the Xcel Energy Center.

Nonetheless, the competition appears wide-open for a number of athletes to step up and claim a roster spot.

“It's going to be a great meet,” Williams said. “It's a younger group of kids this year. Many of the Olympians have now retired, or have chosen, because of injuries or whatnot, to not be part of the competition. I think if we can do as well as we've been doing in training, we should have some good results.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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