Williams to Lead U.S. at Worlds

NORMAN, Okla. Oklahoma's Mark Williams was announced Monday as the head coach of the U.S. team for the 2006 World Championships, Oct. 14-22 in Aarhus, Denmark. Williams' appointment comes two days after OU junior Jonathan Horton was selected to the American squad.

A four-time NCAA National Coach of the Year, Williams has experienced gymnastics at the highest levels, serving several times as a personal coach at the World Championships and Olympics and as an assistant coach on the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team. Most recently he coached former OU assistant coach Guard Young to a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

In his seven seasons as the head coach at Oklahoma, Williams has led the Sooners to four national titles and two runner-up finishes. OU has never finished lower than fourth at the NCAA Championships under his guidance. In that span, Oklahoma has won six conference titles and produced 70 All-America honors, eight NCAA event champions and 21 conference champions in compiling an incredible .929 winning percentage. Twice the Sooners have compiled undefeated seasons, including a perfect 31-0 record in 2006.

At the 2006 Visa U.S. Championships, Williams was honored as the USA Gymnastics Coach of the Year.

“I'm very proud to be a part of a team representing the U.S.,” Williams said. “I look forward to competing on the highest level with the best gymnasts in the world.”

USA Gymnastics | 2006 World Championships

Horton, the 2006 NCAA all-around champion, was selected to the squad based on his finish at the recent Visa U.S. Championships. The Houston, Texas, native won a gold medal on the floor exercise and finished second in the all-around standings behind U.S. teammate Alexander Artemev.

“My lifelong dream has been to go to the Olympics,” Horton said. “Earning a spot on the Senior National Team and making it to Worlds is the next step towards that.”

Horton's selection adds to an already impressive gymnastics resume. In addition to his NCAA accolades, the 5-1 junior has been a member of the U.S. Men's Senior National Team since 2003. He was a member of the American squad at the 2003 and 2005 Pan American Games and led the U.S. to victory at the 2006 France/USA/Switzerland tri-meet, finishing second in the all-around.

The highlight of his budding international career came at the 2006 Tyson American Cup where he took gold on the still rings and finished second on the floor exercise and vault to claim the all-around title over Japan's Hisashi Mizutori.

At the 2006 NCAA Championships, Horton won five All-America honors to tie his own school record set the year before. His a total of 10 career honors surpassed two-time Olympic gold medalist Bart Conner's OU record of nine. He also tied Conner's school record for career individual NCAA event titles, claiming three in 2006.

The 2006 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Year was also awarded the Sportsman of the Year Award by the Junior and Senior U.S. National Team at the 2006 Visa Championships.

Despite his considerable list of accomplishments, the World Championships represents a new challenge and opportunity for Horton.

“It doesn't really compare to anything,” Horton said. “It's so huge the World Championships. You really can't compare it to any other international meet except for the Olympics.”

Over 100 countries will participate in the 2006 World Championships with the top 12 teams qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

“With so many teams participating, it's almost bigger than the Olympics for gymnastics,” Horton said. “It's going to be interesting. I think I'll be kind of nervous since it's the biggest meet of my life, but I'm looking forward to it.”

Joining Horton on Williams' U.S. roster are Artemev (Morrison, Colo./Team Chevron), Guillermo Alvarez (Denver, Colo./Team Chevron), Justin Spring (Burke, Va./Team Chevron), Clay Strother (Jasper, Texas/Team Chevron) and Kevin Tan (Fremont, Calif./Team Chevron). The alternates are David Durante (Garfield, N.J./Team Chevron) and David Sender (Arlington Heights, Ill./Stanford University).

Horton is the only current collegiate gymnast among the top five on the American squad.

“I think the team will do well,” Horton said. “It's a new team with a lot of young guys and hopefully it works out well.”

A tape-delayed broadcast of the men's finals of the 2006 Visa U.S. Championships will air Sunday, Sept. 10, at 12:30 p.m. CST on NBC.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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