Men's Gymnastics 2007 Preview

NORMAN, Okla. -- Under head coach Mark Williams, the University of Oklahoma has contended for a national championship every season by fielding a team that is solid on each event. The 2007 edition of the Sooners is no different as Williams' team sports depth across the board with 12 returning scorers from the 2006 NCAA Champion squad. In the preseason coaches poll, OU was ranked No. 1 for the fourth time in the past five seasons.

“We're definitely in a better position in terms of turnover than we were a year ago at this time since my staff is stable and we lost only two seniors to graduation,” Williams said. “The core of the national championship team returns with two guys coming in. I feel like we're going to have a solid team and be in pretty good position to start the year.”

Brian Carr and Jonathan Horton were named co-captains of the 2007 squad and will look to lead the Sooners to their third consecutive NCAA title.

“Often it's difficult just to maintain the type of energy it takes to repeat as a national champion, but I think we definitely have the talent and good coordination with the staff and the athletes,” Williams said. “I think they'll have a pretty focused idea of what they want to accomplish throughout the year.”

Horton's leadership and contributions to the team are well-documented. The 2006 NCAA all-around champion tied Bart Conner's school record of three individual event national titles.

The lone senior on the team, Carr is expected to provide Williams with consistent scores on four events. Carr is one of the top scorers returning on the pommel horse and high bar and looks to excel on both events in 2007.

The 2007 junior class has the chance to go down in program history as one of the best. The four juniors have accumulated 16 All-America honors in two years. Leading the way with 10 of those honors is U.S. Senior National Team member Horton, who also won three NCAA individual titles in 2006. Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, who holds the OU parallel bar record, returns in 2007 with five career All-America honors

“This class has the potential to be one of the best classes at Oklahoma,” said Williams. “Those guys came in and were immediately national champions. They have been around long enough to know what it takes to win a national championship and their leadership is going to be invaluable to this team.”

The sophomore class enters this year as a proven commodity after starting 2006 as a wildcard for Williams. Leading the way are All-Americans Chris Brooks and Reed Pitts.

“Those guys really stepped up and helped our team immensely last year,” said Williams. “They were able to contribute solid scores on a number of events where we really needed it. It's going to be a big boost for us this year to know that we can count on several of those guys to post good scores for us on a consistent basis and to come through with clutch routines when we need it.”

Corey English and Ian Jackson comprise this year's freshman class, and Williams is hopeful that they can step into some of the holes created by the graduation of Jamie Henderson and James Myers.

“Ian is probably going to have to step into some of the positions Jamie left behind,” Williams said. “Hopefully we can develop him into a strong ring and pommel horse guy, which is sometimes a difficult combination. Ian's strengths happen to be more on floor and vault, so maybe we'll get a bit of a bonus on those things.

“For Corey, I don't know that he'll do some of the same things that James did, but I do see that he has pretty good potential on the pommel horse and p-bars for the team. We'll just see how things go as time goes along.”

2007 Schedule | 2007 Roster | Photo Galleries

FLOOR EXERCISE
Top Returning Scores:
49.7 - Reed Pitts
49.6 - Jonathan Horton

With three All-Americans (Horton, Jacob Messina and Pitts) and an NCAA individual champion (Horton) returning on the event, the floor exercise could very easily be a strength for this year's Sooners. Sophomore Russell Czeschin excelled in 2006, as did classmates Chris Brooks and Wes Aderhold. Juniors Abdullah-Simmons and Joseph Weaver could see time as well.

“Russ, Jonathan and Reed were just awesome consistency wise last year,” Williams said. “It was a huge boost to have Russ and Reed step in and be really, from the first meet, guys we could count on to give us good scores. With the addition of Ian, we're going to be very good on floor.”

POMMEL HORSE
Top Returning Scores:
48.8 - Jacob Messina
48.75- Brian Carr & Jonathan Horton

While the returning pommel horse team has the ability to post consistent scores, Williams will sorely miss former OU gymnast Jamie Henderson, who continually posted the team's highest score on the apparatus.

Brian Carr, who picked up All-America honors on the apparatus, will be asked to headline the event, as will Messina and Horton. Aderhold and Brooks are two more candidates who could solidify the pommel horse team.

“We're definitely going to have to spend some time to get better there,” Williams said. “Replacing Jamie is going to be difficult and we're going to have to have some guys step up. I am excited that Brian will be returning as an All-American, and Jake has been very good on that event. We just need to surround them with guys that we know can step up and hit when we need them to.”

STILL RINGS
Top Returning Scores:
49.85 - Jonathan Horton
49.5 - Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons

The still rings is another event hit hard by the graduation of Jamie Henderson, but OU does return Horton, the 2006 NCAA individual champion and two-time All-American on the apparatus. The rings team will definitely be a junior-dominated event as Abdullah-Simmons, Messina and Weaver will be expected to be the core of the lineup along with Horton.

“Rings has typically been a strong event for us with Jonathan being the national champion,” Williams said. “Taqiy's also going to be great there and Jake has also been very good. The bottom half of the lineup is a little bit of a toss-up. We don't have as many strong guys, and, without Jamie, that's definitely a score that we'll miss. We're hoping Ian can step in there and that a number of other guys look at it as an opportunity to make the lineup.”

Sophomore Kyle McNamara and Jackson will also have the chance to provide Williams with some depth on the event.

VAULT
Top Returning Scores:
49.575 - Russell Czeschin
49.525 - Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons

On vault, an expected strong event for this year's team, OU returns all of its highest scorers. Leading the way are Abdullah-Simmons, Pitts and Horton, all 2006 All-Americans on the event. Czeschin is also expected to contribute once again.

“Vault's going to be great,” Williams said. Jonathan's great there, Taqiy is a good vaulter, Russ and Reed are just amazing and Ian's going to be a contributor there I'm sure. They have changed the rules on vault, so that will be a big difference from last year's team. Point values have dropped, which is going to make it a significantly lower-scoring event. Although, if you do a big, big vault, the rewards will be there. We could actually separate ourselves from some teams if we can get a few of those guys to step up. We have a potentially great vault team, but it's going to be difficult and you've got to land well. If we take the risks, there is a chance for great rewards. But with those risks there's also the danger of having more mistakes, so we'll have to try and balance that.”

The vault will most likely be the deepest event for OU as Garrett Carr, along with Brooks, Jackson and McNamara all have the potential to post high scores on the apparatus.

PARALLEL BARS
Top Returning Scores:
49.675 - Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons
49.525 - Jonathan Horton

The parallel bars is an event that Abdullah-Simmons seems to almost be competing against himself as he has set and broken his own school record on the event three times in his career, with the latest (9.675) coming in the 2006 NCAA Team Finals.

Horton, another solid scorer on the event, will team with classmates Abdullah-Simmons, Messina and Weaver to form the core of the p-bars team. Aderhold and Jason Laughton could see time on the event as well as Jackson.

“Taqiy and Jonathan will be very good,” Williams said. “After that, we have a pretty good cast of guys who will make it a solid event for us. Chris Brooks stepped up at the end of last season and has done well there, and Joe and Jake have contributed in the past. It's an event, just like pommel horse, that unless you spend the time on it, can be a lower-scoring event and you can't afford to make a lot of mistakes there. That'll be another area I think we need some work on, but we have a good stable of talent.”

HIGH BAR
Top Returning Scores:
49.8 - Jonathan Horton
49.6 - Chris Brooks

Continually one of the top high bar teams in the nation, OU will look to maintain that reputation in 2007. A solid group of gymnasts gives Willliams plenty of depth on the apparatus, including Horton and Brooks, both returning All-Americans in the event.

“It's an exciting event because it has releases and big dismounts,” Williams said. “It was one of our best events last year with Jonathan's dynamic routine and Taqiy, so we're in pretty good shape. We'll miss Jamie, but I can see a number of guys who are good there. We're going to be a good team on high bar and I hope I have enough solid contributors that I can even bring in some different guys throughout the season so that we can get some rest and the burden isn't always on Jonathan and Taqiy. I think it's a fun event and a crowd-pleaser and I think we'll continue to have a good high bar team.”

Abdullah-Simmons, Brian Carr, and Messina are counted on to provide nine-plus scores in the event. The high bar will also be helped out by Aderhold and Jackson.

SCHEDULE
The Sooners once again begin the season at the Rocky Mountain Open in Colorado Springs, Colo., Jan. 12-13. “The Rocky Mountain Open is always a good beginning for us,” Williams said. “It's a good opener where we can face a number of different teams. It's generally not a time when we're overly consistent, but we do have to start somewhere and it's exciting to have some individual awards at that particular meet.”

Oklahoma returns home the next week to face Air Force and Nebraska at McCasland Field House.

“We hope to include some of the area gymnastics clubs in that meet,” Williams said. “Nebraska's a rival that we've always had a great relationship with and it should be a good stepping off point for the fans to get to see us.”

In the following two weeks, OU goes on the road against Michigan (Jan. 27) and Nebraska (Feb. 3) before sending several gymnasts to individual competition at the Winter Cup (Feb. 8-9) in Las Vegas.

The team returns to Norman to face club teams from Washington and Texas on Feb. 17, before heading to Oakland Calif., for the annual Pacific Coast Classic (Feb. 24).

The Sooners then face two highly regarded teams in Ohio State (March 3) and Iowa (March 17) in Norman before the postseason begins.

“I would say we don't really get tested until we go to the Pacific Coast Classic at the end of February,” Williams said. “Then, right away, we have Ohio State come and that is always a huge rivalry. By then it's getting later in the season and we're getting ready for conference, so those will be two really good tests.”

The 2007 MPSF Championships (March 30) will be hosted by Cal-Berkeley.

“I think the conference meet is going to be a bigger challenge than it has been in a while. Cal-Berkeley is going to be good, Stanford's going to be good and we're going to be good, and it's going to be in their backyard,” Williams said.

Penn State will serve as host of the NCAA Championships in University Park, Pa. Last season the Sooners captured their second consecutive NCAA crown in front of a home crowd at the Lloyd Noble Center. In order to complete the three-peat, OU will have to defeat a solid field that includes an impressive Penn State team competing at home.

“Penn State has a very good team this year and they're known for getting a good crowd, so we're going to have to have everything going for us being in a hostile environment. Hopefully we'll be up for the challenge.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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