Men Post Season High, Down Iowa

NORMAN, Okla. The No. 5 OU men's gymnastics team got back to its winning ways, easily defeating ninth-ranked Iowa 220.500-209.800 Saturday night at the McCasland Field House. The Sooners' team score marked a season high and was the team's best score since posting a 221.400 at last season's NCAA Championships.

“I thought we put it together from the first event on,” OU head coach Mark Williams said. “We had a wonderful week of training and what they did tonight really reflects what they've been doing in their workouts.”

Junior Jonathan Horton took the rings (9.75), vault (season-high 9.3) and p-bars (9.4) titles for the Sooners. Sophomore Chris Brooks tied for the floor title with Iowa's Geoff Reins with a 9.5 and sophomore Kyle McNamara won his second high bar crown with a career-high 9.5.

Final Scores

Several other Sooners set or tied career highs against the Hawkeyes. Sophomore Jason Laughton set career marks on p-bars (9.2) and high bar (9.45), while freshman Ian Jackson set a new benchmark with a 9.2 on floor.

OU also set a team season high with a 35.200 on pommel horse. Freshman Corey English (8.6) and sophomore Wes Aderhold (8.85) scored career highs on the apparatus.

“Pommel horse really came through for us tonight,” Williams said. “We put ourselves in a much better position than we have been. From there I thought we had a good opportunity to put up a big score and the guys just kept building one performance after the other.”

Saturday marked Senior Night for Mandeville, La., native Brian Carr who tied for second with Aderhold on pommel horse (8.85) and was third on h-bar with a career-high-tying 9.25.

“Brian had our best score on pommel horse and had a great set on high bar,” Williams said. “I can't say enough about his contributions to this program throughout his four years and I look forward to a great postseason from him.”

The Sooners take a week off before heading to Berkeley, Calif. for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships on March 31. OU has won seven MPSF Championships in the conference's eight-year history.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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