Horton Runner-Up in Qualifier

NORMAN, Okla. Oklahoma's Jonathan Horton finished second in Friday's qualifying event at the 2007 Tyson American Cup, assuring himself a chance to defend his all-around title. Saturday's competition will air live on NBC to a nationwide audience at noon (CST) from Jacksonville Veteran Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.

Horton's Friday all-around total of 90.150 was slightly behind the 90.750 posted by Germany's Fabian Hambuechen. Hambuechen was the 2006 World bronze-medalist in the all-around and on vault. Horton's USA teammate Alexander Artemev was third with a 90.100.

Only the top eight athletes in each of the men's and women's divisions qualified for Saturday's competition, and only the top two U.S. athletes advance.

Horton, a junior at OU, is the defending all-around champion at the event. His score of 92.5 edged out second-place Hisashi Mizutori of Japan's 92.250 at last year's competition.

American Cup Qualifier Scores | usa-gymnastics.org

The Houston, Texas, native also took first on the still rings with a score of 15.6 and second on the floor exercise (15.5) and vault (16.4) and did not finish lower than fourth on any event.

Horton was the 2006 U.S. floor exercise champion and a member of the 2006 U.S. World Championships Team. He was also the 2006 NCAA all-around, floor and rings champion, tying two-time Olympic gold-medalist Bart Conner's school record for career titles. Horton won gold and silver medals, respectively, in the team and all-around competition at the 2006 France/Switzerland/USA meet and tied for second on floor at the 2007 Winter Cup Challenge.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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