Rocky Mountain Rematch Sunday

Jan. 18, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. - Same teams, different setting. One week after sweeping Air Force and No. 10 Nebraska at the Rocky Mountain Open, the third-ranked Oklahoma men's gymnastics team faces both teams again, this time at the Bob Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb. The meet, scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 20 is slated for a 2 p.m. (CT) start.

"Even though the teams will be the same it will be a totally different environment," head coach Mark Williams said. "Nebraska always brings their A game on their home floor."

Williams' Sooners will be looking to build on an impressive season-opening win in Colorado. Several gymnasts who saw limited action at the Rocky Mountain Open are expected to make a bigger impact in week two. Among them is senior co-captain Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, the defending NCAA all-around champion who competed on only two events in last week's meet.

OU will once again be without the services of superstar Jonathan Horton, who missed the opener while recovering from a busy summer of international competition. The senior from Houston, Texas, will be training with the U.S. Senior National Team in preparation for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.

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Notes | 2008 Preview

In Horton's absence, coach Williams has started developing important depth on the roster. Several Sooners filled the void nicely at the Rocky Mountain Open. Freshman Steven Legendre was the event's all-around and floor exercise champion, while junior Kyle McNamara claimed wins on vault and parallel bars and Abdullah-Simmons and junior Chris Brooks placed first on rings and high bar, respectively.

"I'd like to continue to work on maintaining consistency and composure," Williams said. "I'd like to see our pommel horse team step up and do a little bit better job. We may add a little bit more to our routines as we were a little conservative in our first meet."

This weekend's meet also has added significance in terms of the team's preparation for the postseason. Nebraska will host the 2008 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship at the Devaney Center on April 5.

The Sooners will face the Huskers one more time before the conference championship when Nebraska visits Norman on Feb. 1 for a double dual with the OU men's and women's teams.

Men's Gymnastics Notes

Coming up next...
Following the tri-meet with Nebraska and Air Force, the Sooners head back to Norman for their home opener, Jan. 26, against No. 6 Michigan. The meet will be at 7 p.m. at the Howard McCasland Field House. The Wolverines were one of only two teams to defeat OU in the 2007 regular season, claiming a 221.600-218.000 victory in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Legendre earns MPSF weekly honor
Oklahoma freshman Steven Legendre was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Week for Jan. 15. Legendre is the conference's first honoree of the season. Last season, four different OU gymnasts earned six MPSF weekly honors.

Sooners run with the popular crowd
A reader survey by Inside Gymnastics magazine showed the OU men's gymnastics team and senior Jonathan Horton as among the most popular in the sport.

The survey results, published in the January/February 2008 issue, tabbed Horton as the U.S. Male Gymnast of the Year, while 61 percent of voters named him as their favorite NCAA male athlete.

The Sooners were also honored as the readers' favorite NCAA men's team with 28 percent of the votes.

Freshmen at work
In their first action as collegiate gymnasts at the Rocky Mountain Open, OU newcomers Steven Legendre and Bobby Shortle performed.

Competing on all six events, Legendre claimed the all-around title with an 84.950 and was the floor champion, scoring a 15.400. The Port Jefferson, N.Y., native also placed second on p-bars (14.350), third on vault (15.400), and fifth on high bar (13.050).

A walk-on, Shortle made an immediate impact on both floor (14.150) and vault (15.250), placing fifth on both events.

Impact Performer

Kyle McNamara | Jr. | All-Around
Competing in the all-around for the first time in his OU career, McNamara finished as the runner-up to teammate Steven Legendre at last week's Rocky Mountain Open.

The junior from Littleton, Colo., also turned in solid performances on vault (15.550) and p-bars (14.750) to claim first place on both events. McNamara's two titles at the RMO put him just two wins shy of the four event crowns he won as a sophomore in 2007.

Sooners team up with local school
Despite classes of their own and training for the season, members of the OU men's gymnastics team still find time in their busy schedules to make weekly visits to Norman's Cleveland Elementary School to assist teachers and mentor students.

Gymnasts are assigned to assist a specific teacher with day-to-day activities including reading, practicing grammar skills and math exercises.

The Sooners have partnered with the school as part of a "Partners in Education" program instituted by Cleveland teacher Regina Bell, the program coordinator, and OU head coach Mark Williams, himself a former English teacher.

In with the new(comers)
Oklahoma added talent and depth in the 2008 freshman class. Joining the Sooners this season are Steven Legendre from Port Jefferson, N.Y., and Bobby Shortle from Brunswick, Ohio.

Last season Ian Jackson and Corey English contributed immediately in helping the Sooners to the MPSF title and a second-place NCAA finish.

Legendre comes in as a highly-acclaimed junior gymnast and will be expected to be an impact all-around performer. Shortle is expected to challenge for a spot in the lineup on both vault and floor exercise.

C.J. Grimes, who redshirted in 2007, could also see action on rings this season.

Road warriors
With only three home meets scheduled during the 2008 season, OU is going to have to make its living on the road this season. After back-to-back competitions against Michigan (Jan. 26) and Nebraska (Feb. 1) in Norman, the Sooners will be away from the McCasland Field House for the remainder of the season, save a March 15 matchup with Minnesota.

Included in OU's road plans are visits to No. 4 Ohio State (March 8), No. 9 Iowa (Feb. 16), and defending NCAA champion No. 2 Penn State (March 22). The Sooners will also face several of the nation's top teams, including MPSF rivals No. 1 Stanford and No. 5 California at the Pacific Coast Classic in Oakland, Calif., on Feb. 23.

OU gymnastics: A national name
What is the main recruiting area for OU head coach Mark Williams? Try the entire United States. Oklahoma's 15-man roster includes student-athletes from 10 different states.

The Sooners also have both coasts covered, with one gymnast from California (Jason Laughton) and two from the Eastern seaboard in Jacob Messina (North Carolina) and Steven Legendre (New York). The state with the most Sooner gymnasts? Texas with four (Chris Brooks, Jonathan Horton, Reed Pitts and Joseph Weaver), followed by Louisiana (Garrett Carr and Corey English) and Pennsylvania (Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons and Ian Jackson) with two apiece.

Williams names captains
Seniors Jonathan Horton and Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons were named co-captains of the 2008 Sooner squad by head coach Mark Williams.

Horton's leadership and contributions to the team are well-documented. The 2006 NCAA all-around champion owns the OU records for career individual NCAA titles (five) and career All-America honors (15). He is serving his third stint as a team captain.

The 2007 NCAA all-around champion and a nine-time All-American, Abdullah-Simmons will look to close out his impressive OU career by leading the Sooners to a third NCAA title in four years.

Sooners debut at No. 3
Oklahoma was ranked third in the preseason GymInfo Coaches Poll released on Nov. 5, 2007, receiving two first-place votes.

The Sooners have debuted in the top three in each of head coach Mark Williams' eight seasons at OU and were the coaches' preseason No. 1 five times in that span (2002-03 and 2005-07).

The Sooners boast 12 returning letterwinners from a team that went 26-4 last season and finished second at the NCAA Championships. The 2007 squad also captured the program's ninth Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title.

Conference dominance
Under head coach Mark WIlliams the Sooners have ruled the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). Since 2000, Williams first season at the helm, Oklahoma has claimed seven conference titles and lost only twice to conference rivals.

The Sooners finished as runner-up to Cal at the 2004 MPSF Championships, the only time under Williams that OU has not worn the conference crown.

OU also lost a road dual to Stanford on March 9, 2002.

Legendre earns Pan-Am gold
Freshman Steven Legendre took the gold medal in the all-around competition at the Junior Pan-American Gymnastics Championships in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on Nov. 23. Team USA swept the top four spots in the all-around to capture the team gold as well, recording a 262.933, 10 points better than silver-medalist Brazil and 22 points ahead of third-place Argentina.

Legendre, from Port Jefferson, N.Y., scored an 87.032 to best teammate and runner-up Glen Ishino (86.967). The USA's Alexy Bilozertchev earned the bronze medal with an 86.534, while fellow American Danell Leyva finished fourth (85.866).

Career highs for everyone
NCAA men's gymnastics will be using a new scoring system for the 2008 competition season. No longer will routines be judged on a 10.0 scale. Instead, men's collegiate gymnastics has adopted the Federation of International Gymnastics (FIG) Scoring System which allows for an open-ended Code of Points.

Instead of scores like 9.65, or 9.8, routines are given scores such as 15.3, 14.8, etc. The result? Every men's gymnast in the NCAA, points-wise, set new career highs on every event the first time they competed in 2008.

Welcome back
In addition to 2007 All-Americans Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, Chris Brooks, Russell Czeschin and Jonathan Horton, OU welcomes back 2005 FX All-American Jacob Messina and 2006 FX and V All-American Reed Pitts. Both Messina and Pitts redshirted last season due to injury.

Dynamic duo
Senior co-captains Jonathan Horton and Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons have accounted for the last two NCAA all-around titles. Horton was the 2006 champion, while Abdullah-Simmons claimed last year's crown (Horton was runner-up).

No other team in NCAA history has boasted two all-around champions on the same squad at the same time.

Sooners sign three for 2009
The best keep getting better as head coach Mark Williams signed three of the nation's top junior gymnasts to National Letters of Intent. Patrick Piscitelli, Chad Crumley and Troy Nitzky will join the Sooners for the 2009 season.

Piscitelli hails from Charlotte, N.C., and trains under Jie Ding at G&J Speedway, the same program as current OU gymnast Jacob Messina. In addition to being an honors student and Academic All-America honoree at Charlotte Catholic High School, Piscitelli was a member of the U.S. Junior National Team from 2004-2005. He has also won back-to-back all-around titles in Region 8.

A native of Long Grove, Ill., Crumley is a six-time Junior Olympic National qualifier and an Academic All-American from Adlai E. Stevenson High School. He also helped his club program, Buffalo Grove Gymnastics Center, to the 2007 Club Team Championship. Crumley is coached by Don Osborne and his father, Kelly Crumley, who competed at Iowa while Williams was competing at Nebraska.

Nitzky, from Southampton, Pa., attends William Tennent High School. He is coached by San Juan Jones at Temple University Boys Gymnastics where he has been a Junior Olympic National qualifier each of the last four years. In 2007, Nitzky finished second in the all-around at the Pennsylvania State Championships.

Historic win
Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons' 2007 NCAA all-around title was noteworthy, and not just because he was the second Sooner gymnast to claim the crown in as many years. According to research by OU and the NCAA, Abdullah-Simmons became the first African-American in NCAA men's gymnastics history to claim the all-around championship.

Crimson & Cream on the U.S. National Team
Oklahoma has always had a noticeable presence in USA Gymnastics. Over the program's history, OU has placed 15 athletes on the U.S. Senior National Team. The Sooners have had two Olympians, four World Championships participants and sent three athletes to the Pan American Games, Pan American Championships and World University Games.

Since taking over in 2000, Coach Williams has placed four gymnasts on the Senior National Team, including current OU standouts Jonathan Horton and Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons. Assistant coach Daniel Furney and recent graduate Jamie Henderson have also been a part of the U.S. Team.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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