Nebraska Visits LNC Friday

Men's Gymnastics vs. Nebraska
Date	Friday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. CT
Location	Norman, Okla. \| Lloyd Noble Center
Tickets	OU Athletics Ticket Office \| Call (800) 456-GoOU
Online	Live Webcast on Oklahoma All-Access \| Free Live Stats
Promotions	50-Cent Hot Dog Night, Giveaways, Autographs

NORMAN, Okla. - For the third time this season, the Oklahoma men's gymnastics team will face off against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival Nebraska. The sixth-ranked Sooners host the 12th-ranked Huskers Friday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center. The meet will be a double dual event that also features the No. 6 OU women's team competing against the No. 12 Nebraska women.

"I hope there's going to be another good crowd and a lot of energy," OU head coach Mark Williams said. "This may be the best combination of the men's and women's programs we've had at the University of Oklahoma."

Oklahoma has already defeated Nebraska twice in 2008, claiming a 343.550-331.200 victory at the Rocky Mountain Open on Jan. 12 and a 349.700-341.400 win in Lincoln, Neb., on Jan. 20.

Despite the Sooners' recent dominance of their old Big 8 rivals, the Huskers should provide a lively test. In the teams' last meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska held a 229.000-228.200 lead over OU through four rotations before the Sooners rallied on high bar and vault to claim the victory.

"They're a young team on their way up," Williams said. "Even though we've beaten them the first couple of times we met this season, we're looking at some things long-term in regards to our preparation. We want to put together another good score and having another really good competition."

Media Guide |

Notes | Women's Gymnastics Meet Preview

Williams plans a few subtle lineup changes for Friday night's competition. Most notably, freshman Steven Legendre, a two-time MPSF Gymnast of the Week honoree this season, will likely not compete in the all-around for the first time in 2008. Taking his place will be sophomore Ian Jackson, who won the all-around title against in OU's win over Arizona State and Washington in his only action on all six events last season.

"We're trying to put together a lineup based on what I need to see in terms of getting some guys meet experience but also not sacrificing what we need to do as a team," Williams said. "There might be a few lineup changes, but overall we're trying to put one of our better lineups out on the floor."

Friday night also marks the second-to-last home competitions for senior co-captains Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons and Jonathan Horton. Abdullah-Simmons is the reigning NCAA all-around champion, while Horton, the 2006 all-around winner, is one of the top contenders for a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team.

Billed as "Youth Gymnastics Night," children in attendance will receive free OU gymnastics bracelets and can register to win an OU bicycle which will be given away following the meet. In addition to OU men's and women's gymnastics posters, the first 500 fans into the Lloyd Noble Center will be given free OU gymnastics T-shirts, while 50-cent hot dogs will be sold while supplies last. Following the meet, both Sooner squads will sign autographs on the upper concourse.

Tickets will be available Friday night in the East lobby of the LNC of by calling the OU Ticket Office at 325-2424, or toll free at (800) 456-GoOU. General admission tickets are $7 and $5 for youth. Admission to the event is free to OU students with a student ID.

Men's Gymnastics Notes

Coming up next...
After hosting Nebraska in Friday's double dual, OU takes two weeks off from NCAA competition. Several Sooners will compete in the 2008 Winter Cup Challenge, a USA Gymnastics re-ranking event, Feb. 7-9 in Las Vegas, Nev. Oklahoma returns to collegiate competition on Feb.16 with a road trip to Iowa City, Iowa, to take on the 10th-ranked Hawkeyes.

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Polling even
In an odd twist, both Oklahoma and Nebraska's men's and women's teams have matching rankings in the Jan. 28 GymInfo polls. The Sooner men are sixth in the nation after three meets with an average score of 348.217, while the OU women also stand No. 6 with an average of 195.825. The Huskers men's and women's teams both rank 12th, with average point totals of 334.400 and 195.075, respectively.

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Legendre hogging conference honors
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation has awarded Gymnast of the Week honors three times in 2008, and twice the award has gone to OU freshman Steven Legendre. Legendre was the conference's first honoree of the season after winning the all-around and floor exercise titles at the Rocky Mountain Open on Jan. 12. The Port Jefferson, N.Y., native earned the distinction again on Jan. 28 after claiming his third straight all-around and floor exercise crowns in the Sooners' Jan. 26 upset of then-No. 2 Michigan in Norman.

Last season, four different OU gymnasts earned six MPSF weekly honors.

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The upset's an upset
OU's upset of then-No. 2 Michigan on Jan. 26 was an upset in itself. The Sooners, ranked sixth this week and fifth when they knocked off the Wolverines, rarely have the opportunity to beat an opponent ranked higher than they are.

In fact, prior to Saturday's win against Michigan, the last time OU scored an upset was at the 2007 Pacific Coast Classic. The Sooners, ranked third at the time, won the event defeating five of the nation's top five teams including ... No. 1 Michigan.

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A note on the rankings
The GymInfo rankings are based on the following criteria:

Jan. 21 - February 11: Ranking by Total Season Average (average of all scores)

February 18 - March 17: Ranking by Three Score Average

March 24 - 31: Ranking by Modified Three Score Average (Select the four highest scores, counting no more than two home meet, and drop the highest score. Average the three remaining scores.)

April 7: Ranking by National Qualifying Average

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He's baaaaaaack
After sitting out the first two meets of the season to recuperate from a long summer of international competition, senior co-captain Jonathan Horton will made his 2008 debut against Michigan.

The senior co-captain's impact was felt immediately. Horton competed on just four events and won two of them. His winning scores of 15.600 on rings and 15.150 on p-bars marked team season bests.

Impact Performer

Jonathan Horton | Sr. | All-Around
Participating in his first NCAA event of 2008, Horton reminded everyone why he's widely considered the nation's top collegiate gymnast. Competing on just four events (PH, SR, PB, HB) against No. 2 Michigan, Horton won event titles on two (SR and PB) and tied for third on another (PH).

The five-time NCAA champion is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation on rings and ranks in a tie for third on the parallel bars.

Good first impressions
Oklahoma's freshmen have made an immediate impact, as Steven Legendre has claimed three all-around titles and three floor crowns and Bobby Shortle owns a vault championship through three meets. But the newcomers aren't the only one's contributing important "firsts" this season.

Junior Kyle McNamara has already matched his 2007 win totals on vault and p-bars, placing first on both events at the Rocky Mountain Open. Classmate Jason Laughton won the high bar title against Nebraska and Air Force, marking his first career win on the event.

And Chris Brooks, a 2007 All-American on high bar, took his first individual crown on the apparatus against the Huskers and Falcons after claiming none last season.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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