University of Oklahoma Athletics
Sooner Sports Notes: February 11
February 11, 2008 | Athletics
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Women's Gymnastics |
Last Week: A capacity crowd of 2,195 witnessed the No. 6 OU women's gymnastics squad remain undefeated on the year as the Sooners posted a team score of 195.925 in outlasting No. 13 Denver (195.700), Utah State (192.275) and Air Force (186.400). Senior Kiara Redmond-Sturms won her fifth all-around title of the season as the All-American posted a 39.275. The Sooners picked up event titles on bars (49.050) and floor (49.300), as Mary Mantle (vault-9.9), Redmond-Sturms (bars-9.875, floor-9.9) and Haley DeProspero (beam-9.850) swept the individual event titles.
This Week: Oklahoma returns to the friendly confines of the Lloyd Noble Center on Feb. 15 when it hosts Iowa State at 7 p.m., in the squad's second home meet of the year. Billed as "Beauty and the Beast Night," the meet also features the OU wrestling squad who battles Cal-Poly simultaneous to the gymnastics action.
Notes: OU has won 25 of its last 26 regular-season matchups dating back to Jan. 19, 2007. Winners of all regular season meets on the year, the Sooners' last regular season defeat was to Stanford on March 9, 2007 in Palo Alto, Calif. ... Mary Mantle, a native of Bellvue, Colo., stole the show in front of a strong contingent of fans that made the short drive to Denver, scoring a career-high 9.9 in her first collegiate competition in her home state.
Tickets/Promotions: The first 500 fans receive free "First Annual Beauty and the Beast Event" T-shirts. One lucky fan will win two round-trip tickets to Las Vegas, two tickets to "Le Reve" at the Wynn Theater in Las Vegas, and a $300 check card. Raffle prizes will be awarded throughout the evening. Post-match autographs featuring both teams. 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. Learn more about Beauty and the Beast Night.
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Men's Gymnastics |
Last Week: Five members of the OU men's gymnastics squad competed at the Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas, Nev. The two-day event serves as a re-ranking competition for USA Gymnastics and helps determine spots on the U.S. Senior National Team. Highlights included top-three finishes by senior Jonathan Horton on the still rings and freshman Steven Legendre on the floor exercise. Junior Jacob Messina placed in the top-20 on three events, while senior Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons tied for fifth on the rings and placed in the top 15 on p-bars. Sophomore Ian Jackson also competed in the event finals on rings, placing 29th.
This Week: OU hits the road for the first of three consecutive road trips. The fourth-ranked Sooners travel to Iowa City, Iowa, on Feb. 16 to take on the 10th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes. The meet is scheduled for a 7 p.m. (CT) start at the Field House on the Iowa campus.
Notes: Horton's place on the U.S. Senior National Team is already secure as a member of the 2007 U.S. World Championships Team ... Four gymnasts were named to the National Team following Saturday night's finals competition. Three additional gymnasts will be added in the coming days after deliberation by the Men's Program Committee.
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Mens' Basketball (15-8, 3-5 Big 12) |
Last Week: The Sooners dropped their two games, losing 64-54 to No. 12 Texas on Wednesday and falling 72-58 at Colorado on Saturday. Blake Griffin led OU in scoring in both contests, netting 19 against the Longhorns and 25 against the Buffaloes. He also averaged 7.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists. Taylor Griffin averaged 10.0 points and 10.5 rebounds (his 15 boards versus Texas were a career high) while Tony Crocker also averaged 10.0 points.
This Week: OU hosts Iowa State (13-11, 3-6) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST before traveling to Lubbock, Texas, to take on Texas Tech (12-10, 3-5) on Saturday at 3.
Notes: In his six full Big 12 games, Blake Griffin is averaging 18.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting .606 from the field ... Griffin has scored at least 15 points in nine of his last 10 full games ... Tony Crocker made three 3-pointers at Colorado on Saturday and has now canned at least three treys in a game nine times this season ... Oklahoma's eight Big 12 opponents are shooting an incredible .836 from the free throw line against the Sooners (133-for-159).
Promotions: Family Pack tickets are available for Wednesday's home game against Iowa State. For $10, fans receive a game ticket, a hot dog, soft drink and coupon for a free OU t-shirt (minimum purchase of four tickets required).
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Women's Basketball (17-4, 7-2 Big 12) |
Last Week: No. 10 Oklahoma dropped Missouri and Colorado last week as it extended its winning streak to six games. The Sooners passed their road test in Columbia, Mo., with a 64-57 win at the Mizzou Center, Wednesday, Feb. 6, before claiming a 82-66 decision against the Buffaloes at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Saturday, Feb. 9. Courtney Paris held no punches as she recorded her 86th and 87th career double-doubles, extending her consecutive streak to 82 games in the process. Paris scored 25 points and totaled 17 rebounds against Mizzou before posting a season-high 30 points and 14 boards against the Buffs.
This Week: OU hosts Texas A&M on its "Pack the Place Pink Night" Tuesday, Feb. 12., and meets Baylor in Waco, Texas, Feb. 17.
Notes: Coach Coale has pledged $1 each to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund and the Campus Activities Council for every student in attendance at OU's final three home games ... OU, in partnership with CSTV, will auction several authentic items from Tuesday's night's game with proceeds going to the Yow Cancer Fund ... Courtney Paris' 87th career double-double matched Tim Duncan's NCAA men's record.
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Softball (3-2) |
Last Week: The No. 5 Oklahoma softball recorded a 3-2 mark in its opening-weekend tournament. The highlight of the tournament came on Sunday as the Sooners shut out No. 10 UCLA, 7-0, on the Bruins home field. The Sooners also notched a 1-0 win over Nevada on Saturday and run-ruled UC Santa Barbara, 12-1, on Friday night. Oklahoma opened the season on Friday with UCLA but dropped the contest, 6-1, and also lost to No. 21 Cal State Fullerton, 10-2, on Saturday night.
This Week: The Sooners will return to action on Tuesday as they host St. Gregory's in their home opener at 3:30 p.m. inside the OU Softball Complex. Oklahoma will round out the week with in Las Vegas as it heads to UNLV for the UNLV Desert Classic (Feb. 15-17). Oklahoma will open tournament action on Friday with a 2 p.m. (CT) contest against BYU and conclude the day with a 7:30 p.m. meeting against Cal State Northridge . On Saturday the Sooners will play a doubleheader with South Carolina at 11 a.m. followed by a 1:15 contest against Illinois. The Sooners will round out tournament action on Sunday with a 1:15 game against Cal Poly.
Notes: Oklahoma recorded its first-ever win against UCLA at Easton Stadium in the series history ... Junior pitcher D.J. Mathis had a stellar weekend as she went 3-0 and recorded two shutouts while only allowing one run in 18 innings. Mathis struck out 21 batters over the weekend and only allowed eight hits while holding the opponents to a .129 batting average ... Junior Amber Flores tallied two home runs on the weekend and recorded seven RBI while notching a .500 batting average ... Senior Savannah Long led the team in extra-base hits with four doubles in 12 at-bats over the weekend ... UCLA was the highest ranked opponent Oklahoma has ever faced in a season opener as the Bruins were ranked No. 10.
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Wrestling |
Last Week: The No. 18 Sooners (12-5, 0-4 in Big 12) dropped two Big 12 duals last weekend on the road. No. 12 Missouri defeated OU by a 23-10 final score in Columbia, Mo., and the No. 2 Cornhuskers of Nebraska topped Oklahoma 21-9 in Lincoln.
This Week: The Sooners step off the mat of conference competition to host Cal Poly at the Lloyd Noble Center on Friday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. The squad will share the floor with the OU women's gymnastics team in the first "Beauty and the Beast" event.
Notes: Against the Tigers, three Sooner freshmen picked up their first career Big 12 wins. Joey Fio (125 pounds), Zack Bailey (141 pounds) and Jeff James (174 pounds) were the only Sooners get pick up victories on the evening ... Fio recorded arguably the biggest Oklahoma individual win this season with an upset of No. 4 Paul Donahoe of NU, the defending national champion at 125 pounds ... Fio's two wins on the weekend give him a 17-7 record on the year and an 11-4 dual record ... Chad Terry (17-4, 9-4) and Joshua Weitzel (21-2, 14-2) also picked up wins against the Huskers for Oklahoma.
Promotions: The Marketing Department has announced several promotions for the dual-sport event on Friday. One lucky fan will win two round-trip tickets to Las Vegas, two tickets to "Le Reve" at the Wynn and a $300 check card. The first 500 fans arriving at the event will receive an event T-shirt and raffle prizes will be awarded throughout the evening. Both teams will also take part in an autograph session at the conclusion of the event. Tickets are $5 for children and $7 for adults. Admission is free for OU students with a valid student I.D.
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Track & Field |
Last Week: Oklahoma student-athletes set two school records during competition at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York City. Sheldon Leith and Rob Sorrell both placed their names atop the OU record books. Leith claimed the 60-meter hurdles title with a time of 7.73 while Sorrell finished sixth in the mile run in a time of 4:04.64. Both times were NCAA provisional qualifying marks.
This Week: The Sooners head to Fayetteville, Ark., for the 2008 Tyson Invitational. One of the nation's most prestigious events, the Tyson Invitational is part of the U.S.A. Track and Field's Visa Championship Series.
Notes: Four other Sooners posted NCAA qualifying marks over the weekend ... Tony Clement finished second in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:50.10 ... Latoya Greaves took third in the women's 60-meter hurdles in 8.31 ... Marcus Pugh took third in the 60-meter dash, posting an NCAA provisional qualifying mark for the second straight week with a time of 6.64, just off the NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 6.63 ... Scottesha Miller posted an NCAA provisional qualifier mark in the long jump with a mark of 20 feet and 2.50 inches (6.16 meters), a indoor personal best, en route to a sixth-place finish ... A small group of OU athletes at the Adidas Classic in Lincoln, Neb., were led by junior Dominique Jacobs who finished second in the women's long jump with a top mark of 18-8.00 (5.69).
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Men's Tennis |
Last Week: Sooners went 2-0 over the weekend defeating Minnesota, 4-3 on Saturday and shutting out Wisconsin-Green Bay, 7-0 on Sunday. Oklahoma improved to 4-1 on the season with the victories. Against Minnesota the Sooners and Gophers split the six singles matches but Oklahoma won the doules point to secure the victory. Sunday OU won two out of the three doubles matches and swept the singles matches to blank the Phoenix.
This Week: The Sooners return home Sunday, Feb. 17, as they host Arkansas at Willow Creek Golf and Country Club in Oklahoma City at 11 a.m.
Notes: Andrei Daescu, ranked No. 21 in the country in singles improved his perfect record to 5-0 ... The No. 1 doubles team of Federico Chavarria and Andrei Daescu improved to 4-1
Promotions: In-match drawing to win a new tennis racquet against Arkansas.
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Women's Tennis |
This Week: The University of Oklahoma women's tennis team heads to Wichita, Kan. on Friday, Feb. 15 to face No. 32 Wichita State at the Coleman Tennis Complex. The Sooners enter Friday's dual with a 4-1 record, while the Shockers are currently 0-1.
Notes: Friday's meeting will mark the 23rd time the two teams have met with Oklahoma holding a 21-1 series record.
