Horton a Nissen-Emery Award Finalist

NORMAN, Okla. - Senior Jonathan Horton has been named one of seven finalists for the Nissen-Emery Award, given annually to the nation's top senior men's gymnast. Considered the Heisman Trophy of collegiate gymnastics, the Nissen-Emery Award will be presented at the 2008 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships banquet on Wednesday, April 16, in Stanford, Calif.

A three-time team captain during his Sooner career, Horton will likely go down as the most decorated gymnast in OU program history. The 2006 NCAA all-around champion, Horton owns Oklahoma records for career All-America honors (15) and career NCAA individual titles (five). Both marks were previously held by two-time Olympic gold-medalist Bart Conner.

In his four years in Norman, Horton helped lead the Sooners to back-to-back national championships in 2005 and 2006, as well as a second-place finish last season.

The Houston, Texas, native is also the two-time defending Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Year and owns eight career individual conference crowns, including all-around wins in 2005 and 2007.

A member of the past two U.S. World Championships Teams, Horton's performance at the 2007 Worlds in Stuttgart, Germany, helped the American squad to a fourth-place team finish and secured a berth in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Horton finished fourth in the all-around standings, just 0.2 points shy of earning a bronze medal. He became just the fourth American men's gymnast to record a top-four all-around finish at the World Championships and the first since 2004 Olympic gold-medalist Paul Hamm took the title in 2003. Only Hamm and Kurt Thomas (2nd, 1979) have finished higher.

Wes Haagensen, Illinois
Derek Helsby, Penn State
Tim McNeill, California
David Sender, Stanford
Luke Vexler, Temple

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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