Senior Night Yields NCAA-Best Score

March 15, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. - The third-ranked Oklahoma men's gymnastics team sent senior co-captains Jonathan Horton and Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons out in style. Oklahoma scored a program and NCAA season-high 364.600 to defeat eighth-ranked Minnesota (350.650) on Senior Night at the Howard McCasland Field House Saturday.

Horton claimed his second all-around title of the season with a personal-best 92.450, as well as event titles on rings (16.050), parallel bars (15.650) and high bar (15.300). Horton's scores on rings and p-bars also marked season highs for the Houston, Texas, native.

"We started strong and ended strong and that's what you want to do," Horton said. "To have our best competition so far this year in our last home meet was really exciting."

The Sooners also set team season highs on floor (62.050), rings (62.100) and parallel bars (61.200) and demolished their own NCAA-best on the vault with a 64.450.

After faltering on p-bars in their last competition at the Pacific Coast Classic (Feb. 23), five of the six gymnasts in OU's lineup set personal bests against Minnesota, posting a score nearly two full points higher than the previous program mark of 59.300 set at Iowa on Feb. 16.

Photo Gallery | Final Scores

"We still have some work to do on pommel horse, otherwise we would have really had a record-breaking performance," OU head coach Mark Williams said. "I feel really good about what we've been doing in the gym and I think that's the one area that stands between us and competing for another national championship."

Freshman Steven Legendre took his fourth floor exercise crown with a program-record 15.800, while OU swept the top three places on floor, rings and p-bars.

In total, Oklahoma gymnasts set or tied 17 career-highs on the night.

"We went out with a bang," Abdullah-Simmons said. "Not just Jon and me, but the whole team put together a solid meet. We're definitely going in the right direction."

The Sooners will travel to defending national champion Penn State on Saturday, March 22 for their final regular season meet. The matchup with the second-ranked Nittany Lions is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CDT) start from Rec Hall in State College, Pa.

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