Williams Talks NCAA Championships

April 14, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. - With the 2008 NCAA Championships just three days away, Oklahoma men's gymnastics head coach Mark Williams sat down with SoonerSports.com to preview the event and the Sooners' chances for an eighth national title.

Oklahoma finished the regular season with an 18-1 record and claimed the program's ninth Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference title in the last 10 years.

The Sooners' run for their fifth NCAA title in seven years will be led by defending NCAA individual champions Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons (all-around) and Jonathan Horton (floor exercise, high bar). Oklahoma also boasts six returning gymnasts with All-American credentials including Abdullah-Simmons, Horton, Chris Brooks, Russell Czeschin, Jacob Messina and Reed Pitts.

The 2008 NCAA Championships begin Thursday, April 17 in Stanford, Calif. SoonerSports.com will feature behind-the-scenes coverage of the Sooners throughout the week, as well as a full preview and live stats from all three days of competition.

Williams previews NCAA Championships

SoonerSports.com: This team has won four of the last six NCAA Championships. What is your outlook going into this event and how do you see this year's team stacking up?

Coach Williams: We've really beaten just about all of the teams that are out there this year at some point or another. Penn State was the No. 2 team when we beat them at Penn State and we beat Stanford at the conference meet when they were the No. 1 team. So I think we're certainly capable of being right there with any of the teams that are going to be at nationals. It's going to be a matter of advancing from Thursday's semifinal and getting to the final and having one of our best days.
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SS: You've got senior leadership in co-captains Jonathan Horton and Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons who are the last two NCAA all-around champions. What does having that kind of leadership on the team add?

CW: They've been there three times now. They've been successful at every one that they've been at. I think there's a comfort, there's a confidence in those guys that the others can feed on. They're great examples of getting the job done when they go out to compete and also being leaders in the locker room in just having everybody prepared emotionally for what's going to happen at the national championships. I'd not switch anybody for those two guys for sure.
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SS: In addition to those guys there are several others on the team who have All-America credentials - Jake Messina, Reed Pitts, Russ Czeschin. What kind of confidence does it give you having those guys on the roster as well?

CW: I think we have a lot of balance on this team. I think we found out at the conference meet that Jon and Taqiy were off a little bit on their parallel bars and we didn't even use their scores and we didn't miss a beat. We had four other guys pick up the slack and gave us a good parallel bars score and we moved on. All the way down the line we've got guys who can handle the pressure that will be a part of the NCAA Championships. They've been successful there before and I think they aren't as intimidated by the fact that it is the NCAA Championships and that what they do all rides on that one day. It's just, to them, another day to do gymnastics and do what they do in practice every day. And when it becomes as simple as that you don't get affected so much by the atmosphere.
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SS: When you won the 2006 National Championship you got some really good contributions from several freshmen. This year you've got a couple in Bobby Shortle and Steven Legendre who have really stepped in and made an impact on the team. What do you hope to see from them in their first national championship meet?

CW: I think Steve's going to be fine. He's been in big competitions with USA Gymnastics, he's competed internationally. To him it's another big gymnastics meet. He's been solid throughout the season. For Bobby it might be a little bit bigger deal. So far he's done a nice job for the team doing two events. I'll just have to kind of evaluate how those two guys handle things as we get into Thursday and we always have the opportunity to reshuffle our lineup to put out the best group of guys for Friday or rest some guys on Thursday and get some other guys a chance. There's a little bit of strategy from one day to the next, but I certainly think that our two freshmen at this point, having competed all season, are going to be ready to go.
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SS: Jonathan Horton is one of seven finalists for the Nissen-Emery Award which will be presented the night before competition starts. Talk a little bit about that honor and what a prestigious award it is.

CW: It's the top senior gymnast in the NCAA. For Jon to be honored that way, just as a candidate, certainly speaks well of his career up to this point. He's deserving, in my mind, of this award because of his outstanding record as an NCAA gymnast, as well as being a part of the U.S. National Team since he's come in. I think Jon's going to end up being another Nissen-Emery Award winner and we'll continue to have Oklahoma gymnastics lead the number of candidates that have won that award.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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