Sooners Title Quest Begins Thursday

2008 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships
Team Qualifiers	Thursday, April 17 at 3 p.m. CT
Team Finals	Friday, April 18 at 9 p.m. CT
Event Finals	Saturday, April 19 at 9 p.m. CT
Location	Stanford, Calif. \| Maples Pavilion
TV/Radio	ESPN2 (tape delay), April 24 at 2 p.m. CT
Online	Live Stats

NORMAN, Okla. - Led by the last two all-around champions in senior co-captains Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons and Jonathan Horton, the second-ranked Oklahoma men's gymnastics team heads to Stanford, Calif., in search of the program's eighth national title. The 2008 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships will take place April 17-19 at Maples Pavilion on the campus of Stanford University.

The 2008 NCAA Championships will begin on Thursday, April 17 with two qualifying sessions at 3 and 10 p.m. (CDT). The Sooners will compete in session one with No. 3 Penn State, No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Ohio State, No. 10 Nebraska and No. 11 William & Mary. The top three teams from each session will earn berths in Friday night's Team Finals, scheduled for a 9 p.m. start. Individual national champions will be determined at the Event Finals on Saturday night at 9 p.m.

With the senior leadership provided by Abdullah-Simmons and Horton, as well as returning All-Americans Chris Brooks, Russell Czeschin, Jacob Messina and Reed Pitts, the veteran Sooners will be looking to win a third title in the last four years. After winning back-to-back NCAA crowns in 2005 and 2006, last year's squad was denied a "three-peat," finishing second to host Penn State by a margin of just 0.80 points.

"We have a good enough team to challenge for the national championship," said OU head coach Mark Williams. "It's going to come down to our consistency and mental toughness competing under pressure. I know that this team has experienced national championships before and I think that will serve us well going into this event."

Postseason Media Guide

In order to realize their championship aspirations, the Sooners will need strong performances from their starters on all six events. Oklahoma boasts one of the smallest lineups of any of the title contenders with only 12 gymnasts on the active roster.

"Our overall depth is strong from one to six," Williams said, "but we don't have too many other guys beyond the top six that can step in. We just don't have enough bodies for that to happen. One of my concerns is that in a two-day competition we'll have to compete with very similar lineups on Thursday and Friday, where in the past I've been able to adjust the lineup from day one to day two. We may not be able to do that this year."

Oklahoma competed against eight of the 12 teams in the NCAA field in 2008, defeating all eight programs. The Sooners' only loss of the season came to No. 1 Stanford at the Pacific Coast Classic on Feb. 23, although OU got its revenge by defeating the Cardinal for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation crown on April 5.

Men's Gymnastics Notes

Sooners in the media spotlight
As one of the favorites to win the 2008 national title, Oklahoma has been a hot topic in the news media this week. On Monday, Inside Gymnastics magazine shone a spotlight on senior co-captains Jonathan Horton and Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons. The magazine also followed up with a two-part roundtable discussion with the past two NCAA all-around champions on Tuesday and Wednesday. Robert Przybylo of the Oklahoman also featured Horton and Abdullah-Simmons in his Wednesday NCAA Championship preview, while writer Scott Moore catches up with a busy Horton and talks about OU's title chances in Thursday's Norman Transcript. On Friday, the Tulsa World's Guerin Emig chronicled Abdullah-Simmons' OU career and his rise to team captain.
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Horton OU's sixth Nissen-Emery winner
Oklahoma gymnast Jonathan Horton was named the winner of the 2008 Nissen-Emery Award. The honor was presented at an awards dinner Wednesday night on the eve of the 2008 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships on the campus of Stanford University. The Nissen-Emery Award is given annually to the nation's most outstanding senior collegiate gymnast.

Horton is the sixth Sooner to garner collegiate gymnastics' top honor. OU's six honorees lead the nation, with Horton's award breaking a tie between Oklahoma and Penn State for the top spot. Previous Nissen winners from OU include Daniel Furney (2003), Todd Bishop (1999), Dan Fink (1998), Jarrod Hanks (1991) and Bart Conner (1981).

Click here to watch highlights of Horton's OU career >>>
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All-American guys
The Sooners' current roster boasts six gymnasts who have accounted for a total of 30 All-America honors. Leading the way is Jonathan Horton and his program-record 15 honors, followed by classmate Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons with nine. Junior Jacob Messina earned All-America distinction on floor exercise in 2005, while sophomore Reed Pitts was honored on floor and vault in 2006. Junior Chris Brooks is a two-time high bar All-American, claiming back-to-back honors in 2006 and 2007, and junior Russell Czeschin earned his first career honor on floor exercise last season.
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We are the champions
Two Sooners will be looking to defend individual national titles at the 2008 NCAA Championships. Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons is the reigning national all-around champion, while Jonathan Horton was the 2007 NCAA medalist on floor exercise and high bar. Horton will also be looking to reclaim the top spot in the all-around and on rings, winning both event titles in 2006 to go along with his first floor crown.

Oklahoma has produced 11 individual national titles under head coach Mark Willams, including all-around championships by Abdullah-Simmons (2007), Horton (2006) and Daniel Furney (2003). Other event winners include Josh Landis (2003 FX and PH) and David Henderson (2005 SR). Furney was also the 2003 parallel bars champion.
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Horton and Williams earn top MPSF honors
After helping Oklahoma to its fourth-straight MPSF title, senior Jonathan Horton and head coach Mark Williams were honored as the conference's Gymnast and Co-Coach of the Year.

Williams earned Coach of the Year honors for the eighth time in his nine seasons as Oklahoma's head coach. He has guided the Sooners to eight MPSF titles and four NCAA Championships in that span. OU gymnasts have earned 81 All-America honors and won 11 individual national titles under Williams, compiling a record of 213-18.

For Horton, the conference award is his third in as many seasons. The senior co-captain claimed the MPSF all-around title for the third time in four seasons while also winning his fourth-straight conference championship on rings. In four years Horton has accounted for a program-record 15 All-America honors, 10 individual conference championships and five individual NCAA championships.
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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 eight conference titles. The Sooners finished as runner-up to Cal at the 2004 MPSF Championship, the only time under Williams that OU has not worn the conference crown, and lost to conference rivals only three times.

Since joining the MPSF in 1997, Oklahoma has accounted for nine conference titles, all in the last 10 years. The Sooners' lowest finish was fifth in 1998, and the team has not finished lower than second at any other MPSF event.

OU is also the only school in MPSF history to win back-to-back titles. The Sooners won an impressive five straight MPSF crowns from 1999-2003 and are in the midst of a run of four straight begun in 2005.
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MPSF individual champions
In addition to four team titles, the Sooners' current roster has accounted for 12 individual conference crowns in the past four years. Jonathan Horton is responsible for 10 of the 12 wins, earning the top spot in the all-around and on rings in 2005, while defending his rings title and adding another on floor in 2006. At last year's event, Horton swept over half the events, claiming wins in the all-around and on floor, rings and high bar and claimed titles in the all-around and on rings at the 2008 Championships. Junior Chris Brooks earned top honors on high bar as a freshman in 2006, while freshman Steven Legendre claimed his first career MPSF title on floor at the 2008 event.
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Stats masters
When your team is ranked second in the nation, it's fair to say that you have a team full of solid individual performers. The GymInfo individual event rankings seem to back up that statement. In the final regular season rankings released on April 7, Oklahoma gymnasts accounted for 19 top-20 event rankings.

The Sooners lead all teams with five top-20 gymnasts on p-bars and are tied with Penn State with four ranked competitors on vault. OU's three top-20 gymnasts on floor and rings are also the second-most of any team on those events. Refer to page three for a complete list of rankings.
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Multiplicity
Oklahoma's men's gymnastics team is one of only 11 NCAA Division I varsity programs to claim multiple national championships since 2000. Of those, only five teams have won more NCAA titles this millennium than the Sooners' four. The riflery program at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks leads all teams with seven titles, including four straight from 2000-2004. OU won back-to-back national championships in 2002-2003 and again in 2005-2006.

Impact Performer

Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons | Sr. | All-Around
The reigning NCAA all-around champion, Abdullah-Simmons has battled nagging injuries for much of the 2008 season. But the senior co-captain could have a huge impact on the Sooners' quest for a third national title in four years. Abdullah-Simmons holds top-20 national rankings on rings and parallel bars, and his contributions on pommel horse and high bar could be the keys to an OU victory. With nine career All-America honors, the Philadelphia, Pa., native will also be looking to pass assistant coach Daniel Furney for third on Oklahoma's all-time list behind Jonathan Horton (15) and Bart Conner (13).

The one-two punch
Highlighting OU's individual national rankings is the duo of Jonathan Horton and Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons. The senior co-captains are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, on the still rings, accounting for half of OU's team score on an event in which the Sooners are ranked first in the nation as a team.

Also holding down a No. 1 spot for Oklahoma is freshman Steven Legendre, whose dynamic floor exercise routine has earned program-record scores of 15.800 in each of OU's last two competitions and put him atop the national rankings.
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Who says gymnastics isn't a contact sport?
Jonathan Horton was sporting a new look when he came home from the Sooners' March 22 meet at Penn State.

Nicknamed "X Games" by his teammates for his acrobatic high bar routine and go-for-broke attitude, Horton missed one of his release moves during warmups in Happy Valley, tumbling onto the mat and causing his own knee to connect with his face just below his right eye, resulting in swelling and eventually a black eye.

Horton's recent shiner was not his first, however. A mishap in the skills competition at the 2007 Winter Cup in Las Vegas resulted in his first "tough guy" look after smashing his face on the high bar and breaking his nose.
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Season superlatives
The following is a brief list of individual accolades from the 2008 regular season:

Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons - Claimed four event titles, two on rings and two on p-bars
Chris Brooks - Ranked in the GymInfo top 20 on floor, p-bars and high bar
Russell Czeschin - Won floor exercise against Nebraska and at Iowa
Corey English - Broke previous OU record with career-best 14.600 on horse at PCC
Jonathan Horton - Claimed 15 individual event titles, ranked No. 1 on still rings
Ian Jackson - Won second career all-around title against Nebraska
Jason Laughton - Earned event titles on pommel horse and high bar
Steven Legendre - Second on the team with 12 event wins, including two all-around
Kyle McNamara - Finished second in the all-around twice in 2008
Jacob Messina - Returned from injury to land in top 20 on rings and parallel bars
Reed Pitts - Set career highs on floor and vault in home win against Minnesota
Bobby Shortle - Freshman walk-on won a vault title and ranks 15th on the apparatus
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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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Sooners corner the market on conference honors
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation has awarded Gymnast of the Week honors 12 times in 2008, and five times the award has gone to a University of Oklahoma gymnast.

Steven 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 freshman from Port Jefferson, N.Y., earned the distinction again on Jan. 28 after claiming his third consecutive all-around and floor exercise crowns in the Sooners' Jan. 26 upset of then-No. 2 Michigan in Norman.

Jonathan Horton earned two honors in three weeks after his performance at the Winter Cup (Feb. 7-9) and his all-around title at the Pacific Coast Classic (Feb. 23) and added another on March 17 following a dynamic Senior Night Performance.

Last season, four different OU gymnasts accounted for a total of six MPSF weekly honors.

2008 MPSF Gymnasts of the Week
Jan. 15 - Steven Legendre, Oklahoma
Jan. 12 - Kyson Bunthuwong, California
Jan. 28 - Steven Legendre, Oklahoma
Feb. 4 - Greg Stine, Air Force
Feb. 11 - Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma
Feb. 18 - Kyle Bunthuwong, California
Feb. 25 - Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma
March 3 - Ryan Lieberman, Stanford
March 10 - Tim McNeil, California
March 17 - Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma
March 24 - Kyle Shanahan, Nebraska
March 31 - Greg Stine, Air Force
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Records smashed on Senior Night
Talk about going out with a bang. On Senior Night for Jonathan Horton and Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, Oklahoma turned in a number of record-breaking performances.

The Sooners set program marks with their team (364.600), floor (62.050), rings (62.100), vault (64.450) and p-bars (61.200) scores. OU's team and vault totals were also the highest by any NCAA team in 2008.
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Horton one of five Sullivan Award finalists
At a banquet at the famed New York Athletic Club on April 1, Jonathan Horton was honored as one of five finalists for the 78th James E. Sullivan Memorial Award presented by the Amateur Athletic Union. This year's award, honoring the nation's top amateur athlete, went to Florida quarterback and 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. Other finalists for the award were Michigan State ice hockey goalie Jeff Lerg, Virginia Tech softball pitcher Angela Tincher, and 61-year-old track and field athlete Philippa Raschker of Marietta, Ga. Horton was the eighth OU student-athlete to be up for the Sullivan Award and the first to be a finalist since Josh Heupel in 2001.

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