National Title on the Line Friday

2008 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships
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

STANFORD, Calif. - It all comes down to this. The 2008 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championship will be determined Friday night inside Maples Pavilion on the campus of Stanford University. Six teams will vie for the title of national champion: No. 1 Stanford, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Cal, No. 5 Illinois and No. 6 Michigan. All six schools finished in the top three in their respective qualifying sessions on Thursday to advance to the Team Finals.

The Sooners claimed the top spot in the first qualifying session with a team score of 357.500, while top-seeded host Stanford won the evening session with a 363.850. The Cardinal's score was the second-highest team total in the NCAA this season behind OU's 364.600 against Minnesota on Senior Night for Jonathan Horton and Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons.

"This is the day we've trained for all season," Abdullah-Simmons said. "We've got to go out there and lay it all on the line and hopefully come away with a victory."

For both Abdullah-Simmons and Horton, Friday night will mark their final team competition as Sooners. Combined, the duo has accounted for 24 All-America honors and six individual NCAA titles, including the last two all-around championships. Horton was the 2006 all-around winner, while Abdullah-Simmons claimed the crown last season with Horton as the runner-up.

NCAA Championship Central

Though injuries have precluded him from defending his all-around title, Abdullah-Simmons will join with Horton to give the Sooners a potent one-two punch.

"Taqiy is the heart and soul of this team," Horton said. "He's at his best when the stakes are high. I can't wait to compete with him one more time with that OU on our shirts."

Named the recipient of the 2008 Nissen-Emery award, given to the nation's outstanding senior gymnast, on Wednesday, Horton will be looking to accomplish the rare trifecta of NCAA men's gymnastics - Nissen-Emery Award, team title and all-around title. The last Sooner to accomplish the feat was current assistant coach Daniel Furney who won the all-around and p-bars titles in 2003 and led Oklahoma to a second-straight national title.

Friday night's competition is slated for a 9 p.m. (CT) start inside Maples Pavilion. Live scoring of the event can be accessed as part of the NCAA Championship Central page on GoStanford.com. ESPN2 will air the competition on a tape delay on April 24 at 2 p.m. (CT).

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sooners in the Media
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.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors