Inside Oklahoma's Storybook Ending

April 28, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. - You know the feeling you get watching a great sports movie? The kind of feeling where the characters you've come to know and root for stand at the precipice of greatness? It all comes down to the final shot, the final pitch, the very last play. And then, even though you knew it was coming, you can't help but smile as they celebrate.

That's the story of the 2008 national champion Oklahoma men's gymnastics team that senior co-captain Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons called "the best I've ever been a part of."

Winning a championship is an amazing thing if for no other reason than the sheer improbability of it. Most coaches will tell you that victory requires a perfect storm of talent, chemistry, momentum and a good bit of luck. The men's gymnastics team has made it look easy with five titles in seven years, but that is simply a testament to the passion and pride that head coach Mark Williams has instilled in the program. The names and faces may change from year to year, but the goals, the expectations and the foundation remain the same. And even though the aim is the same every year, even Williams admitted there was something a little bit sweeter about title number eight.

The coach was moved to tears in sharing the impact that Abdullah-Simmons and fellow co-captain Jonathan Horton have had. "I can't be more proud of the way they finished their careers tonight," Williams said in the post-meet press conference. "We just had kind of a special feeling this week. It's going to be hard to say goodbye to these guys because we've been through a lot."

No good story is without captivating characters - protagonists that you can't help but cheer for, root for, and celebrate with - and this team certainly wasn't lacking. There's Horton, the superstar, destined for Olympic greatness and already the best gymnast OU has ever seen. Or Abdullah-Simmons, whose Olympic dreams have been derailed by injuries but whose energy, passion and team-first attitude formed the emotional foundation of this team's championship run.

There's Steven Legendre, only the second freshman in OU gymnastics history to win an individual national title and the first to win multiple crowns in his first season. And Reed Pitts, who earned All-America honors on floor and vault as a walk-on freshman in 2006 only to have his 2007 season taken away after tearing his Achilles tendon - on the same leg - not once, but twice. Doctors hoped he'd be able to walk normally again, forget trying to compete at the highest level of collegiate gymnastics. But what does Pitts do? Defies the odds and goes on to reclaim his status as an All-American gymnast.

Maybe you've heard of Russell Czeschin. If you've ever seen the OU gymnastics team, you've certainly noticed him. He's the one that stands a full foot taller than almost every one of his teammates. Conventional wisdom says men who are 6 foot 3 inches tall aren't supposed to have the agility to do gymnastics. Czeschin has now claimed All-America honors on the floor exercise in back-to-back seasons, conventional wisdom be damned. Then there's Bobby Shortle, a walk-on whom few thought would last a year in the Sooners' rigorous program yet emerged as a valuable contributor on floor exercise and vault, competing on both events with the national title hanging in the balance.

NCAA photo gallery |

Inside the OU locker room |

Sooners accept championship trophy

Despite the wealth of individual storylines, however, the truth is that Oklahoma's 2008 championship run was all about the team. Sports, like few other pursuits, develops a camaraderie and trust between individuals of disparate backgrounds. But what developed between these gymnasts far exceeded the usual bonds of team. These student-athletes are brothers.

Each day leading up to the NCAA Championships, teammates would go around the room, telling each individual what they admired and respected about them, what they thought they brought to the team and what they felt the future held for them. They laughed. And they cried. They cried because it was the last time that this team would ever be together. The last time these friends and brothers would compete together as one. They wanted the championship trophy, not for themselves but for each other. As Abdullah-Simmons told his teammates in the pre-meet locker room, "We do it because we love each other."

ESPN2, which aired the 2008 NCAA Championship on April 24, could not have written a more dramatic, poignant or thrilling ending to the championship event. It was as if it came straight out of your favorite sports movie. "I couldn't have scripted it any better," Horton said.

Their team trailed by a significant margin, on the road, facing a higher-ranked team whom almost everyone in the gym expected to win. The last remaining hope of victory rested on the shoulders of the co-captains, Abdullah-Simmons and Horton, the heart and soul of the team. "I knew that those two guys were going to give us a chance," Williams said afterwards. "I honestly felt like they had more depth than we did. But they didn't have Taqiy and Jon either."

Abdullah-Simmons went first, earning a solid score and providing at least an opportunity to win. The competition was over, save for one final performance. Every eye in the gym was fixed on Horton as he grasped the rings and began one of the most difficult routines in collegiate gymnastics. Horton snapped through his moves, exhibiting a strength emboldened by the shouts of his teammates urging him to "finish." As he went twisting through the air on his dismount only one thought ran through his mind - "Stick it." He did.

But Horton's title-winning moment would not have been possible without the efforts of some of the more unsung Sooners. On a night when their two superstars weren't "on," the supporting cast came through in a big way. Abdullah-Simmons called it "the greatest team effort I've ever seen." When Abdullah-Simmons fell on the parallel bars, Kyle McNamara covered with his third-highest score of the season. When both senior co-captains missed release moves on the high bar, McNamara and Legendre both came through with career highs to keep OU in contention. And when the pommel horse once again stood between the Sooners and a chance at the title, Jason Laughton, Jacob Messina and Corey English all contributed some of their best routines of the season to set up the championship charge on the final event.

The team performance was made even more impressive by the relative small size of OU's roster. Going into the competition, Williams said he was concerned about the Sooners' depth. With only 12 gymnasts on the active roster, the Sooners had one of the smallest lineups in the NCAA. But depth, it turns out, is less a question of quantity than it is of quality. A total of six OU gymnasts collected 11 All-America honors on the weekend. Horton collected only three, while Czeschin (FX), Laughton (PH), Legendre (FX, V, HB), Chris Brooks (PB, HB) and Pitts (FX) earned the other eight.

No doubt there are more championships on the horizon for the OU gymnastics program. Maybe it was because of the people involved, or maybe because there was some real Sooner Magic that happened inside Maples Pavilion, but something truly transformative took place with this team. Though they will never be together again on the competition floor, the 2008 Sooners will always know they accomplished something very special - together.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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