University of Oklahoma Athletics

Decade of Dominance: MGym Video Series

December 02, 2009 | Men's Gymnastics

Dec. 2, 2009

 
2010 Schedule | Roster | Williams Bio

OU Head Coach Mark Williams
Video Discusses 2008 championship experience as a coach
Video Talks about the mindset of Sooners going into the 
2008 season

2008 Coaching Accomplishments
U.S. Olympic Personal Coach
National Championship
National Coach of the Year
MPSF Coach of the Year

Men's Gymnastics Central
Men's Gymnastic Main Page8 National Championships
17 Conference Titles | 30 Individual Titiles | 196 All-Americans
6 Nissen Emery Winners | 100 Individual Conference Champs

 

NORMAN, Okla. – In preparation for the 2010 season, SoonerSports.com will sit down with members of the OU men's gymnastics team and look back on championship moments over the last 10 years.
 
In the third installment of the video series, OU Head Coach Mark Williams talks about his experiences during the 2008 National Championship season and what it meant for the Sooner program.

In 2008, Oklahoma won its eighth National Championship, the most titles of any OU athletics program. Under Williams, the Sooners are the only collegiate men's gymnastics program to finish in the top four every year at the NCAA Championships since 2000.

During the '08 championship the Sooners came from behind in dramatic fashion to defeat then-No. 1 Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. OU won the when Jonathan Horton, the last competitor in the meet, stuck his landing on rings to push the Sooners over the Cardinal's final event score.

Oklahoma added three individual championships to its total when Horton won the rings title and freshman Steven Legendre won the floor and vault titles.

Since the creation of collegiate men's gymnastics (1953), only seven current teams have won consecutive national championships. Oklahoma is the only men's gymnastics program to have won two straight or more on three separate occasions.

Under Williams, six University of Oklahoma gymnasts have been responsible for 17 NCAA individual national championships. The Sooners have a total of 30 title winners in the history of the program.

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Friday, April 17
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Saturday, April 04
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Saturday, March 21
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Wednesday, March 18