No. 1 Gymnastics Faces No. 10 Iowa

No. 1 Men's Gymnastics vs. No. 10 Iowa
Date	Saturday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. (CT)
Location	Norman, Okla. \| Howard McCasland Field House
Notes	2009 Men's Gymnastics Notes
Tickets	OU Athletics Ticket Office \| Call (800) 456-GoOU
Online	Live Webcast on Oklahoma All-Access \| Live Stats
Promotions	Men's Gymnastics

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 1 Oklahoma men's gymnastics team will host No. 10 Iowa on Saturday, Feb. 21. The matchup between the Sooners and Hawkeyes marks "Cleveland Elementary Night" which is slated for a 7 p.m. start at OU's Howard McCasland Field House.

"We are really excited to have our annual Cleveland night. We have been over to the school to put on an exhibition and have already sold close to 300 tickets to the event on Saturday," said head coach Mark Williams. "It is always a special meet for us because of the enthusiasm of the kids and their familiarity with our gymnasts."

The annual Cleveland Elementary event is part of a "Partners in Education" program developed by Oklahoma Head Coach Mark Williams and Cleveland Elementary music teacher Regina Bell. OU gymnasts make weekly visits to the school to assist teachers with class activities and to help tutor students in math, grammar and reading.

Schedule & Results | Roster | 2009 Season Preveiw

Oklahoma returns home this weekend with three U.S. National Team Members following strong performances at the 2009 Winter Cup in Las Vegas, Nev. Senior co-captain Chris Brooks, sophomore Steven Legendre, and Olympian Jonathan Horton, current volunteer coach, were selected to the team following competition on Feb. 8.

The Sooners are also looking to continue early season success this weekend they won their first three competitions at the Rocky Mountain Open, at Nebraska, and at home against the University of Texas club team.

"We are starting to build towards the conference championship because we have five competitions in a row starting on Saturday," added Williams. "We are looking forward to putting up another good team score and competing against another top-10 team in the country."

The OU Athletics Marketing Department has some special events planned for "Cleveland Elementary Night". Several lucky students will win the opportunity to serve as junior judges, score flashers, march-in leaders, junior PA announcer and award presenters at the meet. One Cleveland student will also perform the national anthem.

The first 250 kids will receive a kid-sized OU Gymnastics T-shirts (sizes are first-come, first-served) and all Cleveland students receive a red glow stick for the meet.

Everyone in attendance will receive a free OU men's gymnastics posters while supplies last and the team will sign autographs in the lobby following the competition.

Coming up next...
After hosting Iowa on Feb. 21, the Sooners stay home for a Feb. 28 matchup with No. 8 Nebraska. It will be the third time this season that OU and Nebraska have faced off, with OU winning the two previous meetings (Jan. 10 at the Rocky Mountain Open and Jan. 18 in Lincoln, Neb.).

Trio of National Team Members...
The University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics program posted another impressive feat at the Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas, Nev. on Feb. 7. Following strong performances by senior co-captain Chris Brooks and sophomore Steven Legendre, the Sooners now have three members on the U. S. Senior National Team. The two current Sooners are joined by Olympian Jonathan Horton.

No other NCAA Division I men's gymnastics program has more members on Senior National Team than Oklahoma and it marks most National Team members that the Sooners have had since 1994 (4).

Brooks finished fifth in the weekend competition and recorded a two-day total of 173.500. Posting an all-around score of 87.100 for the final night, the Houston, Texas, native improved on rings (14.300), vault (15.700), and parallel bars (14.800) to help his average.

After posting stronger scores in the final night of competition, Legendre finished seventh in the weekend competition and recorded a two-day total of 172.050. The Port Jefferson, N. Y., native improved his routine scores on floor (15.550), rings (14.750), and parallel bars (14.400) to finish the night with an all-around score of 87.650.

Sooners Promote Cleveland Night...
The Oklahoma men's gymnastics team took a break from workouts Friday morning to participate in an exhibition for students at Norman's Cleveland Elementary School. The OU coaches and gymnasts made their annual visit prior to "Cleveland Elementary Night."

As a special treat for Cleveland's students, the team performed a gymnastics demonstration at a school assembly. The Sooners showed off some of their skills on floor exercise and parallel bars for a packed audience in the Cleveland Elementary gymnasium.

Move to No. 1...
The University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics program was at the top of the list in the latest GymInfo poll released on Tuesday. OU vaulted to the No. 1 spot after improving to 5-0 on the season with an impressive win against No. 10 Nebraska on Jan. 18.

The Sooner squad began the regular season ranked No. 2 in the GymInfo pre-season coaches poll after winning the 2008 National Championship. Oklahoma stayed in the No. 2 position after sweeping the competition in the season opener at the Rocky Mountain Open and posting a score of 355.000, the top total this season in the NCAA.

Legendre Impresses...
Oklahoma sophomore Steven Legendre was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the week on Jan. 21.

The honor was the first of the season for Legendre and the third of his career.

Oklahoma gymnasts claimed all of the individual titles at the Rocky Mountain Open with the help of the Port Jefferson, N.Y., native winning event titles on floor (15.350), vault (15.900), parallel bars (14.950), and high bar (14.700). Legendre also claimed his second Rocky Mountain Open all-around title with an 89.400.

Legendre claimed two event titles (vault and still rings) against conference rival Nebraska on Sunday and upped his season total to seven. The U.S. Senior National team member also finished second in the all-around behind teammate Chris Brooks.

Fresh New Faces...
The Sooners added five freshman for the 2009 season in Chad Crumley, David Finning, Ben Mayer, Troy Nitzky and Pat Piscitelli. This years signing class reaches far across the country. Form Illinois, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Oklahoma this group looks to have an impact to the 2009 season for the Sooners.

Horton the Sixth...
The program's most decorated gymnast, Horton was the 2008 Nissen-Emery recipient in one of the strongest fields in the award's history.Considered the Heisman Trophy of gymnastics, the Nissen-Emery Award, founded by trampoline inventor George Nissen, has been handed out to the nation's top senior collegiate gymnast annually since 1966. Since the award's inception, Oklahoma has claimed a nation-leading six Nissen honorees: Bart Conner (1981), Jarrod Hanks (1991), Dan Fink (1998), Todd Bishop (1999), Daniel Furney (2003) and Jonathan Horton (2008).

All-Americans Back For More...
The Sooners roster is filled with five All-Americans from last year's squad. In total, Oklahoma gymnasts earned 11 All-America honors in 2008, the second-highest total in the nation. Seniors Russell Czeschin (FX), Chris Brooks (PB, HB), Jason Laughton (PH), Reed Pitts (FX) and sophomore Steven Legendre (FX, V, HB), received national distinction.

Williams Names Captains...
Seniors Jacob Messina and Chris Brooks were named co-captains for the 2009 season by head coach Mark Williams.
Both have been apart of several of the Sooners national championship squads and have received national honors for their effort. Brooks was a two-time All-American last year on high bar and parallel bars while Messina

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