No. 2 Sooners Top No. 6 Buckeyes

March 14, 2009

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 2 Oklahoma men's gymnastics squad posted a 357.450 team score en route to a victory over No. 6 Ohio State on Saturday night inside McCasland Field House.

OU (11-0) defeated its seventh top-10 opponent on the year, as the Buckeyes posted a team score of 353.150 in the loss to the Sooners in front of 534 fans.

"I think that Ohio State put a lot of pressure on us, especially on the last two events," said head Coach Mark Williams. "I was pleased to see that our guys stepped up and got the job done."

The Sooners claimed four team event titles on the night, including wins on floor (61.800), vault (63.150), parallel bars (58.850) and high bar (58.100).

Senior co-captain Chris Brooks claimed the vault title, posting a score of 16.150, and the all-around title with an 88.700. Sophomore Steven Legendre claimed two event titles, with wins on high bar (14.800) and parallel bars (14.900).

"We need to clean things up a little bit before the championships, but I think that we did a good job," added Williams.

Oklahoma scored a season high 61.800 on floor to claim the event title with Russell Czeschin posting a career-high 15.700 for the individual title.

Event Results | Individual Results | Photo Gallery | Gymnastike

With an injury to freshman David Finning, OU only had four gymnasts compete on vault and still scored a 63.000 to claim the event title.

The Buckeyes claimed two event titles on pommel horse (55.850) and rings (60.850), with Bateman coming in third in the all-around with a score of 88.100.

At the end of the meet Sooner fans had a chance to see Olympic medalist Jonathan Horton perform a couple of release moves on high bar.

"It is always fun to come to an event that is dedicated to you," said Horton. "It's nice to be here to support my team and kind of be a part of that at the same time. It was nice to put on an exhibition for the fans."

Oklahoma remains at home for its next meet against Penn State on Saturday, March 21, at 7 p.m. in the McCasland Field House.

The meet will be Senior Night for six seniors including Reed Pitts, Russell Czeschin, Jacob Messina, Chris Brooks, Kyle McNamara and Jason Laughton.

Since 2000, the Sooners and Nittany Lions have combined to win the last eight NCAA titles. OU leads the pack with five national championships, while Penn State has claimed three (2000, 2004, 2007).

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