No. 2 Sooners Top No. 1 Stanford

March 7, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The No. 2 Oklahoma men's gymnastics team kept its undefeated streak alive with a win over No. 1 Stanford and No. 7 Minnesota at the Sports Pavilion on Saturday. The victory over the Gophers and Cardinal marks the fifth and sixth top-10 opponents the Sooners have defeated on the season.

The Sooners won the competition after scoring a 357.850 in the victory. Stanford posted a 356.400 and finished second while Minnesota placed third in the competition with a 347.950.

Sophomore Steven Legendre claimed the event title on vault with a 16.200 and senior co-captain Chris Brooks claimed the high bar title with a 15.100 and the all-around with career high score of 90.200.

“Chris did a great job tonight in winning the all-around,” said head coach Mark Williams. “Without him tonight we would not have been in the same position.”

OU claimed three team events on the night with pommel (57.150), rings (59.050), and vault (64.200).

Oklahoma started the night on rings and won the apparatus with a score of 59.050. Senior co-captain Jacob Messina led the Sooners with a 15.000 and finished in second place on the event.

"We had a lot of high points and some low points but overall I was proud of our performance and we stepped up when we needed to," said senior Jacob Messina.

The Sooners finished second on the floor apparatus with a season high team score of 61.200. Brooks finished second on the event with a career-high 15.600. Freshman David Finning also posted a career high score of 14.550.

Meet Result

“We did a great job overall but we still have work to do to get better before conference out in Stanford,” added Williams.

On pommel horse, OU finished first and was led by Messina after he tied for the event title after posting a 14.700. The Sooners also won the event with the help of sophomore Steven Legendre (14.200) and junior Corey English (14.500) as they posted a team tally of 57.150

OU scored a 58.200 to come in second on high bar with Chris Brooks tying a career high and winning the event title with a score of 15.100.

"It feels great. We had some mistakes here and there but people stepped up when they need to," said senior Chris Brooks.

Oklahoma received a career-high 16.050 from Bobby Shortle on vault to win the event. The Sooners won the apparatus with a team score of 64.200. Legendre capped off OU's performance on the event title with the night's top vault score, a 16.200.

The Sooners finished the night placing second on parallel bars with a score of 58.050. All OU gymnasts that competed on the event scored a 14.050 or higher. Brooks led the way on the apparatus scoring a 14.900 to finish third.

After visiting Minnesota on March 7, Oklahoma returns home for its next two meets against two of its top rivals with Ohio State (March 14) and Penn State (March 21) at the McCasland Field House.

Since 2000, the Sooners, Nittany Lions and Buckeyes have combined to win the last nine NCAA titles. OU leads the pack with five national championships while Penn State has claimed three (2000, 2004, 2007) and Ohio State won the 2001 championship.

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