Sooners Seek Ninth National Title

No. 2 Men's Gymnastics \| 2009 NCAA National Championship
Date	Saturday, April 16 at 7 p.m. (CT)
Location	Minneapolis, Minn. \| Sports Pavilion
Notes	2009 Men's Gymnastics Postseason Guide
Tickets	Minnesota Athletics Ticket Office \| 1-800-UGOPHER
Online	Live Results on Minnesota Website
NCAA	2009 NCAA National Championship

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.--After finishing second at the MPSF Championship the No. 2 Oklahoma men's gymnastics team heads to Minneapolis, Minn., in search of the program's ninth national title. The 2009 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships will take place April 16-18 at Sports Pavilion on the campus of University of Minnesota.

"Hopefully, all the teams will be ready to go at it and have a great competition," said head coach Mark Williams. "Our intention is to be familiar with the surroundings and not be intimidated by going in there to compete for a national championship."

The 2009 NCAA Championships will begin on Thursday, April 16 with two qualifying sessions at 1 and 7 p.m. (CDT). The Sooners will compete in session two with No. 3 Illinois, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Minnesota, No. 10 Illinois-Chicago, and No. 11 Iowa. The top three teams from each session will earn berths in Friday night's team and all-around Finals, scheduled for a 7 p.m. start. Individual national champions will be determined at the event finals on Saturday night at 7 p.m.

Schedule & Results | Roster | 2009 Media Guide

The Sooners have previously competed this year at the site of the 2009 National Championship in Minneapolis, Minn. when they faced No. 1 Stanford and No. 7 Minnesota. Oklahoma won the meet with a team score of 357.850. 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.

"The fact that we competed at Minnesota, put it on a neutral floor for both Stanford and ourselves. I was encouraged by the competition we had there earlier this year, where we did well," said head coach Mark Williams.

In 2008, Oklahoma won its eighth National Championship and now owns the most titles of any OU athletics program. Jonathan Horton, became the Sooners' sixth Nissen-Emery Award winner and earned All-America status on three events (AA, SR, PB) to bring his career total to 18, a program record.

The Sooners have won five of the last seven NCAA crowns, all under Williams.

A PERENNIAL TITLE CONTENDER

Since 2000, The University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics program is the only collegiate men's gymnastics program to finish in the top four every year at the NCAA Championships. Since their fourth-place finish in 2000, the Sooners have finished no lower than second in their quest for the national title under head coach Mark Williams.

A Tradition of Championship ...
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. Penn State and Nebraska are the only schools to win three or more straight titles. After winning back-to-back titles in 1953 and 1954, Penn State won three in a row from 1959 to 1961. Nebraska ran an impressive string of four straight titles from 1979-1982. OU's eight national championships ties Nebraska for third all-time behind Penn State (11) and Illinois (9).

Individual National Title Under Williams...
Under head coach Mark Williams, six University of Oklahoma gymnasts have been responsible for 14 NCAA individual national championships. The Sooners have a total of 27 title winners in the history of the program.

Brooks Named Nissen Emery Finalist....
Senior co-captain Chris Brooks was named a finalist for the Nissen Emery Award on March 24. This season, Brooks was named a U.S. Senior Natonal Team Member and has won 10 event titles, three being for the all-around competition. 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).

Sweeping the Competition...
Oklahoma swept event titles a total of six times this season (Rocky Mountain Open, Nebraska, Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, Penn State).Six out of the five teams that OU swept were against top 10 opponents.

Individual Titles in 2009...
The Sooners have claimed 43 total individual titles so far in the 2009 season and have swept individual event titles three times at the Rocky Mountain Open and against Nebraska and Texas. Twenty three of the titles have come from sophomore Steven Legendre, which eclipsed his 12 total event titles from 2008.

An accumulation of nine gymnasts Legendre (23), Brooks (10), Messina (4), English (2), Czeschin (2), Jackson (1), Shortle (1), McNamara (1) Laughton (1) have claimed event titles during the 2009 season.

Legendre Captures MPSF Vault Title...
Sophomore Steven Legendre finished first on vault with a 16.450 helping the Sooners claim their single team event title on vault (64.350). Oklahoma finished second at the MPSF Championship on April 4. It was the first time since 2004 that OU didn't win the conference crown.

Sooners Break NCAA Scoring Record Again... No. 2 Oklahoma posted a NCAA scoring record with a 366.850 on March 21 against No. 8 Penn State on senior night. OU broke its own record (364.600) which happened to be recorded on senior night in 2008. The Sooners swept all event titles by scoring team event highs on March 21 on floor (62.150), pommel horse (59.250), rings (60.850), vault (64.650), parallel bars (59.950) and high bar (60.000).

Sooners Finish Undefeated for Third Time...
Oklahoma went undefeated with a 12-0 record in the regular season for the third time under Williams. The Sooners have finished undefeated three times in the past 10 years (2003, 2006, 2009).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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