OU Set to Defend Conference Crown

April 2, 2009

No. 2 Men's Gymnastics vs. MPSF
Date	Saturday, April 4 at 6 p.m. (CT)
Location	Palo Alto, Calif. \| Maples Pavilion
Notes	2009 Men's Gymnastics Notes
Tickets	Stanford Athletics Ticket Office
Online	Live Webcast on Stanford All-Access
MPSF	2009 MPSF Conference Championship

NORMAN, Okla.-- The No. 2 University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics team travels to Palo Alto, Calif., in search of its fifth straight Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Conference Championship. The meet will begin Saturday, April 4 in Maples Pavilion at 6 p.m. CST.

"This year's conference looks to be a preview to the NCAA Championships with Stanford, California and ourselves all ranked in the top three," said head coach Mark Williams. "It should be a good contest and hopefully we will be up for the challenge."

This year's conference looks to be one of the toughest for the Sooners out of the previous years with No. 1 Stanford, No. 3 California, No. 9 Nebraska, and No. 15 Air Force all hoping to derail OU's chances to win its 18 conference championship.

Schedule & Results | Roster | 2009 Media Guide

OU will be after its 10th conference crown out of the last 11 years with eight coming under the leadership of Williams. The Sooners have also tallied 29 individual MPSF conference championships under Williams.

"With the way things have gone through the regular season I think that we have prepared well and our health is looking good going into this weekend," added Williams. "we are looking forward to it."

The Sooners recently won the senior night match after posting a NCAA scoring record with a 366.850 over No. 6 Penn State. Oklahoma concluded its regular season 12-0, finishing the season undefeated for the third time under Williams (2003, 2006).

Oklahoma swept all event titles over the Nittany Lions by scoring team event highs on the night on floor (62.150), pommel horse (59.250), rings (60.850), vault (64.650), parallel bars (59.950) and high bar (60.000).
In 2008, OU won its fourth straight conference crown defeating then-ranked No.1 Stanford and No.4 California.

Jonathan Horton scored a 90.500 to claim his third career MPSF all-around title, while adding four to his 10 overall individual conference event titles.

Coming up next...
Oklahoma will defend its 2008 national title as the University of Minnesota hosts the 2009 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships, April 16-18, at the Minnesota Sports Pavilion.

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).

Oklahoma Against MPSF Under Williams...
Under the leadership of head coach Mark Williams the Sooners are 101-4 overall against teams from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. During the post-season Oklahoma has a 31-1 record at the MPSF
Championships and a 12-0 record against MPSF during the NCAA Championships.

Dominance at the MPSF Championships...
OU will be after its fifth straight conference crown and the 10th out of the last 11 years. The Sooners have won a total of 99 individual
conference titles in the history of the program and 29 under Williams.

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).

Oklahoma On Top of the Rankings...
The Sooners topped the Gyminfo poll for seven weeks this season and did not drop down lower than No. 2 for the entire 2009 season.

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.

Oklahoma Gymnast Wins Another National Award...
Oklahoma sophomore Steven Legendre was named the College Gymnastics Association Gymnast of the Week on March 25.

This year Senior co-captain Chris Brooks and sophomore Steven Legendre have captured three national gymnasts of the week titles.

Chris Brooks claimed one CGA after Brooks led OU by claiming the all-around title with a career-high score of 90.200 in a win against No. 1 Stanford and No. 7 Minnesota.

Legendre has claimed two this season after he led OU with a school-record 16.500 on vault against No. 9 Nebraska and the other after capturing the floor (16.000), vault (16.400), parallel bars (15.100) and all-around title (92.250) during the Sooner's win over Penn State on Saturday.

Number One Goes Down...
The 10-0 Sooners won the competition against No. 1 Stanford after scoring a 357.850 in the victory. The Cardinal recorded a 356.400 and finished second while No. 7 Minnesota placed third in the competition with a 347.950.

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.

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.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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