jonathan horton jonathan horton NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

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1 jonathan horton jonathan horton preview NATIONAL CHAMPIONS 21

2 previewoutlook unfinishedbusiness After narrowly missing a third straight national title, the 2008 Sooners are hungry... and good. The goals for the Oklahoma men s gymnastics team remain unchanged from year to year: conference championship, NCAA championship. Since Mark Williams took over as head coach in 2000, more often than not those lofty aspirations have been realized. The 2007 squad claimed the program s eighth Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship and came within 0.8 points of a three-peat for the national title. For most programs that would constitute a year to remember. But for a program that owns four national titles since 2000, the Sooners were left wanting more. With a talented lineup headlined by the past two NCAA all-around champions in senior co-captains Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons and Jonathan Horton, this year s Sooner squad is determined to reclaim its position as the preeminent team in collegiate gymnastics. The OU lineup will be fortified by the return of All-Americans Reed Pitts and Jacob Messina from injuries that derailed their 2007 seasons, while the addition of ultra-talented freshman Steven Legendre should provide added depth to an already formidable roster. Oklahoma returns six gymnasts with 30 career All-America honors between them (including 11 last season) and eight returnees who accounted for an amazing 40 individual event titles in OKLAHOMA MEN S GYMNASTICS GUIDESOONERSPORTS.COM It will once again be an ambitious schedule for OU in 2008 with only three home meets on the slate. Williams team will face its toughest opponents on the road with visits to defending national champion and preseason GymInfo No. 2 Penn State and another fierce rival, No. 4 Ohio State. Oklahoma will also once again match up with several of the nation s top 10 teams at the Pacific Coast Classic, the nation s premier collegiate invitational. The race for the MPSF Championship will be intense, as the conference boasts four teams (Stanford, OU, Cal and Nebraska) in the coaches preseason poll. The entire schedule will build towards the championship season in April. Williams will try to develop consistent depth throughout the year while making sure his superstars are rested and primed for the stretch run. With both Horton and Abdullah-Simmons entertaining Olympic aspirations for 08, health and fresh legs will be of paramount importance for reaching both team and individual goals. As two of the most accomplished gymnasts in OU s storied history, the senior co-captains will have the added motivation of wanting to go out on top with a third NCAA team title during their time in Norman. Only twice in program history has a senior class been a part of three national championship teams (2005 and 2006).

3 event breakdownpreview floor exercise Final 2007 Event Rank: 1 Average Score: Horton Brooks, Czeschin vault Final 2007 Event Rank: 1 Average Score: Horton Czeschin OU boasts four gymnast with All-America credentials on floor in Russell Czeschin, Reed Pitts, Jacob Messina and two-time defending NCAA champion Jonathan Horton. Freshman Steven Legendre, perhaps the team s most explosive athlete on floor, will have an big impact. Walk-on Bobby Shortle could also add depth on the event. Abdullah-Simmons and Horton will also anchor the OU vault lineup as both earned All-America distinction on the event last season. Czeschin will be counted on as a consistent presence, while Jackson and Chris Brooks will also be valuable assets. Legendre and have the ability to perform explosive vaults and could put up some big scores in pommel horse parallel bars Final 2007 Event Rank: 6 Average Score: Laughton Horton The Sooners will look for senior leadership on pommel horse from Horton and Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons who are both capable of consistent scores. Jason Laughton, the team s top scorer in 2007, returns, and Williams will look for contributions from sophomores Corey English and Ian Jackson. Messina s return from injury could be a potentially huge boost for the horse lineup. still rings Final 2007 Event Rank: 6 Average Score: Horton Abdullah-Simmons Horton and Abdullah-Simmons are among the best in the nation on the still rings and will be counted upon heavily on the event this season. The Sooners boast a number of gymnasts capable of big scores on rings including Jackson, Laughton, Messina and. Oklahoma has had multiple gymnasts earn All-America honors on rings every year since Horton was the 2006 NCAA champion on the event and came just points from claiming consecutive titles in Final 2007 Event Rank: 5 Average Score: Horton Abdullah-Simmons A consistently solid event for the Sooners, the leadership of Horton and Abdullah-Simmons will once again be paramount on p-bars, one of the strongest events for both gymnasts. Williams will look for a lineup that best complements his senior co-captains. Carr, McNamara, Brooks, Laughton, Jackson and English could all see action on the event. Legendre might also crack the p-bars lineup late in the season as the team builds towards the championship stretch. high bar Final 2007 Event Rank: 1 Average Score: Horton Brooks, McNamara, Abdullah-Simmons OU has the reigning national champion (Horton), as well as 2007 high bar AllAmericans Abdullah-Simmons and Brooks. Williams has a number of options on how to fill the h-bar lineup, including Laughton, Carr, McNamara, Jackson, Legendre and Messina. With several gymnasts capable of high value skills, the event could be key to help separate the Sooners from their competition throughout the season NATIONAL CHAMPIONS 23

4 previewroster alphabetical roster and pronunciations Name Yr. Ht. Hometown (High School) (Club) Pronunciation Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons Sr. 5-7 Philadelphia, Pa. (Home Schooled) (Houston Gymnastics Academy) TAH-key ab-dool-uh Chris Brooks Jr. 5-8 Houston, Texas (Cypress Creek HS) (Houston North Gymnastics) Jr Mandeville, La. (Fountainbleau HS) (Aces) Russell Czeschin Jr. 6-3 Independence, Mo. (Fort Osage HS) (Great American Gymnastics Express) shuh-sheen Corey English So. 5-7 Covington, La. (St. Paul s HS) (Mandeville Sports Complex) C.J. Grimes Fr. 5-5 Ulysses, Kan. (Ulysses HS) (Littlestar Gymnastics) Jonathan Horton Sr. 5-1 Houston, Texas (Cy-Fair HS) (Cypress Academy) Ian Jackson So. 5-6 Harrisburg, Pa. (Central Dauphin HS) (Artistic Sports Academy Plus) Jr. 5-6 Northridge, Calif. (Sunland Christian School) (SCATS Gymnastics) lawton Steven Legendre Fr. 5-6 Port Jefferson, N.Y. (Spring Creek Academy) (World Olympic Gymnastics Academy) la-zhahn-druh Jr. 5-7 Littleton, Colo. (Heritage HS) (5280 Gymnastics) MAC-nuh-mare-uh Jacob Messina Jr. 5-6 Matthews, N.C. (East Mecklenburg HS) (G&J Speedway) Reed Pitts So. 5-9 Allen, Texas (Allen HS) (Eagle s Wings Athletics) Bobby Shortle Fr. 5-2 Brunswick, Ohio (Brunswick HS) (Gym World) SHORT-uhl Joseph Weaver Sr. 5-6 Garland, Texas (William J. Palmer HS) (Colorado Training Center) Head Coach Mark Williams Ninth Season Nebraska, 1980 Assistant Coach Daniel Furney Third Season Oklahoma, 2004 Assistant Coach Rustam Sharipov Third Season Kharkov State, 1997 roos-tom SHARE-ee-pahv by class BY STATE Seniors Abdullah-Simmons Horton Weaver Juniors Brooks Carr Czeschin Laughton McNamara Messina (RS) Sophomores English Jackson Pitts (RS) Freshmen Grimes (RS) Legendre Shortle by event Floor Exercise Russell Czeschin Reed Pitts Bobby Shortle Joseph Weaver Pommel Horse Corey English Still Rings C.J. Grimes Joseph Weaver Vault Russell Czeschin Reed Pitts Parallel Bars Corey English High Bar All-Around Taqiy Abdulah-Simmons Chris Brooks Jonathan Horton Ian Jackson Steven Legendre Jacob Messina Texas (4) Chris Brooks Jonathan Horton Reed Pitts Joseph Weaver Louisiana (2) Corey English Pennsylvania (2) Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons Ian Jackson California (1) Colorado (1) Kansas (1) C.J. Grimes Missouri (1) Russell Czeschin Ohio (1) Bobby Shortle North Carolina (1) Jacob Messina New York (1) Steven Legendre OKLAHOMA MEN S GYMNASTICS GUIDESOONERSPORTS.COM

5 schedulepreview 6The Sooners travel to rival Ohio State and defending NCAA champion Penn State in schedule Day Date Opponent Site Start Time Sunday Friday Thursday Thursday Friday Jan. 12 Jan. 20 Jan. 26 Feb. 1 Feb. 7 Feb. 9 Feb. 16 Feb. 23 March 8 March 15 March 22 April 5 April 17 April 18 April 19 Rocky Mountain Open Nebraska & Air Force Michigan Nebraska* Winter Cup Winter Cup Finals Iowa Pacific Coast Classic Ohio State MINnesota Penn State MPSF Championship NCAA Team Qualifier NCAA Team Championships NCAA Event Finals Colorado Springs, Colo. Lincoln, Neb. NORMAN NORMAN Las Vegas, Nev. Las Vegas, Nev. Iowa City, Iowa Oakland, Calif. Columbus, Ohio Norman State College, Pa. Lincoln, Neb. Stanford, Calif, Stanford, Calif. Stanford, Calif. 8 p.m. 2 p.m. 9 p.m. 9 p.m. 9 p.m. 6 p.m. 6 p.m. 3 p.m./10 p.m. 5 p.m. 5 p.m. All times are Central and subject to change. Home meets are indicated by ALL CAPS and held at the Howard McCasland Field House unless otherwise noted. * Double dual at Lloyd Noble Center schedule breakdown 2 5 Wins for OU at the Pacific Coast Classic in two appearances. The PCC is regarded as one of the country s top invitational events, drawing a field that includes several of the nation s top 10 teams. The meet is televised by Fox Sports in the Bay Area. Teams on OU s 2008 schedule that advanced to the team finals at the 2007 NCAA Championships (OU was the sixth). The Sooners will face defending national champion Penn State in State College, Pa., and will host Michigan and Minnesota. OU will also face Stanford and Illinois at the Pacific Coast Classic. 3 8 Home meets for the Sooners in Oklahoma hosts Michigan, one of only two teams to beat OU in the regular season last year, on Jan. 26. OU will also participate in a double dual with the women s team against Nebraska on Feb. 1 at the Lloyd Noble Center, and hosts 2007 NCAA qualifier Minnesota on March 15. MPSF titles in the past nine seasons for OU. Oklahoma has ruled the conference under head coach Mark Williams, winning consecutive crowns from and Only the 2004 Sooners did not claim the conference title, finishing in second place NATIONAL CHAMPIONS 25

6 previewspectator s guide to gymnastics 3 overview of men s gymnastics judging system The old way of judging Men s Gymnastics was based on the 10.0 system. Every routine that you saw had the highest possible score of a 10.0 if it was performed without any deductions and had the highest possible difficulty allowed. Men s collegiate gymnastics has recently adopted the FIG (Federation of International Gymnastics) Scoring System of an open-ended Code of Points. Now, when watching USA and college gymnastics, you will see scores like 15.3, 14.8, 13.9 and so on. Men s college gymnastics is judged using three components: First, the gymnast performs his 10 best or hardest skills. These 10 skills each have value parts ranging from A,B,C,D,E,& F. A value corresponds to 0.1 points, B to 0.2 points, and so on to an F that is worth 0.6 points. The gymnast is free to have as much difficulty as he can do in those 10 skills. Second, of those 10 skills, the gymnast performs five that must be used to fulfill the five special requirements on each event. Every time a requirement is fulfilled the gymnast is awarded 0.5 points. The gymnast receives a maximum of 2.5 points for all five requirements on each event. Third, every gymnast is given 10 points for the execution of the event. If the gymnast falls down or breaks form, the judge takes away points from this total. After the routine is finished the judges go through the following process: First, they add up the difficulty of the 10 highest skills (max unlimited). Next, they add up the special requirements (max 2.5). Then they add 10 points for execution and make any necessary deductions. This gives them a final score. The floor exercise is an event where the gymnast performs multiple tumbling skills in a row and flips forward, backwards and sideways to achieve three of the special requirements. The fourth requirement is a non-acrobatic skill like a press handstand or circles on the floor. The fifth requirement is the gymnast s dismount. Look for double flipping and double twisting skills that grab your attention. pommel horse Pommel horse is one of the hardest events in gymnastics, requiring strength, balance and flexibility. The gymnast continuously does circles, flairs or scissors while performing requirements and finishes with a dismount. still rings Pound per pound, rings is one of the hardest events in any sport. The gymnast performs strength moves like the Iron Cross which requires him to hold up to nine times his own body weight. The requirements on rings include holding strength moves, swinging to strength moves, swing skills, kip skills and a dismount. vault In the old scoring system, if the gymnast performed a perfect routine it would look like this: Vault is the most explosive event in gymnastics. The gymnast has a choice of three styles of vaults that include a handspring, roundoff or roundoff onto the board. Like diving, vaults are given ratings based on their difficulty. The harder the vault, the higher the rating the vault receives. 3.5 for difficulty for special requirements for execution with no deductions = 10.0 parallel bars With the new scoring system this now looks like: 3.5 difficulty for special requirements for execution with no deductions = 16.0 (The difficulty of 3.5 can be more or less depending on the gymnast s capability). Parallel bars is one of the most versatile events in gymnastics. The gymnast must perform skills in support, upper arm support, skills from hanging, basket skills where the gymnast loops around the p-bars and must finish with a dismount. Look for unique twists and flips where the gymnasts earn their difficulty points. Special Note: Not all events are necessarily equal now. You will tend to see higher scores on vault and rings and lower scores on pommel horse and parallel bars. high bar Examples: A good pommel horse score ranges from A good rings score ranges from A good vault score ranges from floor exercise 2008 OKLAHOMA MEN S GYMNASTICS GUIDESOONERSPORTS.COM High bar is the most exciting event to watch in gymnastics. It requires the gymnast to swing on the bar, then let go of it and catch again. Other requirements include straddle skills, El-grip skills, long hang skills and a dismount. Watch for high flying release moves that remind you of an X-Games style competition.