Oklahoma Men’s Gymnastics Completes Regular Season at Penn State
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. The second-ranked Oklahoma men’s gymnastics team wraps up its regular season with a visit to Penn State on March 20. The Sooners and eighth-ranked Nittany Lions will square off at 6 p.m. CDT inside Rec Hall on the Penn State campus.
Last season, the Sooners won the senior night match in Norman against Penn State after posting a NCAA scoring record with a 366.850, while the Nittany Lions posted a final score of 356.300 to finish second on the night.
With a win, the Sooners will have beaten all five Big Ten opponents on its schedule to finish 11-1 in the regular season.
Since 2000, the Sooners and Nittany Lions and have combined to win the last eight NCAA titles. OU leads the pack with five national championships while Penn State has claimed three championship (2000, 2004, 2007).
OPPONENT PREVIEW Last week, Penn State suffered a 354.650-344.300 setback to Cal on Saturday evening at the Golden Bears’ Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif.
On March 6, Penn State gained its first win against a Big Ten opponent this season by posting a season high score of 350.150. The win snapped a two-meet losing skid by besting No. 7 Minnesota (348.250) and No. 11 Temple (330.900) in a tri-meet at Rec Hall.
UP NEXTThe 2010 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships will be hosted by Oklahoma at the Howard McCasland Field House in Norman on April 3. In 2009, the Sooners finished second and claimed one team event title (vault), while junior Steven Legendre finished first on vault.
OU will be seeking its 10th conference title out of the last 12 years. The Sooners won the last conference title last held in Norman in 2005.
A LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK
The Sooners claimed their seventh win over a top 10 team with a decision over the fifth-ranked Ohio State at St. John’s Arena, Saturday. The win moved Oklahoma to a 10-1 record with a 4-0 mark against Big Ten opponents.
Oklahoma claimed four of the six team event titles on the day with wins on floor (62.550), vault (63.950), parallel bars (58.200) and high bar (57.550).
OKLAHOMA VS. OHIO STATE INDIVIDUAL TITLES
All-Around: Steven Legendre
Floor Exercise: Steven Legendre, Jacob Dalton
Vault: Steven Legendre
LEGENDRE ON TOP OF ALL-AROUND STANDINGS
After leading the Sooners with the last thee all-around titles against Nebraska, Stanford, Minnesota and Ohio State, junior Steven Legendre is atop the current national all-around standings with a average score of 89.283.
The three all-around titles of the season have included scores of 89.500 (Minnesota) and 88.850 (Nebraska, Stanford) and 89.500 (Ohio State). Legendre has claimed eight all-around titles in his career, including the 2009 NCAA National All-Around title.
The Port Jefferson, N.Y., native has now also eclipsed 50 event titles mark in his career at OU with 13 of those being collected during the 2010 season.
250 WINS AND BEYOND
Earlier this season, head coach Mark Williams passed the 250 win mark as the head coach at the University of Oklahoma. With a win at then eighth-ranked Iowa, Williams surpassed the 250 mark and now stands at 258 wins as the head coach. Last year, Williams passed the 224 win mark to become Oklahoma’s all-time wining men’s gymnastics coach.
CAREER HIGH ON POMMEL HORSE AND PARALLEL BARS
Senior Corey English posted career high scores on pommel horse (14.950) and parallel bars (15.250) in consecutive meets against Nebraska, Stanford (March 7) and Ohio State (March 13). English is currently ranked in the top 15 on both apparatuses (No. 14 pommel horse, 14.817; No. 11 parallel bars, 14.800.
HORTON AND BROOKS AT AMERICAN CUP
One month after winning the Winter Cup National title in the all-around, Chris Brooks finished third at the 2010 Tyson American Cup on Saturday in Worcester, Mass.
Brooks, a four-year letterwinner and current volunteer assistant at Oklahoma, finished be hind another former Sooner, Jonathon Horton. A four-year letterwinner and 2008 Olympic silver medalist, Horton posted a 90.150 while Brooks tallied a 89.900.
Both Horton and Brooks finished ahead of reigning Tyson American Cup champion and 2008 Olympic horizontal bar bronze-medalist Fabian Hambuechen of Germany, who finished in fourth place. Maxim Devyatovsky won the competition with a 90.600.
FIVE ON NATIONAL TEAM
Four-year letterwinner Chris Brooks won the 2010 Winter Cup all-around title and regained his position on the U.S. Senior National Team on Feb. 6. Overall, one third of the national team selections were from the University of Oklahoma men’s program as all five representa tives sent to the event were selected following strong performances.
Freshman Alex Naddour was the latest Sooner to be named to the team, while freshman Jacob Dalton and junior Steven Legendre and Olympian Jonathan Horton retained their positions on the team. The five Sooners, along with the other 10 members will comprise the U.S. team until the Visa Championships in August.
No other NCAA Division I men’s gymnastics program has more members on Senior National Team than Oklahoma and this is most National Team members that the Sooners have ever had, beating the previous total in 1994 (4).
VAULT IS THE FAVORITE
The Sooners have five individuals ranked in the top 15 of the vault standings (No. 2-Dalton, 16.250; No. 6-Legendre, 16.050; No. 7-Shortle, 15.983; No. 8-Ian Jackson, 15.950; No. 14-Alex Naddour, 15.883).
SOONERS IN THE RANKINGS
OU currently owns the top spot on floor (62.800) and is second behind No. 1 Stanford on and vault (64.083).
Oklahoma is ranked in the top three on three separate events (floor, vault and parallel bars). The only other team in the MPSF to be ranked in top-three on multiple events is Stanford (5).
The MPSF Conference has consistently been the top-ranked conference in the NCAA the past 10 years. The past two NCAA National Champions (Oklahoma and Stanford) are currently dominating the polls being ranked in the top three in five of the six events. Both teams are in the top three in four of the six events (floor, rings, vault, parallel bars).
AN ALL-AROUND TEAM
This season, OU has been ranked in the top three in the nation on all six events while hold ing the top spot on three events (floor, vault, parallel bars). Individually, the Sooners have the top-ranked gymnast on four events. (Floor: Legendre, Pommel Horse: Alex Naddour, Vault: Dalton,All-Around: Dalton)
Updated 03-19-2010
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