RELEASE NO. 8 MARCH 8, 2008 Brian Dude | Media Relations Graduate Assistant University of Oklahoma | Men’s Gymnastics Contact OKLAHOMAmen’sGYMNASTICS Office: 405.325.8413 | Fax: 405.325.7623 1977 | 1978 | 1991 | 2002 | 2003 | 2005 | 2006 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS [email protected] | www.SoonerSports.com 2008 Oklahoma men’s gymnastics SCHEDULE/RESULTS IMPACT PERFORMER BOBBY SHORTLE8 Date Opponent Time/Results A walk-on who has become a key member of the Sooners’ floor and Jan. 12 at Rocky Mountain Open* First, 343.550 vault lineups, Shortle will be returning to his home state as OU takes on the Buckeyes. A native of Brunswick, Ohio, Shortle is Oklahoma’s high- Jan. 20 at Nebraska (w/ Air Force) First, 349.700 est-ranked gymnast on the vault, standing seventh in the nation with a Jan. 26 MICHIgAN W, 351.400 15.917 average. He is also ranked 14th nationally on the floor exercise Feb. 1 NeBRASka W, 355.500 (15.083). Only Steven Legendre and Russell Czeschin have recorded higher floor scores for OU in 2008 than Shortle’s 15.400 against Ne- Feb. 7 at Winter Cup Challenge^ Individual results braska and Air Force on Jan. 20. Feb. 9 at Winter Cup Challenge^ Individual results Feb. 16 at Iowa W, 355.750 THIRD-RANKED SOONERS FACE OFF AGAINST NO. 7 BUCKEYES IN COLUMBUS Feb. 23 at Pacific Coast Classic! Second, 359.800 March 8 at Ohio State 6 p.m. NORMAN, Okla. – The third-ranked Oklahoma men’s gymnastics team travels to Columbus, Ohio, this March 15 MINNeSOTA 7 p.m. weekend to take on rival and seventh-ranked Ohio State. The meet is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CST) start inside St. John Arena on Saturday, March 8. March 22 at Penn State 6 p.m. April 5 MPSF Championships% 7 p.m. The Sooners will be looking to avenge last year’s regular season loss to the Buckeyes in Norman. Ohio April 17 NCAA Qualifiers# 3 p.m./10 p.m. State claimed a 218.650-213.550 victory at McCasland Field House, halting OU’s home undefeated April 18 NCAA Team Finals# 5 p.m. streak at seven years. The last team to beat the Sooners in Norman before the streak began? Ohio State on Jan. 28, 2000. April 19 NCAA event Finals# 5 p.m. Since OU head coach Mark Williams took over in 2000, the Buckeyes have been one of Oklahoma’s All start times listed are Central chief out-of-conference rivals. Ohio State defeated OU to claim the 2001 NCAA title, and finished ALL CAPS indicates home meets second to the Sooners in 2002, 2003 and 2005. * Colorado Springs, Colo. Hosted by the U.S. Air Force Academy. ^ Las Vegas, Nev. Individual USA gymnastics ranking event. “Ohio State has always been a program that has the same goals as we do,” Williams said. “Over the last ! Oakland, Calif. Hosted by USA Sports Management. few years we’ve had to go through them in order to win national championships, and vice versa.” % Lincoln, Neb. Hosted by the University of Nebraska. # Stanford, Calif. Hosted by Stanford University. This weekend’s meet is another opportunity for the Sooners to gear up for another championship run against a top-flight opponent. In the team’s last meet at the Pacific Coast Classic on Feb. 23, OU SETTING THE SCENE NO. 3 OKLAHOMA AT NO. 7 OHIO STATE recorded its best team score of the season (359.800), as well as season highs on the pommel horse (56.850), rings (62.000) and vault (63.900). Senior Jonathan Horton claimed his first all-around title of the season in his first competition on all six events, but the Sooners suffered their first setback of the WHERE: Columbus, Ohio, at St. John Arena year, as they finished second to No. 1 Stanford (361.650). WHEN: Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. (CST) “For us, this weekend’s competition is still a part of the building process we’re establishing towards the conference championships,” Williams said. “I’d like to see improvements on what we did at the Pacific LIVE SCORES: A link to live scoring will be included in the meet Coast Classic, specifically on parallel bars and pommel horse.” preview release on SoonerSports.com. Scores will also be available on Ohio State’s official athletics site, OhioStateBuckeyes.com. Ohio State is led by head coach Miles Avery, who is in his 11th year with the program. The Buckeyes boast returning All-Americans in seniors D.J. Bucher and Jimmy Wickham from a 2007 team that won its WHAT 2 WatcH 4: The Sooners will be looking to avenge last year’s third consecutive Big Ten title and finished eighth at the NCAA Championships. dual meet loss to the Buckeyes in Norman. Ohio State was one of only two teams (Michigan) to beat OU during the 2007 regular season Saturday night will mark Senior Night for the Buckeyes as they host their final home meet of the 2008 and the first team to win at the Howard McCasland Field House since season. 2000. Oklahoma should be well-rested after taking a week off following its KNOW THE FOE NO. 7 OHIO STATE second-place finish at the Pacific Coast Classic in Oakland, Calif., on Feb. 23. The Sooners scored a season-high 359.800 and set OHIO statE BUCKEYES program marks on pommel horse, rings and vault at the PCC. Location: Columbus, Ohio Head Coach: Miles Avery Founded: 1870 Alma Mater: Temple, 1985 enrollment: 59,091 Record at Ohio State: 391-227-2 (10 years) Colors: Scarlet and gray Career Record: same Conference: Big Ten The official site of OU Athletics supplies Sooner fans worldwide with the 2007 Record: 14-7 Media Relations Contact: emily Meyer latest news and features on Oklahoma athletics direct from Norman. The site Conference Finish: First Phone: (614) 292-1389 provides the latest press releases, rosters, bios, schedules, statistics, notes, NCAA Finish: eighth Fax: (614) 292-8547 quotes, athlete blogs, photo galleries and audio and video available to both Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 12/5 e-mail: [email protected] Sooner fans and the media. All-Americans Returning/Lost: 3/1 Web Site: OhioStateBuckeyes.com oklahoma men’s gymnastics notes | SOONERSPORTS.COM PAGE 1 RELEASE NO. 8 MARCH 8, 2008 2008 OKLAHOMA Men’s GYMNASTICS ROSTER 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) garrett Carr Jr. 5-11 Mandeville, La. (Fountainbleau HS) (Aces) Russell Czeschin Jr. 6-3 Independence, Mo. (Fort Osage HS) (great American gymnastic 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) Jason Laughton Jr. 5-6 Northridge, Calif. (Sunland Christian School) (SCATS gymnastics) lawton Steven Legendre Fr. 5-6 Flower Mound, Texas (Spring Creek Academy) (World Olympic gymnastics Academy) la-ZHAHN-dra kyle McNamara 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 OKLAHOMA Men’s GYMNASTICS NEWS AND NOTES WHat’S NEXT WEST COAST WONDER After visiting the Buckeyes on March 8, Oklahoma will close out its home season on Competing in the all-around for the first time in 2008, Jonathan Horton was a one-man March 15 against No. 8 Minnesota. The meet will mark Senior Night for co-captains record-breaking machine at the Pacific Coast Classic. Horton set personal bests on Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons and Jonathan Horton. every event besides p-bars and high bar and recorded program marks in the all-around (91.150), on pommel horse (14.750) and on rings (15.950). ANYTHING YOU CAN DO, I CAN DO BETTER Apparently strong competition brings out the best in Jonathan Horton, as the senior SOONERS HOGGING CONFERENCE HONORS played a bit of “one-upmanship” at the Pacific Coast Classic. During OU’s first rotation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation has awarded gymnast of the Week honors on the pommel horse, sophomore Corey english shattered Jason Laughton’s team eight times in 2008, and four times the award has gone to a University of Oklahoma season high with a 14.600, the highest score on the apparatus for a Sooner gymnast gymnast. by 0.350 points. The record didn’t last long, however, as three turns later Horton set a new standard with a 14.750. Steven Legendre was the conference’s first honoree of the season after winning the all-around and floor exercise titles at the Rocky Mountain Open on Jan. 12. The fresh- The team record holder on rings (14.750) going into the PCC, Horton saw classmate man from Port Jefferson, N.Y., earned the distinction again on Jan. 28 after claiming his Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons stake claim to the top spot with an impressive 15.900.