Men's Gymnastics Squad has Season-Best Showing at Oklahoma

Minnesota soared to a season-high team score of 350.560 points, but it wasn’t enough to defeat No. 3 Oklahoma on its home floor as the Golden Gophers dropped an intersectional dual meet at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Saturday night.

The Sooners won all six team events and swept the top three spots on floor exercise, still rings and parallel bars.

“It was great to have our high score of the year but Oklahoma just proved to be too tough tonight,” said Minnesota head coach Mike Burns. “We definitely showed some glimmer of greatness tonight but we still didn't pull out the giant beacon of greatness I'd like to see these guys display.”

One Gopher who was great was senior Mitchell Mays, who led Minnesota on three events and continued his impressive run on vault. Mays captured the individual title, sticking his Tsukahara double pike to earn a season-high score of 16.650.

“Mitchell continues to amaze us with this vault of his,” Burns said. “Even the judges said 'wow' when he landed his vault.”

Mays’ performance was one of many outstanding vault routines for Minnesota. Five of the six Gopher vaulters set or tied season-high scores. Sophomores Adam Reichow (15.800), Aaron Fortunato (15.600) and Andre Berry (15.850) along with Mays all set season and career bests while sophomore Colin McGuire tied his personal best of 15.650. The team score of 63.95 was also a team high for the year for Minnesota.

“Vault was outstanding and it was great to see Aaron Fortunato and Adam Reichow both successfully compete new vaults tonight with identical Yurchenko double fulls.”

The Gophers also picked up an individual win on pommel horse behind junior Kit Beikmann’s season-best score of 15.000

“Kit was awesome tonight,” said Burns. “It's routines like his tonight that make gymnastics really exciting.”

Sophomore Cole Storer also turned in an exciting routine on high bar, earning a 14.450 to place third on the event. Storer also scored a 15.000 on floor exercise as Minnesota posted six solid routines to earn their second-highest team score of the season on the even with a total of 59.200, including a season-best 14.900 by sophomore Andre Berry.

Still rings proved to be another strong event for the Gophers Saturday night as Minnesota recorded its second-highest team total of the year with 57.550 points. Mays once again led the way, scoring 15.100 points.

“Mitchell has really turned into the 'go-to' guy for the team this year and he has become one of our most reliable gymnasts on the competition floor,' said Burns.

Eddie Campbell, who was nursing a sprained ankle, posted a career-best on the rings with a score of 14.25.

“Eddie was a one-event specialist tonight and came through with a career best routine,” Burns said. “It's great to see a guy take advantage of an opportunity like that and create a moment of success.”

Minnesota finished the meet on parallel bars and posted a total of 57.500, which was just one-tenth shy of its season-high score.

“The p-bar team finished the meet pretty well tonight with a near season high performance so I was pretty happy with the way the guys put together a good last event and a great team score overall,” said Burns. “Mitchell Mays again posted the high score for us on p-bars with a clean routine capped off with a stuck dismount. His 14.650 was also another personal best, his third of the night. He also tied his personal best on pommel horse with a 13.50 so he really had a banner-day for us.”

Jonathan Horton led the Sooners with four top-3 finishes, including wins on still rings, parallel bars and high bar, and captured the all-around title with a final score of 92.450 points. Minnesota sophomore Aaron Fortunato also had a solid meet for the Gophers and totaled 85.000 points to finish second in the all-around.

The eighth-ranked Gophers continue to improve as the season rapidly draws to a close. The Big Ten Championships are a jsut three weeks away and Minnesota will be tested fiercely in one of the toughest gymnastics conferences in the country.

The Gopher's next meet will be held at the Sports Pavilion on Friday, March 21, when they take on Big Ten rivals Iowa and Illinois on Senior Night. The meet will also be televised by the Big Ten Network on Monday, March 24, at 8 p.m.

Men’s College Gymnastics
No. 8 Minnesota at No. 3 Oklahoma
Lloyd Noble Center
Norman, Okla.
March 15, 2008

FINAL TEAM SCORES
1. Oklahoma, 364.600; 2. Minnesota, 350.650.

FLOOR EXERCISE (Oklahoma, 62.050; Minnesota, 59.200)
1. Steven Legendre, OU, 15.800; 2. Jonathan Horton, OU, 15.700; 3. Chris Brooks, OU, 15.350.

POMMEL HORSE (Oklahoma, 56.300; Minnesota, 55.950)
1. Kit Beikmann, Minn., 15.000; 2. Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, OU, 14.400; 3. Corey English, OU, 14.300.

STILL RINGS (Oklahoma, 62.100; Minnesota, 57.550)
1. Jonathan Horton, OU, 16.050; 2. Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, OU, 15.650; 3. Ian Jackson, OU, 15.300.

VAULT (Oklahoma, 64.450; Minnesota, 63.950)
1. Mitchell Mays, Minn., 16.650; 2. Steven Legendre, OU, 16.300; 3. Jonathan Horton, OU, 16.150.

PARALLEL BARS (Oklahoma, 61.200; Minnesota, 57.500)
1. Jonathan Horton, OU, 15.650; 2. Chris Brooks, OU, 15.250; 3. Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, OU, 15.200.

HIGH BAR (Oklahoma, 58.500; Minnesota, 56.500)
1. Jonathan Horton, OU, 15.300; 2. Chris Brooks, OU, 14.500; 3. Cole Storer, Minn., 14.450.

ALL-AROUND
1. Jonathan Horton, OU, 92.450; 2. Aaron Fortunato, Minn., 85.000; 3. Michael Hillin, Minn., 83.800.

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