Horton, McNeill Shine at Men's Individual Championships

It's two more titles apiece for Oklahoma and Cal

April 14, 2007

By Kate Aras

Special to CSTV.com

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- For two gymnasts, tonight's individual national collegiate men's gymnastics championships were double the pleasure.

At the start of the night, six titles were up for grabs but by the end of the night, Oklahoma junior Jonathan Horton and California junior Tim McNeill had captured two individual titles themselves.

"We are thrilled to have two more national championships to take home to Oklahoma," Sooners head coach Mark Williams said. "I'm real pleased with my team's performance today."

When the meet began, it was very unlike the team championships.  The round was split into two halves, with the first focusing on floor exercise, pommel horse and rings and the second half concentrating on vault, parallel bars and high bar.

Illinois freshman Chad Wiest set the bar high on the floor, kicking off the meet with a score of 9.525. A 9.65 score from Horton immediately knocked him out of contention for the title.

Minnesota freshman Adam Reichow would be the only other competitor to come within range of Horton, scoring 9.55 Horton, however, held first through the rest of the rounds and took home his second consecutive floor exercise title, third national title of his career and first of two titles on the night.   

On the pommel horse, Nebraska sophomore T.J. Schmidt began the event, posting a 9.075. It was good enough to keep him in first place for two rounds until McNeill took his turn. He tied his career best when he posted a 9.65 and took over first place.

Even Penn State sophomore Casey Sandy's score of 9.575 was not good enough to dethrone McNeill, giving him his second consecutive national title and his first title of the night.

"When I did my salute, I felt calm," McNeill said. "I felt confident. It just felt great when I made that dismount."

The last rotation in the first half was rings, an event that always produces high scores. The scores, however, were lower than expected until Penn State junior Tommy Ramos posted a 9.725, his career high.

But when it came time for Stanford senior Alan Schorsch to do his routine, he beat out the crowd favorite by .025 with a score of 9.75. Even last night's all-around champion, Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, stumbled a bit on his landing and could not beat out Schorsch, handing the Cardinal his first national title.

"That was my last routine of my career," Schorsch said. "I've already celebrated with a quarter pounder from McDonalds."

After three awards ceremonies where the champions were crowned and their schools songs played over the loud speaker, the second half of the meet began on vault.

As a notoriously low scoring event, the early scores on the vault did not disappoint. Stanford senior Dylan Carney started the second half by posting a 8.7. The scores remained around there until Ohio State junior Pejman Ebrahimi stuck a huge vault and scored a 9.3

The title looked to be in the hands of Ebrahimi until Stanford junior David Sender also scored a 9.3 and tied him for the lead. They shared the 2007 title on vault, the first for Ebrahimi and the second consecutive for Sender.

The parallel bars turned out some very impressive scores tonight, with all competitors bringing their best to the floor. California junior Colin Christ started this event with a 9.475 and stayed in first for a few rotations. Ohio State junior D.J. Buker, however, surpassed him with a scored of 9.65.

This would not last long as McNeill, already champion of the pommel horse in the first half of the meet, posted a 9.725 and took another title in the 2007 national championships.

"I just feel great right now with the result of the meet," McNeill said. "I'm just excited right now."

Sticking landings on the high bar was a problem for many of the gymnasts competing tonight. Ohio State sophomore Jake Bateman actually fell during his routine and had to start again. Abdullah-Simmons, who fumbled a bit on the rings earlier, also did not stick his landings on the high bars and only posted an 8.925.

Ramos scored a 9.375 and looked as if he might win the title until Horton took his turn in the event. He jumped ahead of all his competitors again, sticking his landing and posting a 9.675 to win his second title of the night.

"I'm happy with my performance today," Horton said. "But like these guys said, I'm also very relieved that it's over cause it's a long week."

With Horton's All-America honors, he passed Bart Conners with 15 in his career. Both him and his coach were very proud of this accomplishment, as it was a great way to cap off a tough weekend for the Sooners.

"It's nice to say `Hey, I have 15 All-Americas'," Horton said. "It's definitely exciting to have beaten a record."