May 24, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. -- Jonathan Horton was runner-up in the all-around and Steven Legendre finished second on floor exercise following Saturday night's finals competition at the 2008 Visa U.S. Championships in Houston, Texas.  Horton, despite falls on high bar during both preliminary and finals competition, came just 0.25 points shy of claiming the U.S. all-around title won by Stanford's David Sender (180.700).

Horton and Sender tied for top honors in Saturday night's competition, earning matching all-around totals of 91.000, while Horton was second on rings (16.050) and tied for second on parallel bars (15.550) to finish second and sixth overall on the events.  The Houston native also finished the two-day competition in third place on floor (30.800) and fifth on vault (32.050).

"I'm very happy for Jon," OU head coach Mark Williams said.  "He's still in the hunt as far as making it to the Olympic Games.  He still has some things he needs to work on, but I think he's headed in a good direction."

Horton's second-place all-around finish secured him a spot in next month's U.S. Olympic Trials in Philadelphia, Pa.  The top 10 gymnasts in the final points standings from the U.S. Championships earned automatic berths, while four additional gymnasts will be selected by the Men's Program Committee early next week.

Results |  Commentary | Visa Championships Central

Among the possible invitees is Legendre, who finished 13th in the final all-around standings with a total score of 173.350.  The freshman from Port Jefferson, N.Y. finished first on floor (15.800) and vault (16.300) to land second and sixth, respectively on the events.

Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons was 16th overall in the all-around with a two-day total of 170.600.  The 2007 NCAA all-around champion, the Visa Championships marked the senior's first all-around competition since his national title-winning performance. 

Despite battling nagging knee and shoulder injuries throughout his final collegiate season, Abdullah-Simmons finished eighth overall on the rings (30.050) and also earned top-25 honors on floor (28.000), pommel horse (27.050), parallel bars (28.750) and high bar (27.300).

"I was really pleased with Taqiy's performance," Williams said.  "He was very good on his best events and really battled through after not competing on floor and vault all season."

Chris Brooks, another Houston native, competed on only four events but earned top-10 finishes on both floor (15.150) and high bar (14.500).

Former Sooners David and Jamie Henderson also participated in the U.S. Championships.  Jamie Henderson earned top 25 finishes on all four events on which he competed, including top-10 standings on rings (15.350) and p-bars (15.050), while David Henderson finished in the top 25 on all five of his events (FX, SR, V, PB, HB).

The 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials will be held June 19-22 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.