Five Sooners Named To Team USA - KTUL.com - Tulsa, Oklahoma - News, Weather & Sports

Five Sooners Named To Team USA

All five of the Sooners competing at the U.S. Olympic Trials this weekend were selected by the men's gymnastics committee on Sunday to represent the squad in the 2012 Olympic Games in London later this month.  Jonathan Horton (2005-08) and junior Jake Dalton were named to the five-man squad while Chris Brooks (2006-09), Steven Legendre (2008-11) and Alex Naddour (2010-11) were named the three alternates.

It marks the second Olympic appearance for Horton, who helped lead Team USA to a Bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Games, while also collecting a Silver medal on the high bar.  Dalton, who helped Team USA to a Bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships, will make his Olympic debut.  

Brooks, Legendre and Naddour were also on the 2011 World Championship Team with Horton and Dalton, and all three are making their first appearance on the Olympic squad.

Danell Leyva and John Orozco topped all competitors and earned automatic spots on the squad Saturday and the remaining three spots were determined by the selection committee early Sunday morning.  Sam Mikulak rounded out the fifth spot.

In addition to this week's trials, the committee also figured in the Visa Championships held in June, which saw Dalton collect national titles on the floor exercise and vault. 

"Overall, I was really proud of each of the guys' performances," said OU Head Coach Mark Williams, who has coached all five gymnasts at Oklahoma, after Saturday's competition.

The University of Oklahoma represented five of the 15 competitors this week in San Jose.  Dalton, who has one year of eligibility remaining at OU, is the program's second gymnast to compete in the Olympics while still attending school (Bart Conner). All five Sooners are current members of the U.S. National Team and advanced to the U.S. Olympic Trials after their performances at the 2012 Visa Championships in June.

Oklahoma has produced three prior Olympians in men's gymnastics and has been represented in the past two Summer Olympic Games by Guard Young in 2004 and Horton in 2008, both under current head coach Mark Williams.