Oklahoma leaped to its second consecutive National Collegiate Men’s Gymnastics Championships team title on the strength of three career-best performances on the vault and the leadership of all-around champion Jonathan Horton.

Horton, a sophomore, was an integral part of the Sooners’ 2005 championship team as well, placing third in the all-around competition last year. He helped Oklahoma to a winning score of 221.400 this year.

Illinois was second behind the host Sooners at the meet held April 7-8 in Norman. Stanford placed third.

Oklahoma’s Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, Russel Czeschin and Reed Pitts all posted career-best scores on the vault to tally a school-record 37.85 on the apparatus. The team rode its success all season, going undefeated and winning its fourth championship in the last five years.

Horton followed up a strong American Cup performance with career highs on the parallel bars and the high bar. He scored a 9.500 or above on every apparatus except the pommel horse, on which he scored a 7.95. But according to him, the missteps simply made him try even harder the rest of the meet.

“When you make a mistake, it fuels your fury, and I couldn’t have felt more powerful heading into the still rings,” he said.

Oklahoma coach Mike Williams was impressed with Horton’s ability to shake off the poor performance on the pommel horse. Horton fell twice in the qualifying round and once during the finals.

“He was unbelievable,” Williams said. “At one point, I thought the pommel horse would be too much to overcome. He responded, and it was amazing.”

The Sooners were able to edge past Illinois on the vault, an apparatus on which the Illini have excelled all season. Williams noted his team’s ability to keep pace with teams that are strong vaulters, even though vault has not been a strength for Oklahoma.

“I’ve been nervous for two weeks,” he said. “I’m so glad the team responded to this challenge. We were better than any vaulting team I’ve ever seen.”

Illinois coach Yoshi Hayasaki said the team thought they could win it in the end, though the crowd gave Oklahoma a definite advantage.

“We never gave up despite the injuries and obstacles our team faced,” he said. “We pulled through and the guys gave their hearts out today. If this was any other arena, this maybe could have been a different story. That’s how superbly the guys performed today.”

An Illinois gymnast took second place in the all-around as well — Justin Spring notched 55.600 points, finishing .400 behind Horton’s all-around total. Horton said the team trophy trumped his all-around title.

“The all-around doesn’t mean near as much to me as the team. It’s just icing on the cake,” he said.

In the individual competition, Horton captured the rings and floor exercise titles, while Illinois’ Spring won the parallel bars and shared the high bar title with Stanford’s Dylan Carney. Timothy McNeill from California won the pommel horse championship. Stanford’s David Sender won the vault.

Team results

1. Oklahoma, 221.400; 2. Illinois, 220.975; 3. Stanford, 218.375; 4. Penn St., 215.125; 5. California, 215.000 6. Iowa, 211.800.

Individual results

All around: 1. Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma, 56.000; 2. Justin Spring, Illinois, 55.600; 3. Derek Helsby, Penn St., 54.825; 4. Wesley Haagensen, Illinois, 54.475; 5. David Sender, Stanford, 54.125; 6. Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, Oklahoma, 53.850.

Floor exercise: 1. Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma, 9.575; 2. Sho Nakamori, Stanford, 9.500; 3. Justin Spring, Illinois, 9.462; 4. Reed Pitts, Oklahoma, 9.412; 5. Wesley Haagensen, Illinois, 9.400; 6. Adam Pummer, Illinois, 9.350.

Pommel horse: 1. Timothy McNeill, California, 9.350; 2. Ted Brown, Illinois, 9.312; 3. Derek Helsby, Penn St., 9.200; 4. Curtis Kleffman, Iowa, 8.962; 5. Chris Lung, Illinois, 8.925; 6. Jamie Henderson, Oklahoma, 8.887.

Rings: 1. Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma, 9.637; 2. Alex Schorsch, Stanford, 9.575; 3. Peter Derman, Stanford, 9.512; 4. Tommy Ramos, Penn State, 9.450; 5. David Sender, Stanford, 9.412; 6. Derek Helsby, Penn St., 9.387.

Vault: 1. David Sender, Stanford, 9.562; 2. Jeremy Wickham, Ohio St., 9.487; 3. Reed Pitts, Oklahoma, 9.475; 4. Justin Spring, Illinois, 9.462; 5. Andrew DiGiore, Michigan, 9.412; 6. Dylan Carney, Stanford, 9.375.

Parallel bars: 1. Justin Spring, Illinois, 9.825; 2. Adam Pummer, Illinois, 9.450; 3. Wesley Haagensen, Illinois, 9.162; 4. Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma, 9.087; 5. Taqiy Abdullay-Simmons, Oklahoma, 9.087; 6. David Sender, Stanford, 8.875.

High bar: 1. (tie) Justin Spring, Illinois, and Dylan Carney, Stanford, 9.700; 3. Willie Ito, Ohio St., 9.687; 4. Jonathan Horton, Oklahoma, 9.675; 5. Colin Christ, California, 9.387; 6. Chris Brooks, Oklahoma, 9.362.