"My feet slipped on the board."

A disappointed Asad Jooma repeated himself several times.  "My feet slipped on the board.  My feet slipped on the board."

In front of a vocal crowd on his home floor, Jooma competed in the vault at the NCAA Championship Finals at UIC Pavilion Saturday night.  He seemed to execute his maneuver in the air, but with his timing thrown off by a split second on his launch, he stumbled on his landing and scored 13.233.

"Asad's vaults all season have been on par with the best in the nation," head coach Charley Nelson said.  "The same environment he thrived in last night in our home arena might have added some extra pressure tonight, especially since he had to wait so long before competing.  Vault is such an explosive event that if you're off by the smallest amount for any reason, mentally or physically, it's hard to recover. 

"But there's no doubt in my mind that Asad belongs on the same level as the elite gymnasts who competed in the finals tonight and he'll be back next year for an even better performance."

Jooma qualified for the finals with a career high 14.366 in the qualifying session Friday night.  After waiting until the sixth and final rotation to compete Saturday, he knew that an improvement of 0.267 would be necessary for a podium finish.  In the final standings, Oklahoma's Yul Moldauer, who won three events and the all-around championship, took the vault crown with a score of 14.900.

Oklahoma won its fourth straight team championship.  Minnesota edged Illinois by 0.234 for second place.