PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Jonathan Horton capped his high bar routine with a perfect landing and a muted thud. Then, the University of Oklahoma sophomore thrust his arms in the air, confident he’d given the crowd the high-flying show it wanted and secured his first major gymnastics title.

“My high bar routine, people love,” Horton said. “I have a high-flying release routine, and people love it. I’m just going to keep on doing it.”

Horton edged Olympian Hisashi Mizutori of Japan in the men’s competition, and Nastia Liukin held off fellow American Shayla Worley to capture the women’s event at the American Cup on Saturday. The American Cup was the first meet to use gymnastics’ new scoring system, after several judging errors at the Athens Olympics.

, the International Gymnastics Federation did away with its 10.0 score.

The change in scoring had some gymnasts wondering how their routines would rate.

But Horton relied on his training at Oklahoma to get through one of the top international competitions. He won the rings with a score of 15.6, including a 9.7 out of 10 for execution, and finished second on the floor and vault for 92.5 points and the biggest victory of his career.

“The NCAA season prepares me for situations like this,” Horton said. “I’ve been doing routines over and over in competition, so I come into a high-pressure situation like this and feel very confident.”

Mizutori won the floor exercise and was second with 92.25 points. American David Durante took the pommel horse and parallel bars on the way to a third-place total of 91.35.

Horton finished third in the all-around at last year’s NCAA championships, but he ranks this victory above that performance.

“This meet isn’t big because of the number of athletes they bring in, it’s prestigious because of who they bring in,” Horton said.

Liukin, the world champion on the uneven bars and balance beam, was fifth following the opening vault. She overcame a near-costly fall on her aerial mount on the beam to finish second in the event and maintain a one-tenth of a point lead over Worley entering the final event.

“I tried a little too hard on my beam mount,” Liukin said. “It was a little nerve-racking falling so early in the routine, but I had to come back and hit (it). That fall was just a fluke.”

Liukin was nearly flawless on the floor exercise, earning a score of 15.125, including an event-leading 9.325 out of 10 for execution. She finished with 60.050 points. Worley, competing in her first senior level meet, was next at 59.775.

“I had so much fun going out and performing on floor,” said Worley, who won the beam with a score of 15.35, including a 9.05 for execution. “It was amazing at this competition, the energy was amazing.”

Aisha Gerber of Canada was third at 57.650, followed by Lais Souza of Brazil (57.525), Elsa Garcia of Mexico (57.050), Zhuoru Zhou of China (56.325) and Daria Bijak of Germany (56.0).

Two-time Olympic champion Elena Zamolodchikova of Russia fell during her routine on the uneven bars and finished seventh among eight competitors on the beam and floor. She was eighth overall at 40.525.

Among the men, Sergey Khorokhordin of Russia was fourth at 89.2, followed by Fabian Hambuechen of Germany (89.1), Nathan Gafuik of Canada (88.55), Junhao Li of China (86.85) and Florent Maree of France (84.3).

A two-mark format intended to give a truer representation of the worth of a routine replaced the previous single score based on a maximum start value of 10.0. One mark represents the difficulty of a gymnast’s routine, combining the preset value of the 10 highest elements and adding points for connections or required skills.

The second mark is for execution, with judges starting at 10.0 and taking deductions for presentation, artistry and technique. The difficulty and artistry marks are then added for a final score.

Most of the competitors agreed they now have a better idea of what is expected.

“Coming in, I wasn’t sure what a 15 or a 14 score was, it was hard to tell,” Worley said. “This set the bar for other competitions.”

Liukin was in favor of keeping the previous scoring method, but added skills to her routine to keep pace with the new code.

“I kind of wanted the perfect 10 to stay,” Liukin said. “But it was a good change. I’ll get used to it and understand it more. Coming in, I wasn’t sure what the concept was, but now I have a better idea.”

AP-ES-03-04-06 1830EST