Men's Gymnastics Cruises Past Air Force, 217.650-195.275

NORMAN, Okla. The University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics team won their home opener over the Air Force Academy (217.650-195.275) on Friday night in front of a record crowd of 1,475 at the Lloyd Noble Center. Junior David Henderson won the all-around with a new career-high, 54.125. Senior co-captain Heath Mueller was second in the all-around with a season high 53.450. OU has now won 42 straight meets, including 27 straight at home.

“David Henderson was the best all-arounder we had tonight,” said Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams. “He has not done all-around all that much in the past but he is one of those key guys we need to step up and he did that today against Air Force. He did really well on horse, the best routine he has probably done, had great rings and went for an extremely difficult vault.”

Team Results | Photo Gallery

The Sooners improved to 4-0 on the young season and scored over six points higher than their last meet. OU came into tonight after a successful 3-0 weekend in their season opener at Air Force, where they managed to score 211.400. The score last weekend dropped OU from No. 2 in the GymInfo poll to No. 6 this week, but with a 217.650 score over No. 16 Air Force, they are likely to move back up the ranks depending on how the top five performs. Coming into the meet, Williams really wanted to score in the 216 range and build off of some of last week's miscues.

“I am pleased with everybody in terms of performance,” said Williams. “Parallel bars was kind of a thorn for us tonight, where as last weekend it was our strongest set. If we put together a good p-bars routine, then we probably post one of the higher team scores across the country so far this season. So we still have some areas to improve on, this team is a little different after losing four seniors last year. However, this team as a group is capable of stepping up and not necessarily replacing the guys lost to graduation last year, but they can definitely fill in the scores to be successful and we are only going to get better as the season rolls on.”

The Sooners really stepped it up Friday night on the high bar, where last week as a team they struggled posting a 34.350. Against Air Force on Friday, they recorded a 37.450, counting scores all above 9.0 towards the team total. Amongst that bunch was a pair of 9.525 from senior co-captain Quinn Rowell and sophomore Jamie Henderson.

The two-time defending champs will next travel to Iowa on January 31 at 2 p.m. The Sooners defeated the Hawkeyes last week at the Rocky Mountain Open by a tenth of a point. The Sooners will return home for the next home meet when Minnesota, Michigan and Nebraska comes to town on Saturday, February 21 at 2 p.m. in McCasland Field House. Sandwiched in between the Iowa and home meet is a date in Columbus, Ohio with preseason No. 1 Ohio State on February 13.