Men's Gymnastics Wins 48th Straight; Breaks School Record

NORMAN, Okla. The No. 3 Oklahoma men's gymnastics team defeated No. 7 Michigan, No. 8 Nebraska and No. 9 Minnesota on Saturday in the McCasland Field House with a season-high 221.475 score. Michigan finished second with a score of 218.225, followed by Nebraska (213.875) and Minnesota (210.700). OU's team score on Saturday ranks number six all-time since the new scoring system was created in 2002 and is the second highest score this season in the NCAA (Illinois-221.575).

“I was happy especially since it was a meet that we were pushed a little bit with Michigan being right behind us after three events,” said Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams. “We did not have a complete meet, but I was really pleased with the performance at the end with the parallel bars and the high bar handling the pressure and stepping up.”

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With the three victories on Saturday, the Sooners extended their streak of consecutive victories to 48, breaking the school record held by the OU football team, dating back 46 years ago. From 1953-1957, the Sooner football team rattled off 47 wins in a row, an NCAA record for football.

“I still feel like in football it is different because you can only get one victory at a time and it is over a four year span,” said Williams about the streak. “It is a little like comparing apples and oranges because unlike gymnastics, football can not defeat three teams in one day. We have certainly had the opportunity where we could have let down and not put together this string of wins.

The guys have been amazing and I am grateful for the work ethic they have put forth over this span to be this successful. It is great to be a part of history.”

The Sooners set season highs in every event except the still rings and the high bar and had the top team score in every event except for the still rings, which Michigan won.

Another school record fell on Saturday as the Sooners recorded a 36.700 on the parallel bars breaking the old mark set last season (36.500). Junior Josh Gore (ranked No. 2 in the nation on the apparatus) posted a 9.375 to take home first place honors in the event. Also taking first was senior co-captain Quinn Rowell on the high bar. For the second consecutive week, Rowell captured first place honors with a 9.600 on Saturday. Finally, senior Jock Stevens' 9.625 was good for first and keyed the Sooners' 37.225 tally on the floor exercise.

“I was very pleased with the guys performance and it is just another step towards another NCAA Championship,” added Williams. “Now go to Stanford and then host Illinois back in the field house, so if we can get through those we should be well on our way to defending our title. I like the way my guys have been finishing meets this season and we still have not hit our potential, which is encouraging because that shows we can still get better.”

The Sooners (10-0) hit the road next week, facing off with conference foe Stanford on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 9 p.m. (CST).