No. 1 OU Faces Conference Foes in California

Feb. 10, 2012

No. 1 Men's Gymnastics at No. 7 California and No. 5 Stanford
Date and Time	Sunday, Feb. 12 at 2:00 p.m. CT
Location	Haas Pavilion \| Berkeley, Calif.
Watch Live	N/A
Online	Live Scoring
Additional Info	Media Guide \| Meet Notes \| Blog \| Twitter \| Facebook

NORMAN, Okla. - The top-ranked Oklahoma men's gymnastics team looks to bounce back from their first loss of the season when they take on No. 5 Stanford and No. 7 California in a conference tri-meet Sunday at 2 p.m. CT in Berkeley, Calif.

Oklahoma (6-1, 1-0 MPSF), ranked No. 1 in the GymInfo Rankings, will face a top-five opponent for its third meet in a row in No. 5 Stanford (4-2, 2-1 MPSF). The Sooners defeated then-No. 2 Ohio State on Jan. 21, 353.150-346.750, and fell to No. 2 Illinois on Jan. 28 Illinois, 349.800-347.700.
Stanford handed the Sooners their only two losses of the 2011 season at the MPSF Conference Championship and NCAA Championships.

All three squads had a week off from NCAA competition and sent individual gymnasts to the 2012 Winter Cup Challenege in Las Vegas. The Winter Cup served as a re-ranking of the current 15-member U.S. National Team.

ON THE WEB
Live scoring for the meet will be available on CalBears.com. OU men's gymnastics' Twitter feed (@SoonerGymnasts) will provide up-to-date information throughout the meet.

GYMNAST TO WATCH - JAKE DALTON
Dalton is currently ranked No. 1 in the all-around in the latest Troester Rankings. The Reno, Nev., native also holds the top ranking on floor and the No. 3 spot for high bar.

SCOUTING STANFORD
Through three meets, the Cardinal is the top team in the nation on vault, averaging a 58.850 in the event. Individually, Sean Senters is ranked No. 1 on vault and teammate Eddie Penev is ranked No. 2. Penev is also ranked No. 2 in the all-around with an 87.317 average, trailing only OU's Jake Dalton in the Troester Rankings.

SCOUTING CALIFORNIA
The Golden Bears have posted strong scores on pommel horse behind Glen Ishino, the country's top-ranked gymnast on the apparatus. Ishino claimed the pommel horse title last weekend at the 2012 Winter Cup.

STILL ON TOP
Despite suffering its first loss of the season this past weekend to No. 2 Illinois, the Oklahoma men's gymnastics team retained its No. 1 spot in the most recent GymInfo Rankings. Below is a complete list of this week's rankings along with each school's average score from this season.

No. 1 Oklahoma (348.183)
No. 2 Illinois (348.000)
No. 3 Penn State (346.750)
No. 4 Ohio State (346.125)
No. 5 Stanford (342.800)
No. 6 Minnesota (340.967)
No. 7 California (340.117)
No. 8 Michigan (339.367)
No. 9 Temple (336.550)
No. 10 Air Force (334.250)
No. 11 Nebraska (333.483)
No. 12 Iowa (325.033)
No. 13 Illinois-Chicago (324.567)
No. 14 Army (323.900)
No. 15 Navy (317.750)

LAST TIME OUT
Oklahoma suffered its first loss of the season on Jan. 28, falling to No. 2 Illinois, 349.800-347.700, in Champaign, Ill. Oklahoma led the Fighting Illini through the first five of the six rotations before Illinois scored a 61.400 on high bar to knock off the nation's No. 1-ranked team. The tri-meet marked the Sooners first regular-season loss since falling to Stanford on March 7, 2010.

LEGENDRE AND DALTON CONTINUE OLYMPIC PUSH
Former Oklahoma gymnast Steven Legendre continued to make a name for himself in his pursuit of a spot on the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team by taking second place in the all-around and claiming two event titles at the 2012 Winter Cup in Las Vegas last weekend.

The Winter Cup determines the 15 gymnasts who will comprise the U.S. Men's Senior National Team through the 2012 Visa Championships in June. The seven members of the 2011 World Championships Team, which includes Legendre and Jake Dalton will automatically retain their spots on the national team.

Due to his automatic qualification, 2011 Winter Cup Champion Dalton did not compete in his two strongest events, floor exercise and vault, which he won NCAA and USA titles in last season.

RUBIN STANDING OUT IN YOUNG LINEUP
With Oklahoma's 18-man roster featuring 10 freshmen, the Sooners are looking to some of their newcomers to step up in their debut season. Freshman Jacoby Rubin of Buffalo Grove, Ill., is doing just that, currently sitting in the top 15 of the Troester Rankings for four different events - high bar (6), parallel bars (12), rings (13) and pommel horse (15).

DALTON DECORATED WITH HONORS
Jake Dalton was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Gymnast of the Week on Jan. 24 after a dominant performance this past Saturday against No. 2 Ohio State.

Dalton was the second-straight Sooner to be awarded Gymnast of the Week honors by the MPSF. Junior Chris Stehl claimed the honor the week before after winning the all-around at the Rocky Mountain Open. The MPSF is the hybrid conference that OU men's gymnastics competes in with Air Force, California and Stanford.

Dalton was also recognized by the College Gymnastics Association as its NCAA Gymnast of the Week and was named CollegeSports360.com's Primetime Performer of the Week.

OU KNOCKS OFF NO. 2 OHIO STATE
Oklahoma continued its hot start to the 2012 season by taking down No. 2 Ohio State on Jan. 21 in Columbus, Ohio, 353.150-347.750. The Sooners swept all six team event titles and scored almost 10 points higher than their season-opener total in Colorado the week before.

OU was led by Dalton, who took home five event titles (floor, rings, vault, parallel bars and high bar) along with the all-around title with an 89.000.

PRESEASON NO. 1
Oklahoma has been awarded the No. 1 preseason ranking five previous times under Head Coach Mark Williams. In four of those seasons, OU went on to win the NCAA title (2001, 2002, 2005, 2006). Below is the top-15 of the GymInfo Preseason Coaches Poll.

NEXT UP
The Sooners have a week off before hosting Iowa for OU's home opener. The meet has been marked as Student Night, where the first 100 OU students will receive a free OU t-shirt. Fifty-cent hot dogs and cokes will also be available for all fans in attendance.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

No. 1 OU Faces Conference Foes in California

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