No. 1 OU Faces Nebraska and Air Force

March 16, 2012

No. 1 Men's Gymnastics vs. No. 9 Nebraska/No. 11 Air Force
Date and Time	Saturday, March 17 at 7 p.m. (CT)
Location	Norman, Okla. \| McCasland Field House
Webcast	All-Access
Online	Live Scoring
Additional Info	Media Guide \| Meet Notes \| Blog \| Twitter \| Facebook

NORMAN, Okla.- The top-ranked Oklahoma men's gymnastics team hosts its final regular-season home meet on Saturday, March 17 at 7 p.m. against No. 9 Nebraska and No. 11 Air Force at the McCasland Field House.

Oklahoma (11-1, 4-0 MPSF) will look to cap off its fifth-straight undefeated home season with a tri-meet win. The meet will include a Senior Night presentation to honor the careers of Chad Crumley, Mike Heredia and Patrick Piscitelli. The three seniors are undefeated at the McCasland Field House.

OU defeated both the Huskers and the Falcons in the first meet of the season at the Rocky Mountain Open on Jan. 14 with a 343.700, topping Air Force's 333.300 and Nebraska's 331.300.

The final home meet of the regular season will be sponsored by the OU IT Store, which is providing plenty of promotions.

The OU IT Store will pay the price of admission for the first 100 fan in attendance that find the lucky lephrechaun outside of McCasland Field House along with handing out free green t-shirts. The first 250 fans will also receive free green OU cups with free small popcorns and sodas.

Saturday's meet will also feature a drawing where one lucky winner will win an Xbox and several fans will win a green iPod Nanos.

Oklahoma will honor seniors Chad Crumley, Mike Heredia and Patrick Piscitelli in a senior night ceremony before the start of the tri-meet.

Single-meet tickets ($8 Adult and $5 Youth) for all regular-season home meets are for general admission.

Tickets can be purchased online at SoonerSports.com or by calling the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (800) 456-GoOU. For more information on OU men's gymnastics, visit www.SoonerSports.com.

ON THE WEB
• Live scoring for the meet will be available on SoonerSports.com. A live webcast of the meet will also be available through OU All-Access.
• OU men's gymnastics' Twitter feed (@SoonerGymnasts) will provide up-to-date information throughout the meet.

GYMNAST TO WATCH - MIKE HEREDIA
Heredia, one of three seniors to compete in his final regular-season home meet, ranks in the top 20 in both of his specialized events. The senior is No. 14 on vault and No. 18 and on floor in the latest Troester rankings and is coming off of a career-high 15.150 on floor.

SCOUTING NEBRASKA
• The ninth-ranked Huskers (4-8, 1-4 Big Ten) are coming off of a season-high score of 344.700 in a tri-meet loss to No. 3 Illinois and No. 6 Minnesota.
• Nebraska ranks in the top 10 on four seperate events, including No. 5 on parallel bars and No. 7 on vault. The Huskers are No. 8 nationally on both floor exercise and high bar. Five Nebraska gymnasts are ranked in the top 20.

SCOUTING AIR FORCE
• The 11th-ranked Falcons (7-4, 1-0 MPSF) defeated a club team from Arizona State 335.600-321.600 their last time out. Air Force has won four-straight dual meets, although two of those wins have come against club teams that do not count toward its overall record.
• Three Falcons are ranked in the top 20, led by Devin Menefee at ninth on the still rings. Josh Ramos is tied for 15th on the parallel bars and James Okamoto is ranked 18th. Air Force is ranked fifth in its strongest event, rings, and 10th on high bar.

STILL ON TOP
For the eighth-straight week, Oklahoma is on top of the GymInfo Rankings. Below is a complete list of this week's rankings along with each school's three-score average.

1. OKLAHOMA (356.267)
2. Stanford (354.233)
3. Illinois (353.683)
4. Penn State (352.667)
5. Minnesota (346.567)
6. Minnesota (346.567)
7. Michigan (345.450)
8. California (345.233)
9. Nebraska (341.950)
10. Temple (340.300)
11. Air Force (337.967)
12. Iowa (335.700)
13. Illinois-Chicago (334.433)
14. Army (332.333)
15. William & Mary (328.833)

LAST TIME OUT
The top-ranked Oklahoma men's gymnastics team continued its hot streak with a 355.500-348.950 win over No. 8 Michigan at the Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday. The Sooners (11-1, 4-0 MPSF) totaled over a 355 for the third consecutive meet and swept all six events in their win over the eighth-ranked Wolverines (6-6, 4-3 Big Ten).

Oklahoma, who normally competes at the McCasland Field House, hosted the meet at the Lloyd Noble Center to preview the venue for the 2012 NCAA Championships, held at the LNC on April 19-21.

Junior Jake Dalton claimed three individual event titles on floor, vault and a shared title on parallel bars but barely fell to Michigan's Sam Mikulak in the all-around, 90.300-90.000. Mikulak, who tied Dalton for the p-bars crown, also took event titles on pommel horse and high bar.

DECORATED DALTON
The awards keep coming for Oklahoma junior Jake Dalton. For the third week in a row, Dalton was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Co-Gymnast of the Week after his performance against Michigan this past weekend.

Dalton has earned the conference honor for three weeks in a row and four times this season.

The junior claimed titles on floor, vault and a shared title on parallel bars but barely fell to Michigan's Sam Mikulak in the all-around, 90.300-90.000.

DALTON-LESS SOONERS
Oklahoma will be without Dalton this weekend, as he has been selected to represent the United States at the 2012 Kellogg's Pacific Rim Championships in Everett, Wash. The international event features more than 200 athletes in artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and trampoline, March 16-18, at the Comcast Arena and Comcast Community Ice Rink in Everett, Wash.

Dalton will be joined on the United States' three-man roster by Michigan's Sam Mikulak and former Sooner Chris Brooks (2006-2009). Brooks and Dalton were both members of the 2011 World Championship team that secured the United States a spot in the 2012 Olympics last October.

HOT AT HOME
After starting the season with four consecutive road meets, the Sooners have dominated their past three home meets. Oklahoma has rolled to three-straight home wins over Iowa (356.250-334.400), Stanford (357.050-351.400) and Michigan (355.500-348.950), averaging 356.267 points a meet. Oklahoma's past three point totals have been its highest three of the season.

Out of 18 events from the three meets, the Sooners claimed titles in 17, failing to top an opponent only once (pommel horse vs. Stanford).

BOUNCING BACK
It's been over a month since the Sooners' lone loss of the season to Illinois on Jan. 28, and OU is continuing to bounce back from the wake up call. Since the loss, the Sooners have gone 5-0 over a stretch of four meets, defeating four top-10 opponents, including two in the top five.

The Sooners have topped a 351 in all four meets, averaging a 355.100 over the span. Oklahoma has lost just five event titles while picking up 19 titles since the loss to the Fighting Illini.

FLOORING IT
Oklahoma has proven to be a force on the floor exercise, ranked No. 1 in the nation in the event and winning the event title in each of its seven meets of the 2012 season. Led by 2011 NCAA floor champion Jake Dalton, the Sooners have posted a 60 or higher in the event in five of its seven meets.

OU's dominance on floor is nothing new to the world of college gymnastics. The Sooners have claimed the event title in 25 straight regular-season meets. The last opponent to out-score
Oklahoma on floor was Minnesota on March 7, 2009.

ALL-AROUND EXCELLENCE
Not only are the Sooners the nation's top all-around team, but OU is also ranked in the country's top four in all six events, including the top two in four events. The Sooners are the top team on floor, parallel bars and rings and No. 2 on high bar. The Troester event rankings also have Oklahoma at No. 4 on vault and pommel horse.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
With 10 freshmen on OU's 18-man roster, the Sooners are looking for their younger gymnasts to make a quick transition to collegiate competition. The young Sooners are doing just that.

Six freshmen are ranked in the top 20 of at least one event in the GymInfo event rankings. Jacoby Rubin leads the way on high bar (5), pommel horse (10) and parallel bars (19) alongside Dylan Akers in all-around (8), high bar (T11) and pommel horse (12).

Michael Reid is 11th on pommel horse, Alec Robin is No. 14 on floor, Danny Berrardini is No. 18 on parallel bars and Will Clement is No. 17 on high bar.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Although the season started in early January, the Sooners began their season on the road for over a month. Oklahoma is now in a stretch of four-straight home meets over a course of four-straight weekends.

The Sooners haven't lost a regular-season meet at home in 18 meets, dating back to a loss to Ohio State on March 3, 2007.

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.

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

NEXT UP
OU closes out the regular season with a tri-meet against Ohio State and Minnesota in Minneapolis on March 24.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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