Live Blog from the MPSF Championship


	2012 Men's Gymnastics Championship Saturday, April 7 at 6 p.m. (CT) Cadet Gym \| Colorado Springs, Colo.

Live Webcast | @SoonerGymnasts | on Facebook

Saturday, April 8

Although live scoring is not available for tonight's meet, SoonerSports.com and our Twitter feed (@SoonerGymnasts) will provide fans with team scores and frequent results for OU gymnasts throughout the meet.

Sixth Rotation | Pommel Horse

- SOONERS WIN! Oklahoma is your 2012 MPSF Champion. The Sooners now boast 19 conference titles, including 10 under Coach Williams. Full story will be on SoonerSports.com shortly.

- Oklahoma's unofficial score is a 355.600. Other scores being tallied now.

- Akers scores a 13.050 and the Sooners finish with a 57.750. Other teams still finishing up.

- Rubin scores a 13.600 and Dylan Akers will close out the team set for OU. Dalton will compete afterward to go toward his all-around total and it will not count toward OU's team score.

- Raymond White collects a 14.350. The Sooners have two gymnasts left and already boast a strong horse score of 57.750. The two lowest scores will be dropped after all six have gone.

- High pommel scores thus far from Ellsworth (14.300), Reid (14.450) and Nitzky (14.650).

- Here we go, time for the final rotation. Oklahoma is on pommel horse, Stanford is on p-bars, Cal is on high bar and Air Force is on vault.

Fifth Rotation | Floor

- Team standings after five rotations: 1. Oklahoma (297.850), 2. Stanford (292.800), 3. California (290.800), 4. Air Force (279.100). One more rotation to go.

- Huge score for Dalton on floor with a 15.800. The Sooners score a 60.600 in the event, their sixth-straight 60+ performance on floor.

- Tough break for Dylan Akers with a misstep on his final turn. The freshman still scores a 14.050. 2011 NCAA floor champion Jake Dalton up next.

- Raymond White with a 15.150 on floor. White's fourth-straight meet of totating a 15 or higher in the event.

- Solid start on floor for Oklahoma. Presten Ellsworth led it off with a 14.450 followed by Alec Robin's 15.050 and Mike Heredia's 14.600.

- The Sooners have led the whole meet and now work their way to their best event - floor. Air Force is on rings, Cal on p-bars and Stanford is on vault.

Fourth Rotation | High Bar

- Update on the individual all-around standings: 1. Dalton, OU (60.950), 2. Bailey, Cal (58.900), 3. Akers, OU (57.950), 4. Penev, Stanford (56.900), 5. Mannhart, Cal (55.200).

- Team scores through four rotations: 1. Oklahoma (237.250), 2. Stanford and Cal (233.350 each), 4. Air Force (221.700).

- OU collects its second-best high bar total of the year with a 58.750.

- Dalton sticks his landing and closes out Oklahoma's high bar set with a 15.200.

- Talk about freshmen stepping up! Will Clement scores a 14.450 and Dylan Akers scores a 14.800, the Sooners' two best high bar scores so far this meet.

- Ethan Jose scores a 14.300, Chris Stehl notches a 14.250 and Danny Berardini collects a 14.100.

- For the fourth rotation, OU will compete on high bar, Stanford on rings, Cal on vault and Air Force on the horse.

Third Rotation | Parallel Bars

- Team scores through three rotations: 1. Oklahoma (178.500), 2. Stanford (174.550), 3. California (174.050), 4. Air Force (166.950).

- Jake Dalton doing what he does best - putting up big scores. Dalton scores a 15.300 to boost the Sooners p-bars score to 59.350, their second-highest p-bars score of the year.

- Dylan Akers scores a 14.400 followed by Presten Ellsworth's 14.600 and Jacoby Rubin's 13.750.

- Freshman Danny Berardini brings it with a career-high 15.050.

- Piscitelli starts the Sooners off on p-bars with a season-high 14.400.

- The Sooners are on parallel bars for the third rotation with Air Force on floor, Cal on rings and Stanford on pommel.

Second Rotation | Vault

- Team scores after the second rotation: 1. Oklahoma (119.150), 2. Stanford (117.800), 3. California (115.950), 4. Air Force (111.050).

- Dalton collects a team-best 15.150 on vault to give the Sooners a 59.200 event total.

- Senior Mike Heredia and Patrick Piscitelli score 13.800 and 14.950, respectively. 2011 NCAA vault champion Jake Dalton is up next for OU.

- The Sooners start strong on vault with a 14.600 from Raymond White. Will Clement scores a 14.300 and Dylan Akers notches a 14.500.

- Oklahoma moves to vault for the second rotation. Stanford is now on floor, Air Force is on high bar and California is on pommel horse.

First Rotation | Rings

- Team scores after the first rotation: 1. Oklahoma (59.950), 2. California (59.650), 3. Stanford (56.850), 4. Air Force (55.850).

- Dalton has a big routine of his own and scores a 15.300. As a team, the Sooners scored a 59.950, their highest rings score in the past three meets.

- Nitzky sticks his landing to cap a great routine and earns a 15.150.

- Freshman Michael Squires posts a 14.450 and Chris Stehl scores a 14.950.

- Ellsworth kicks off the meet on rings with a 14.550 followed by a 14.500 from senior Patrick Piscitelli.

- Oklahoma will begin the meet on the rings with a lineup of Presten Ellsworth, Patrick Piscitelli, Michael Squire, Troy Nitzky and Jake Dalton.

- Stanford will begin on the high bar, California will be on floor and Air Force is on parallel bars.

- - -

4:45 p.m. | March In
There are only a few minutes left for warm-up before the teams lineup for the march in. Oklahoma is finishing its pre-meet warm-up on vault and rings.

3:00 p.m. | Arrival at the Gym
The Sooners are in the building! After a final lineup meeting with Coach Williams, the team is ready to warm up on the six events and prepare themselves for the start of the MPSF Championship in a little under two hours.

1:00 p.m. | Lunch and Down Time
After the morning stretch, the Sooners headed back to the hotel for lunch and a few hours of down time. The guys are scheduled to have a team meeting at 2:00 before heading over to the gym for the conference championship.

9:15 a.m. | Morning Stretch
Well, today is the day! The team has a very noticable energy with the conference championship just hours away. The team gathered for breakfast at the hotel at 7:30 this morning before changing and heading over to the gym for a morning stretch at 8:30.

Stretching and staying physically loose is key in gymnastics, so the team always heads to the gym on the morning of a meet to stretch out and get light touches on the apparatuses.

Similar to a morning shootaround in basketball or a football walkthrough, the morning stretch is an essential part of the team's meet-day routine.

Friday, April 7

9:00 p.m. | Dinner and Big Ten Championship
After practice, most of the team went to have dinner at a local restaurant to watch the Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Championship on the big screen.

No. 4 Illinois, the only team to beat the Sooners this season, won its fourth-straight Big Ten title with a 352.950. No. 8 Michigan, who Oklahoma has defeated twice this year, finished in second behind a 351.850. No. 1 Penn State took third with a 350.000.

3:00 p.m. | Altitude Adjustment
The Sooners are back at the Cadet West Gymnasium at the Air Force Academy for a second round of preparation. Although the Sooners were the only team at the gym during the morning session, all four squads are currently on site for workouts.

This workout plans on being more intense than the lighter one this morning and will serve as one of the final steps of preparation before tomorrow night.

The afternoon practice session will also help the Sooners adjust to the altitude of the Rocky Mountains. As mentioned in the team's entrance hallway, the Cadet West Gymnasium is 7,320 feet above sea level. For a reference, the University of Oklahoma is about 1,200 feet above sea level, making Colorado Spring's elevation over 1.15 miles (6,120 feet) higher than Norman.

1:00 p.m. | Lunch and Down Time
Following the morning workout, the team broke off for lunch at an outdoor shopping center across the street from the team hotel. After eating, the guys came back to the hotel and had some down time in their rooms to watch The Masters, do some homework and even take a quick nap before they head back to the Air Force Academy at 2:00.

9:30 a.m. | Friday Morning Workout
After a team breakfast at the hotel, the Sooners loaded up and headed for the Cadet West Gymnasium on the campus of the United States Air Force Academy for a morning stretch. The team used the morning session to get in light workout and stretching session before a full practice later this afternoon.

Upon arriving at Air Force's campus, the Sooners were greeted by an incredible view of the Rocky Mountains.

Thursday, April 6

10:00 p.m. | Travel Day
The team met at the Sam Viersen Gymnastics Center around 4:30 p.m. and hopped on shuttles to Will Rodgers World Airport for a direct flight to Denver. From Denver, the team drove 85 miles south to Colorado Springs. After checking into the hotel, the guys headed to their rooms to rest up for a full day of training on Friday.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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