Crimson Wins Intrasquad Meet

OU Team Highs
Floor	Kanji Oyama	15.250
Pommel	Michael Reid	15.600
Rings	Mike Squires	15.950
Vault	Robin & Oyama	15.300
P Bars	Michael Reid	15.450
H Bar	Alec Robin	14.900

NORMAN -- The Oklahoma men's gymnastics team put on a show at its annual Crimson and Cream intrasquad meet at the Viersen Center on Sunday.

With six returning All-Americans and a number of new faces among the competitors for the Sooners, the crowd in attendance got its first look at the 2015 squad that is the preseason favorites heading into the upcoming season according to the latest CGA Coaches Poll.

Head coach Mark Williams was pleased by the effort and performances his team put forth in the preseason tune-up.

“I thought the team did well today,” said Williams. “With this being our first competition of the season, it was good to see some of the routines we executed today. We have a ways to go to get to the level we need to be at to compete for the NCAA Championship but today was a good starting point for us.”

The meet used a unique scoring set-up, as four gymnasts per team competed in each event and the top three scores were used for the team total.

Team Crimson came away the victors in the annual meet, defeating Team Cream by a final score of 267.2 to 265.35. Both teams turned in a number of solid routines on the afternoon, as the two squads combined for 11 sticks on dismounts throughout the competition.

Some of the individual highlights came from household names. Senior Mike Squires posted the highest score of the day with a 15.950 on the still rings, an event that he has won the last two event NCAA titles on. Another veteran who had a solid day was Michael Reid, who posted two wins on the day with a 15.600 on the pommel horse and a 15.450 on the parallel bars.

Other two event winners were Kanji Oyama and Alec Robin. Oyama led off the day with a 15.250 on the floor to grab the win and later tied for the top mark with Robin on the vault, as each totaled a 15.300. Robin claimed a victory in the final event of the day with a 14.900 on the high bar.

Williams also singled out the performance of freshman Hunter Justus, who was competing in his first event as a member of the Sooner squad.

“I was really pleased with how Hunter competed,” Williams said. "With this being his first collegiate competition, he did some nice things and turned in some strong performances. He will really help us in the upcoming season.

“The veterans also performed well. We return a lot of experience so I was happy to see them get off to a good start in their first live meet of the season with their routines today.”

The Sooners, 2014 NCAA national runners up and defending Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champions, will begin the regular season on Jan. 17 at the Rocky Mountain Open in Colorado Springs, Colo. OU's first home meet will be Feb. 14 against No. 2 Michigan at 5:30 p.m. at McCasland Field House.

Get inside looks at the Sooners throughout the season by liking the OU Men's Gymnastics Facebook page and by following the team on Twitter and Instagram using the handle @OU_MGymnastics.

Crimson Roster
Sergey Resnick
Todd Dowdy
Hunter Justus
Dylan Akers
Reese Rickett
Mike Squires
Alec Robin
Kanji Oyama

Cream Roster
Danny Berardini
Jacoby Rubin
Will Clement
Alex Powarzynski
Thoa Hoang
Xander Bakx
Mike Reid
Allan Bower
Colin Van Wicklen

Players Mentioned

Dylan Akers

Danny Berardini

Allan Bower

Todd Dowdy

Hunter Justus

Alex Powarzynski

Michael Reid

Michael Reid

Reese Rickett

Alec Robin

Alec Robin

Jacoby Rubin

Colin Van Wicklen

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics