Hungry for a National Title

No. 1 Oklahoma at NCAA Championships \| April 10-12 \| Noon (Thu.), 6 p.m. (Fri., Sat.) CT
Location	Crisler Center (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
Tickets	Online: MGoBlue.com Phone: 734-764-0247 or 866-296-MTIX
Live TV	Big Ten Network (Friday session only)
Live Video	NCAA.com (All sessions)
Live Scoring	MGoBlue.com
Inside Access	@OU_MGymnastics
Championship Central	MGoBlue.com

NORMAN, Okla. -- Last season at the NCAA Championships, the Oklahoma men's gymnastics team finished the competition in second place. The Sooners were ecstatic – no one had predicted them to finish so well but a near-perfect meet had led to a spot just behind Michigan on the podium.

Coming into the 2014 NCAA Championships this weekend, Michigan is again the favorite – U.S. Senior National Team member Sam Mikulak, the country's all-around national champion, leads a host of returners for the Wolverines in their home gym in Ann Arbor.

But there's a different attitude for the Sooners this time around. Second place will not be a surprise. They want the title of National Champion.

“This year we have more start value, so we've closed the gap on us and Michigan,” said OU senior and co-captain Presten Ellsworth. “It's going to be a matter of consistency and hitting 30 of 30 routines. If we hit 30 for 30 and get 15 stuck landings I think we'll be on the No. 1 podium.”

Oklahoma is coming off another spectacular season full of big scores, having posted four of the top 10 scores in the nation this season. The Sooners have been consistent, too – they're the only team to have four meet with scores of 444.000 or better.

“I feel like we've trained to the point where they've been consistent,” said Williams, who has led OU to five national titles since 2000. “They've come in knowing what they have to do. You just have to find that magic that night and put it all together. There's not a lot of room for error with all the good teams that are here as well as the format for scoring.”

It all comes down to the next two days. On Thursday, OU will compete with five other programs in one of two sessions on the day. The top three teams in each session will advance to Friday. That day, scores will start fresh with the top team taking home the top prize.

“To win a national championship you have to have a special synergy going on in the midst of it where things start happening and is contagious,” Williams said. “The energy starts transferring from one guy to the next and you get on a roll and guys perform better than they've practice in the gym.”

The Sooners are deep, boasting 11 different gymnasts ranked in the top 20 nationally in at least one event. Defending still rings national champion Michael Squires is No. 1 again this year while junior Alec Robin comes in at No. 3 on floor. OU has four of its five floor rotation members in the top 10 in the country on the event, including senior Raymond White (No. 5), freshman Colin Van Wicklen (No. 6) and sophomore Kanji Oyama (No. 10).

Juniors Michael Reid and Sergey Resnick are both ranked in the top 10 on pommel horse. Resnick is also No. 6 on parallel bars with junior Danny Berardini right behind at No. 10.

Van Wicklen is the Sooners' top performer on vault, ranked No. 6 nationally. On high bar, junior William Clement is No. 7 with senior Stanton Rehkemper sitting at No. 11.

“We've got a junior class that's just huge and a senior class with experience so we know what we're doing,” Ellsworth said. “Sophomores there's just Kanji and he's an All-American so we can trust him out on the floor and we've got two freshmen competing for us, so overall we're experienced which should give us an advantage.”

In all, 12 current roster members have competed in the NCAA Championships for OU. Seven are All-Americans. But now, two days are all that stands between the Sooners and their ninth national title.

“I think it's all about what the team performance is within itself,” said OU head coach Mark Williams. “I just hope we perform the way we've been performing the entire season, settle into the competition and we'll see how it ends up.”

Players Mentioned

Danny Berardini

William Clement

Presten Ellsworth

Stanton Rehkemper

Stanton Rehkemper

Michael Reid

Alec Robin

Michael Squires

Colin Van Wicklen

Raymond White

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