Completed Event: Men's Gymnastics versus Ohio State on April 17, 2026 , Win , 322.825, to, 320.294


January 17, 2015 | Men's Gymnastics
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The top-ranked OU men's gymnastics squad opened its season in impressive fashion on Saturday evening at the Rocky Mountain Open at the Air Force Academy. The Sooners posted a team score of 441.550 to claim the title for the 15th straight season.
The Crimson and Cream's team total finished ahead of No. 11 Air Force (427.150), No. 10 Nebraska (420.150), No. 14 Arizona State (395.100) and No. 20 SC United (364.300).
“We settled down a little bit as we got started,” said head coach Mark Williams. “It had been a while since these guys had competed. I was pleased. High bar was a good event for us, pommel horse was a good event for us and we survived the other ones.”
Oklahoma's top-talent was on display all night, as the Sooners swept all-six individual event titles, as Allan Bower (vault and parallel bars), Colin Van Wicklen (floor exercise), Michael Reid (pommel horse), Michael Squires (still rings) and Jacoby Rubin (high bar) each earned first-place finishes.
“Mike (Squires) picked up where he left off. He had a great ring set,” said Williams. “Allen Bower was really steady all the way around. He's really a great competitor. Danny Berardini did the same thing, he is very good with hitting sets and using what we do in practice.
“I was really happy with Dylan Akers, who wasn't in the lineup at first and then got added at the last minute and did a good job. Thao Hoang did the same thing, he's not always in the lineup but he stepped up. Michael Reid again had a great pommel horse routine and Will Clement had a great high bar set.”
OU led from start to finish, scoring a 73.400 on the parallel bars to open up an early advantage. Bower (14.950), Kanji Oyama (14.800) and Dylan Akers (14.650) set the tone early for the squad. The team kept up the solid performances with a 73.150 on the high bar, which was highlighted by Rubin (15.050) and 2014 All-American Clement (14.900).
The Sooners' third rotation was the floor exercise, which yielded a score of 72.900, its lowest of the competition. However, Van Wicklen turned in a gutsy performance with a score of 15.150, as he battled through leg injuries.
Oklahoma quickly rebounded in the pommel horse and still rings apparatuses, recording its top two scores of the night with a 73.650 and 75.450, respectively. Pommel horse was the only event the Crimson and Cream posted multiple scores in the 15s, with 2014 runner-up Reid notching a 15.350 and Bower adding a 15.050.
On the rings, Danny Berardini (14.850) and Thao Hoang got the Sooners off to a good start. After two scores of 14.700 from Reese Rickett and Oyama, two-time defending national champion Mike Squires turned in a near-flawless performance on his ridiculously difficult routine to tie his career-best mark of 16.300.
The Sooners wrapped up the season-opener with the vault. OU's first score was a 14.250 and the marks proceeded to get better with each performance, culminating in a 15.150 from Bower to capture his second event title of the evening and put an exclamation mark on another Rocky Mountain Open championship.
The meet was not all smooth-sailing for the Sooners, as the squad battled illness and injuries before and during the competition. Two-time national champion Alec Robin was unable to compete due to flu-like symptoms and Kanji Oyama and Colin Van Wicklen battled preexisting injuries throughout the evening. During the meet Hunter Justus and Reese Rickett sustained injuries.
“We had some health issues, even in warmups and we had to make a lot of adjustments to our lineup on the fly and kind of ran out of bodies as we got into the competition,” said Williams. I'm really proud of the guys for showing a lot of fortitude and fighting through adversity. We ended up with a pretty good score. We put ourselves right out there but we got to get our guys healthy and to the point where everyone is more comfortable competing.”
“As we prepare for Stanford and Cal next weekend hopefully the guys who didn't travel this week are prepared because we are going to need them.”
No. 1 Oklahoma returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 24, as the team travels to the west coast to Palo Alto, Calif., to take on No. 4 Stanford, No. 8 California and No. 10 Nebraska in an early season test. The meet is slated to start at 6 p.m. CT.