University of Oklahoma Athletics

Saturday, January 17
Colorado Springs, Colo.
7:00 PM

University of Oklahoma

at

Rocky Mountain Open

No. 1 OU Dominates Rocky Mountain Open

No. 1 OU Dominates Rocky Mountain Open

January 17, 2015 | Men's Gymnastics

 



 

 
  FX PH SR V PB HB Total
 Oklahoma 72.900 73.650 75.450 73.000 73.400 73.150 441.550
 Air Force
72.850 68.200 71.900 72.850 72.150 69.900 427.150
 Nebraska
72.750 68.100 69.400 72.750 70.550 68.600 420.150
 Arizona St. 67.750 63.050 66.250 71.650 66.150 60.050 395.100
 SC United 63.350 58.050 64.200 62.800 61.450 54.450 364.300

 

 
 Event Winners
 Event  Gymnast  Score
 FX Colin Van Wicklen (OU) 15.150
 PH Michael Reid (OU) 15.350
 SR Michael Squires (OU) 16.300
 V Allan Bower (OU) 15.150
 PB Allen Bower (OU) 14.950
 HB Jacoby Rubin (OU) 15.050
 AA Thomas Hanson (ASU) 77.250
 
 Oklahoma Team Highs
 Event  Gymnast  Score
 FX Colin Van Wicklen 15.150
 PH Michael Reid 15.350
 SR Michael Squires 16.300
 V Allan Bower 15.150
 PB Allan Bower 14.950
 HB Jacoby Rubin 15.050

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.

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