No. 1 OU Wins Fourth Straight MPSF Title

Saturday, March 28

Colorado Springs, Colo.

6:00 PM

University of Oklahoma

MPSF Conference Championships

No. 1 OU Wins Fourth Straight MPSF Title

March 28, 2015 | Men's Gymnastics

By: Athletics Communications

	FX	PH	SR	V	PB	HB	Total
Oklahoma	75.050	73.150	73.800	75.800	73.150	74.550	447.400
Stanford	74.550	69.200	73.400	74.150	73.150	72.700	437.150
California	74.600	69.300	71.200	73.150	71.900	72.550	432.700
Air Force	73.050	71.200	68.600	71.700	70.400	70.200	425.150

Event Champions
Event	Gymnast	Score
FX	Akash Modi (STAN)	15.500
PH	Michael Reid (OU)	15.750
SR	Michael Squires (OU)	15.500
V	Bower (OU) & Oyama (OU)	15.400
PB	Akash Modi (STAN)	15.650
HB	Danny Berardini (OU)	15.400
AA	Akash Modi (STAN)	90.400

Oklahoma Team Highs
Event	Gymnast	Score
FX	Todd Dowdy	15.450
PH	Michael Reid	15.750
SR	Michael Squires	15.550
V	Bower & Oyama	15.400
PB	Allan Bower	15.250
HB	Danny Berardini	15.400

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Sooners moved one step closer to capturing a perfect season on Saturday by capturing their fourth consecutive MPSF Championship on Saturday evening in Colorado Springs, Colo. No. 1 ranked Oklahoma claimed the conference crown by scoring a 447.400.

No. 2 Stanford took second with a mark of 437.150, No. 7 California finished third (432.700) and No. 10 Air Force came in fourth (425.150).

“We came out ready and looked well prepared,” said head coach Mark Williams. “We competed really well. We kind of cruised through it like we have been throughout the year. I am very happy with my team and am looking forward to the next step, moving on to the NCAAs taking a great team into the championship.”

With the title, the Crimson and Cream continued its dominant run at the conference championships, winning their 22nd conference crown and their 14th of the past 16 seasons. The Oklahoma seniors have never lost at the MPSF Championships.

“These seniors have been awesome,” Williams said. “Having seven of them, it's been a pleasure to be around them. Being able to win a conference championship every year that they have been here is really impressive. They are a great group to be involved with and to coach and I'm hoping that we keep pushing forward and have a little bit more in for NCAAs.”

After the meet, Williams was named the MPSF Coach of the Year.

As dominant as Oklahoma was as a team, it was nearly as great in the individual event titles. The Sooners captured four of the six crowns on the individual events. Michael Reid posted the highest score of the meet on pommel horse with a 15.750. Michael Squires won his eighth rings title in as many meets this season with a 15.550. Danny Berardini claimed the high bar championship with a 15.400 and Allan Bower and Kanji Oyama split the vault title with a matching 15.400.

Bower took second in the all-around competition with a score of 88.800, while Stanford's Akash Modi took the all-around title with a mark of 90.400.

The Sooners couldn't have asked for a much better start, posting a team score of 75.050 on the floor exercise. Oklahoma was paced by Dowdy, who nearly reached his career-best score with a great routine to earn a 15.450. Teammate Kani Oyama nearly matched Dowdy by scoring a 15.350. Other quality routines were turned in by Bower (15.000) and Justus (14.950).

After a great first rotation, the Crimson and Cream moved to one of the more difficult apparatuses in the pommel horse. The Sooners recorded a mark of 73.150 on the event off one great routine from Reid and three solid performances. Reid was masterful on the pommel horse to win the event title with a 15.750. Sergey Resnick added a 14.850 and Alec Robin and Bower each produced a 14.650.

Oklahoma moved to rings for the third apparatus of the evening and while OU lacked the huge scores as a team on the event, it managed to produce a quality score of 73.800. Squires was excellent as usual, notching a 15.550 to stay perfect on the event this season.

After methodically building a team lead through the first half of the meet, the Sooners blew it wide open after their remarkable vaults in rotation four. The Crimson and Cream posted a score of 75.800, setting a program record on the apparatus. Josh Yee and Thao Hoang got Oklahoma off to a good start with a 14.950 and 15.000 respectively. Todd Dowdy followed with a 15.050 before Bower and Oyama posted back-to-back scores of 15.400 to send the team into an uproar. The Sooners recorded sticks on four of the five vaults.

“As a team that was probably the best vaulting performance we have ever had,” Williams said. “It is really fun when guys stick the landing. It gave us a lot of energy that made the parallel bars and high bar a little easier and feeling like we had a little bit of room.”

After opening a large lead, the squad knew it just needed to keep hitting routines and that is exactly what OU managed to do. The Sooners notched three scores above 15 on the parallel bars, their fifth event of the night. Bower led the way with a 15.250 followed by scores of 15.100 from Berardini and Resnick.

Oklahoma capped off the evening with the high bar to secure the MPSF title. After three scores between 14.550 and 14.950, Berardini captured the team's fourth event title with a 15.400 on the apparatus after a wonderful set. Will Clement then put the exclamation mark on the evening with a 15.050 to give OU it's fourth conference crown in as many years.

“I think we are going to have that kind of energy at NCAAs and I am excited for the possibilities and glad we are going to back home and hope we can get a good crowd at Lloyd Noble on April 10th,” said Williams.

OU will return home and turn its focus to the NCAA Championships, as the squad tries to win it's ninth national title. The Sooners will host the NCAAs in Norman at the Lloyd Noble Center from April 9-11. Purchase tickets here.