No. 1 OU Advances to Team Final

Thursday, April 9

Norman

7:00 PM

University of Oklahoma

450.750

NCAA Prelims

April 09, 2015 | Men's Gymnastics

By: Athletics Communications

1st

450.750

2

437.000
3

435.050
4

432.450
5

427.900
6

408.500

Results

Photo Gallery

Highlights

Press Conference

Finals Tickets

Event Winners
Event	Gymnast	Score
Floor	Colin Van Wicklen (OU) Alec Robin (OU)	15.600
Pommel	Michael Reid (OU)	15.700
Rings	Michael Squires (OU)	16.300
Vault	Anthony Stefanelli (MICH)	15.300
P. Bars	Michael Reid (OU)	15.200
H. Bar	Jordan Valdez (ILL)	15.200
AA	C.J. Maestas (ILL)	89.400

OU Team Highs
Event	Gymnast	Score
Floor	Colin Van Wicklen Alec Robin	15.600
Pommel	Michael Reid	15.050
Rings	Michael Squires	16.300
Vault	Allan Bower	15.150
P. Bars	Michael Reid	15.200
H. Bar	Danny Berardini	15.150

NORMAN – The No. 1 Oklahoma men's gymnastics team scored a 450.750 to earn the top qualifying spot for the NCAA team finals on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Lloyd Noble Center. Tickets to Friday's session can be purchased here.

The Crimson and Cream are joined in the team finals by Michigan (437.000), Stanford (435.850), Iowa (435.050), California (433.700) and Penn State (432.900).

Oklahoma has now qualified for the team finals in all 16 years of head coach Mark Williams' tenure.

"I was fairly pleased with the performance tonight," Williams said. "There wasn't a lot of pressure knowing that we just needed to be in the top three to advance. Overall it was pretty fun to do gymnastics tonight. We are looking forward to have a chance to compete for a national title tomorrow."

The Sooners were dominant in the first round, earning individual titles on four out of the six events and tallying their third score of 450 or higher this season. Oklahoma remains the only team in NCAA history to accomplish a 450-plus score.

The Sooners set the tone for the night with an outstanding start on floor. All five competitors earned scores of 15-plus to post the second highest floor score in program history with a 76.700. Sophomore Colin Van Wicklen and senior Alec Robin led the way with a pair of 15.600s to share the top spot of the session, while Todd Dowdy (15.300), Hunter Justus (15.100) and Kanji Oyama (15.100) also added solid performances on the event.

On the pommel horse, senior Michael Reid earned the event crown with a stellar 15.700 while sophomore Allan Bower added a 15.050 to help contribute to a 74.200 on the apparatus.

Moving into the third rotation, Oklahoma tallied the third highest score in program history on the rings with a 76.300. To the surprise of no one, two-time defending national champion Michael Squires nailed his routine to match his career-best of 16.300 for the fourth time this season and secure the highest score of the session. In addition, Oyama stuck a solid routine to pull down a career-best 15.450.

A massive block and stuck landing from Bower notched the highest score for OU in the fourth rotation on vault, earning a 15.150. Just behind Bower, Dowdy vaulted a career-high 15.100 and Oyama (14.850), Josh Yee (14.800) and Van Wicklen (14.800) combined to boost the Sooners to a 74.700.

Owning a huge 10-point advantage after four rotations, OU moved to the parallel bars where Reid led the way with a 15.200 for the event title. Sergey Resnick added another 15-plus effort to the event with a 15.150 in front of a 14.950 from Dylan Akers to aid a 74.700 on the apparatus.

The Sooners capped the night on high bar with a final solid performance. A pair of 15-plus scores from Berardini (15.150) and Van Wicklen (15.050) led the OU to a 74.150 in the last rotation, securing a spot in Friday night's team final.

"I think we felt like it wasn't supposed to be the emotion al night," Williams said. "We wanted to keep that in check so that we are ready to go tomorrow night. These guys are in excellent condition. I actually expect them to feel a little better tomorrow because there will be more fans in the crowd. I think we actually can be better than we were today."

Oklahoma will look to earn its ninth national title on Friday at 7 p.m. CT. in the Lloyd Noble Center. More information about the NCAA Championships can be found at the Championship Central website.

Promotions
For Friday evening's team final, the first 100 students who present an Oklahoma ID will get in free. For the individual event finals on Saturday, fans who present an OU football spring game ticket stub will receive a discounted price of $5 for a ticket. Also, members of the U.S. Men's Gymnastics National Team will be present and signing autographs at the championships, including OU legends Jake Dalton and Steve Legendre.

On the TV/Web
Friday night's team final will be broadcast on TV on Fox College Sports Atlantic. Fans can find a live stream of all four sessions at www.ncaa.com. Live scoring will be available on SoonerSports.com. Live scores, updates and photos will be available on Twitter at @OU_MGymnastics.

Michael Squires Quotes

On if he knew that he would have such a good performance tonight:
“Just the kind of training I have been doing this semester is aimed at having me peak at these three meets. I just trust in the training and I felt good. That is my expectation going into tomorrow too. My body is ready and I just have to get ready in my mind.”

On the high scores on floor setting up the meet:
“It just gets the momentum going. It is easier to compete when there is less pressure to put up a big score. It feels like when we are in the gym. When we are in the gym we do perform like that. That is what makes it special. What we do in practice is what we put out in the meet. We don't have to try to change anything from what we do regularly. We just go out and perform the same way we do every day.”

On filling the gym with fans:
“It is immeasurable. You can't put a figure on it. It helps a ton. Having every body cheering for you—we hear that. You can't block that out completely. It definitely helps to motivate us. Especially when you are at the end of a set and you are breathing hard. It helps you keep fighting and land the dismounts.”

Michael Reid Quotes

On being part of a team to break 450 three times in a season:
“We love it. We feed off each other. We are a big family. We push each other to do better than we did in the last meet. It is great to see. We set out to qualify, which was the goal of the night. When the energy is going what happens, happens.”

On the high scores on floor setting up the meet:
“It feel great when every one goes up there and just competes. The next guy up just settles in and carries the evergy on to the next routine.”

On dealing with the pressure of being expected to win:
“With anyone else it might be a problem, but this team doesn't have that aspect. We all want it so badly. We did great today, but we want to do even better. It is just about pushing ourselves to do the best we can do.”