Sooners Roll at Rocky Mountain Open

1st

448.350

2

424.700
3

420.300
4

403.650
5

399.700
6

392.250

Team Scores
	FX	PH	SR	VT	PB	HB	TOTAL
OU	77.900	72.400	75.050	76.100	74.550	72.350	448.350
AF	73.400	69.650	71.500	72.550	69.150	68.450	424.700
NU	74.000	65.700	68.150	71.600	71.500	69.350	420.300
ASU	72.100	63.250	65.600	70.800	67.900	64.100	403.650
OUclub	69.100	64.600	66.450	68.050	68.400	63.100	399.700
WU	69.500	62.050	64.850	66.350	65.500	64.000	392.250

Event Winners
Event	Gymnast	Score
FX	Colin Van Wicklen (OU)	15.900
PH	Sergery Resnick (OU)	15.200
SR	Thao Hoang (OU)	15.300
VT	Hunter Justus (OU)	15.450
PB	Yul Moldauer (OU)	15.600
HB	Josh Yee (OU)	14.750

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The top-ranked OU men's gymnastics squad opened its 2016 season with a strong performance on Saturday evening at the Rocky Mountain Open. The Sooners posted a team score of 448.550 to claim the title for the 17th straight season.

OU's total finished comfortably ahead of No. 10 Air Force (424.700), No. 11 Nebraska (420.300), No. 15 Arizona State (403.650), the OU club team (399.700) and No. 19 Washington (392.250).

“It was a good opening meet,” Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams said. “I am glad to see some of the freshmen stepping into important roles quickly and handling the competition at the collegiate level pretty well. We have things we have to work on, but I am pleased we came out pretty healthy and with a score that will put us right up at the top of the rankings.”

Oklahoma's talent was evident all night, as the Sooners claimed all six individual event titles plus the all-around. Junior Thao Hoang (rings), sophomore Hunter Justus (vault), freshman Yul Moldauer (parallel bars), redshirt senior Sergey Resnick (pommel horse), junior Colin Van Wicklen (floor) and senior Josh Yee (high bar) each earned first-place finishes. Moldauer, who was making his collegiate debut, took the all-around title with a 90.150 and Justus came in second with an 88.000.

“It was really exciting,” Moldauer said. “I haven't competed on a team before, because at my club gym it was more individual. I'm happy with my performance overall, but there are things we need to work on and that will come as we work towards nationals. I think we're in a good spot, we just need to keep working.”

The Sooners got off to a bit of a slow start, notching a team total of 72.400 on pommel horse. OU was anchored by a career-high mark of 15.200 from Resnick and strong routines from Bower (14.700), Oyama (14.300) and Yee (14.250, a career high).

The second rotation saw the Sooners get momentum rolling as they posted 75.050 on rings with three routines over the 15.000 mark. Hoang led the way for Oklahoma with a 15.300 while Justus and Moldauer scored 15.250 and 15.150, respectively.

One of the highlights of the night for OU came on vault where the Sooners racked up a total of 76.300, half a point higher than their best vault total last season (75.800 at the MPSF Championships). Justus started things on a high note with a stuck landing and a career-high 15.550. The mark shattered the previous Rocky Mountain Open record of 15.100 set by Bower in 2015. Justus was followed by four more solid vaults from Hoang (15.100, a career high), Oyama (15.150), Moldauer (15.200) and Bower (15.300).

Freshman Yul Moldauer made quite a splash in his collegiate debut, winning the event title on parallel bars and taking the all-around title.

OU moved on to parallel bars riding a wave of momentum. The Sooners got strong contributions from Bower (14.950), Oyama (14.900) and Justus (14.700) before Moldauer notched a 15.600 to tie the Rocky Mountain Open record, set by Resnick in 2014. The Sooners' strong marks on parallel bars gave them a team total of 298.300 after four rotations and more than a 10-point lead over second-place Nebraska.

On the Sooners' penultimate rotation, high bar, Yee led the way with a career-high 14.750. Oklahoma also got solid routines from a pair of freshmen making their collegiate debuts in Levi Anderson (14.700) and Genki Suzuki (14.450).

The Sooners wrapped up their season opener on what has traditionally been one of Oklahoma's biggest strengths, the floor exercise. The Crimson and Cream did not disappoint, totaling its highest score of the meet with a 77.900. Colin Van Wicklen anchored the Sooners with a 15.900, just .050 off Steven Legendre's 2010 Rocky Mountain Open record. OU also got high marks from Justus (15.650), Anderson (15.300), Oyama (15.450) and Moldauer (15.600).

“We had some mistakes and started off rough, but we finished strong and I think we made a statement,” Resnick said. “We are going to go into the gym and work on those mistakes so they don't happen again. We'll come out stronger for Michigan.”

The Sooners are back in action this weekend as they travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., to take on the fifth-ranked Michigan Wolverines on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 4 p.m. CT. Oklahoma's home opener is slated for Saturday, Jan. 30 at 5 p.m. CT at McCasland Field House. Tickets are available for purchase online or by calling the OU Athletics Tickets Office at (405) 325-2424 or toll-free at (800) 456-4668.

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Players Mentioned

Levi Anderson

Thao Hoang

Hunter Justus

Yul Moldauer

Genki Suzuki

Colin Van Wicklen

Josh Yee

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics