Sooners Dominate in Home Opener

1st

447.400

2

426.950
3

425.850
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Team Scores
	Oklahoma	Iowa	Cal
FX	76.400	71.700	71.100
PH	72.950	69.000	70.600
SR	76.050	71.350	69.400
VT	73.900	72.050	73.050
PB	73.350	70.450	70.500
HB	74.750	72.400	71.200
Total	447.400	426.950	425.850

Event Winners
Event	Gymnast	Score
FX	Colin Van Wicklen (OU)	15.550
PH	Allan Bower (OU)	15.400
SR	Oyama/Moldauer/Hoang (OU)	15.400
VT	Allan Bower (OU)	15.100
PB	Yul Moldauer (OU)	15.300
HB	Yul Moldauer (OU)	15.150
AA	Colin Van Wicklen (OU)	86.650

OU Team Highs
Event	Gymnast	Score
FX	Colin Van Wicklen	15.550
PH	Allan Bower	15.400
SR	Oyama/Moldauer/Hoang	15.400
VT	Allan Bower	15.100
PB	Yul Moldauer	15.300
HB	Yul Moldauer	15.150
AA	Colin Van Wicklen	86.650

NORMAN — The top-ranked Oklahoma men's gymnastics team dominated the field Saturday by posting a 447.400 in its first home meet of the year to best No. 6 Iowa (426.950) and No. 8 California (425.850) in front of 1,141 fans, including more than 300 students from Cleveland Elementary School, on Cleveland Night inside McCasland Field House.

“I think we made a statement,” head coach Mark Williams said. “We have a pretty big score both at home and away, so that will carry us in the rankings for a while. No one can say we are getting over scored. We are in a pretty good place, especially after replacing almost half our team from last year.”

The Sooners' team mark, coupled with their 448.350 at the Rocky Mountain Open, currently give them the two highest scores in the nation so far this season.

“We're not too focused on beating an opponent today or next week,” junior Colin Van Wicklen said. “We are focused on the end result. We want to be our best at the NCAA finals.”

For the third consecutive meet, OU took all six event titles and the all-around title. Van Wicklen won floor (15.550) and the all-around (86.650), junior Allan Bower took home pommel horse (15.400) and vault (15.100), freshman Yul Moldauer won parallel bars (15.300) and high bar (15.150) and senior Kanji Oyama, junior Thao Hoang and Moldauer all tied for the lead on rings with a mark of 15.400.

The Sooners (7-0, 2-0) started the meet on floor, their strongest event so far this season. High marks from freshman Levi Anderson (15.350, a career high), Bower (15.300, a career high), sophomore Hunter Justus (15.500) and Van Wicklen (15.550) pushed the Sooners to a team total of 76.400, their second highest team total this year. After the first rotation, the Sooners had opened a lead of more than five points. They would not look back

OU moved to pommel horse for the second rotation. Oklahoma had struggled a bit on the event in its first two meets, but made some improvements on Saturday, scoring a team total of 72.950, its highest of the year. Oklahoma was anchored by an OU season-high 15.400 from Bower, a 14.900 from senior Sergey Resnick and a career-best 14.450 from Moldauer.

Oklahoma continued to distance itself from the field on rings. For the second rotation in a row, the Sooners posted a season high, scoring 76.050. Justus (15.100), Hoang (15.400), Moldauer (15.400, a career high) and Oyama (15.400) all topped the 15-point mark for OU. At the midway point, Oklahoma led second-place Iowa by just over 13 points.

In the fourth rotation, Williams' bunch remained in control. The Sooners posted a team total of 73.900 on vault, getting high marks from Bower (15.100), Van Wicklen (15.050) and Hoang (14.950). OU's total was its lowest of the year by .100, but was higher than the current team scoring average of all but one other NCAA program (Michigan – 74.200).

OU didn't have its best day of the year on parallel bars but still posted a team total of 73.350, better than the current scoring average of all other NCAA programs. Moldauer led the way for OU with a 15.300. The Sooners also got strong marks from Bower (14.950) and Resnick (14.800). Heading to the final event of the night, Oklahoma held a 16-point lead over Iowa and was nearly 20 points clear of California.

On the last rotation of the night, the Sooners posted a team total of 74.750, their highest of the year on high bar, thanks in part to stuck dismounts and career highs from five of its six routines. Moldauer led the way with a career-best 15.150. OU also saw career highs from Anderson (15.000), senior Josh Yee (14.900), junior Alex Powarzynski (14.750) and freshman Genki Suzuki (14.650).

“I like to see all those stuck landings we had on high bar,” Williams said. “That adds up because it's an extra .200 for each guy. You add those to our team score and it's an extra point for our team. There's the separator.”

Cleveland Night is part of a "Partners in Education" program developed by Williams and Cleveland Elementary music teacher Regina Bell. OU gymnasts make weekly visits to the school to assist teachers with class activities and to help tutor students in math, grammar and reading. At the annual meet, Cleveland students serve as junior judges, score flashers, march-in leaders, junior PA announcers, award presenters and perform the national anthem.

OU will return home on Saturday, Feb. 6 when it hosts Nebraska. The meet is slated for a 5 p.m. CT start, and tickets are available for purchase online or by calling the OU Athletics Tickets Office at (405) 325-2424 or toll-free at (800) 456-GoOU.

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Players Mentioned

Levi Anderson

Allan Bower

Thao Hoang

Hunter Justus

Yul Moldauer

Alex Powarzynski

Genki Suzuki

Colin Van Wicklen

Josh Yee

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University of Oklahoma Athletics