Title Defense Begins Friday at NCAA Prelims

No. 1 Oklahoma at NCAA Preliminaries

Teams (with NCAA seeds): No. 4 Cal, No. 5 Minnesota, No. 8 Penn St., No. 9 Nebraska, No. 12 Navy

April 15 | Session I | Noon CT | Columbus, Ohio | St. John Arena

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NOTES AND NUMBERS FOR MEET 10

THE MEET

The No. 1 Oklahoma men's gymnastics team makes a return trip to Columbus, Ohio, this weekend with national titles hopes hanging in the balance. The Sooners will compete as the No. 1 overall seed at the NCAA preliminaries in the first of two prelim sessions on Friday, April 15 at noon CT. Joining OU in the early session are No. 5 Cal, No. 6 Minnesota, No. 8 Penn State, No. 9 Nebraska and No. 12 Navy. A second session will be held Friday evening with No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 6 Illinois, No. 10 Air Force and No. 11 Michigan competing. The top three teams from each session will advance to Saturday's final.

FIVE STRAIGHT

The Sooners are rested and ready after having a week off following their fifth consecutive MPSF Conference title. Two weeks ago OU traveled to Palo Alto, Calif., and posted an MPSF Conference Championship-record 448.050 to secure its 14th conference title in head coach Mark Williams' 17 seasons at the helm. At the conference championship, the Sooners started relatively slowly and sat in third place after two rotations. That wouldn't last long however as OU posted big scores on the remaining four rotations, including an NCAA-record 77.00 on parallel bars. The Sooners posted the highest score of the night on four events and eventually won by nearly four points.

INDIVIDUAL TITLES

Three Sooners came up with individual conference titles at the MPSF Championship. Junior Allan Bower won the all-around title with a score of 90.100. Bower tuned in his best score on parallel bars (15.600), helping push OU to its record total on the event. Senior Kanji Oyama earned his third straight conference title on vault, scoring a 15.400. The win marked Oyama's first event title of the season on vault. The highest score of the night came from freshman Yul Moldauer, who scored 16.100 on p-bars to claim the title. Moldauer's big score is the nation's highest of the year on parallel bars. Additionally, Williams was named the MPSF Coach of the Year for the second year in a row and the 12th time in his career.

MATCHUPS AT A GLANCE
	OU	Cal	Minnesota	Penn State	Nebraska	Navy
Preseason Rank	1	7	8	6	11	13
NCAA Seed	No. 1	No. 4	No. 5	No. 8	No. 9	No. 12
4-Score Avg.	448.800	434.313	434.113	430.263	429.825	419.400
2016 Team High	452.350	442.150	438.500	433.600	437.300	424.100

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

OU is the only team in NCAA history to top the 450-point mark in NCAA competition. Oklahoma did so for the fifth time in program history in its March 11 meet with No. 3 Ohio State and No. 10 Air Force, scoring 451.200. That mark is the fourth highest in NCAA history. The Sooners also topped the historic mark in their last home meet of the year, scoring 452.350 against No. 2 Stanford. That mark is the third highest ever, just behind OU's NCAA record of 457.300 from Feb. 27, 2015 and the 456.400 it put up on Feb. 14, 2015 against Michigan. The Sooners also scored 450.750 during the NCAA prelims on March 14, 2015.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

Senior Kanji Oyama was a big reason for the Sooners' big total against Stanford, a meet that served as Senior Night for OU. The Huntington Beach, Calif., native posted the nation's then-highest all-around score of the year, notching a 91.100 to set a career high. He also claimed the event title on rings with a 15.600. Oyama scored at least 14.850 on every event and was named both MPSF and NCAA Gymnast of the Week for his performance. Oyama was also named MPSF Gymnast of the Week on Feb. 9 after Oklahoma's meet with Nebraska.

WIRE TO WIRE

The Sooners have been ranked No. 1 in all 13 CGA coaches polls this season and have also occupied the top spot in the standings every week since beginning the year with a win at the Rocky Mountain Open in January.

NATIONAL TEAM PRESENCE

The Sooners had a successful weekend at the 2016 Winter Cup. Freshman Yul Moldauer earned a place on the U.S. Senior National Team with a fourth-place finish in the all-around and four Sooner alums, including assistant coach Steven Legendre and broadcaster Jake Dalton, were also named to the senior squad. Junior Allan Bower placed eighth in the all-around with a two-day mark of 172.800 while senior Kanji Oyama came in 11th with a score of 170.400. Freshman Levi Anderson was also in contention and turned in a solid 166.800 to place 16th. Junior Colin Van Wicklen and sophomore Hunter Justus also competed at the Winter Cup, but did not take part in the all-around. Van Wicklen posted his best marks on vault with a 14.950 and 15.350, while Justus performed best on floor with a first-day mark of 14.600.

STANDOUT FRESHMAN

Arvada, Colo., native Yul Moldauer has made quite an impression early in his collegiate career. At the Rocky Mountain Open in week one, Moldauer took the all-around title with a tournament-record of 90.150. After his impressive debut, Moldauer was named NCAA Gymnast of the Week. In the Sooners' second meet, Moldauer continued his winning ways as he grabbed the all-around title at No. 10 Michigan with a mark of 88.550 and also won the parallel bars with a 2016 team-high 16.000. At the 2016 Winter Cup, Moldauer placed fifth in the all-around with a two-day total of 174.350. His score was third best among NCAA competitors and earned him a place on the U.S. Senior Men's National Team. He has scored 16.000 or better on parallel bars three times this season, including once at the MPSF Championship to earn the conference title. Moldauer currently ranks in the top 10 nationally on floor, rings, parallel bars and high bar.

ROAD TESTED

Oklahoma picked up a top-10 road win Jan. 23 as it traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich., to beat the 10th-ranked Wolverines, 444.400-427.850. The Sooners swept the individual titles with Colin Van Wicklen winning floor (15.400), rings (14.850) and vault (15.500), Allan Bower taking the pommel horse (15.000) and Yul Moldauer claiming parallel bars (16.000), high bar (14.950) and the all-around (88.550).

The Sooners also picked up a big road win at No. 3 Ohio State. OU posted the fourth-highest team total in NCAA history to take down the Buckeyes on their Senior Night. The meet was held at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio. St. John Arena will be the host site of the 2016 NCAA Championships in April and Oklahoma is hopeful it can reproduce that success again.

The Sooners grabbed a third true-road win in their last regular season meet, topping No. 5 Illinois in Champaign, Ill. OU posted 444.750 to take down the Illini. Junior Allan Bower scored a 89.700 to take the all-around title, a performance that earned him MPSF and NCAA Gymnast of the Week honors.

DEFEND FOR 10

Oklahoma claimed its ninth NCAA championship in 2015 and will look to secure its 10th this weekend. The 2015 OU squad was one of the best in program history. The team went 26-0 on the year en route to its 22nd conference title and the NCAA crown. The Sooners turned in dominant performances all season, including setting the NCAA single-meet scoring record in back-to-back meets during the regular season. In total, 11 different Sooners took home 14 All-America honors and Michael Squires (rings) and Michael Reid (pommel horse) both claimed NCAA event titles.

FRESH FACES

One reason for OU's success this season is its crop of talented freshmen (Levi Anderson, Peter Daggett, Eric Holley, William Kell, Yul Moldauer and Genki Suzuki). Moldauer has been a vital contributor for Oklahoma while Anderson and Suzuki have also pitched in on select events.

Title Defense Begins Friday at NCAA Prelims