University of Oklahoma Athletics

Team USA in Second After Qualifying

Team USA in Second After Qualifying

August 06, 2016 | Men's Gymnastics

By: Wes Moody

Qualifying Team Scores
Country Score
1. China 270.461
2. United States 270.405
3. Russia 269.612
4. Japan 269.294
5. Great Britain 268.670
6. Brazil 268.078
7. Ukraine 263.002
8. Germany 261.518

RIO DE JAINERO ? Team USA sits in second place after Saturday's round of qualifying at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Jainero. Scoring a team total of 270.405, the United States men's gymnastics team trails first-place and defending Olympic champion China (270.461) by less than one tenth of a point and leads 2015 World Champion Japan.

“We just needed one more pommel horse routine and I would have said it was a great day,” University of Oklahoma and Team USA head coach Mark Williams said of the American's solid start. “Coming out of this having two mistakes--that means we can get better.”

The U.S. had two misses on pommel horse, but was solid on all five other events including parallel bars, where it's turned in four routines of more than 15 points.

Two Americans qualified for the all-around finals, the max allowed per country. Former Sooner Chris Brooks finished 19th and Sam Mikulak qualified in seventh. The events finals will be full of former Oklahoma gymnasts as well. Jake Dalton qualified for floor, finishing second with a 15.600 and Alex Naddour qualified for pommel horse finals with a 15.366.

The team sat in a similar position after qualifying in 2012 at the Olympic Games in London, sitting in first place after the first night of competition. On the night of team finals, several missteps kept Team USA from finding the medal stand and the team finished in fifth. They are determined not to let history repeat itself.

“We're not going to be complacent this time,” said Mikulak. “We're going to make sure we come in with a chip on our shoulder. We still have done nothing but qualify, and that's all that matters. It doesn't matter if we're first, second, third or fourth today. It's making sure we come out hungrier than ever in team finals.”

Team finals begin at 2 p.m. CT on Monday. The event can be live streamed here. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. CT on NBC.

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