Bower Sweeps Gymnast of the Week Honors

NORMAN – Oklahoma men's gymnastics senior Allan Bower earned NCAA and MPSF Gymnast of the Week honors after helping lead the Sooners to their 18^th consecutive Rocky Mountain Open title over the weekend. Bower posted an all-around score of 88.750, the highest in the nation, and won two events titles in the meet.

"Allan Bower was simply amazing."
- Head Coach Mark Williams

"Allan Bower was simply amazing," head coach Mark Williams said. "He posted almost as high an all-around score as he's ever had even with the rules changes."

“The scores were a little inflated, but I stuck a good amount of my routines so it was good,” Bower said. “I was excited and it was good to see the team had my back. They were behind me the whole time.”

The honors are the fifth and sixth of Bower's career. Most recently he was named NCAA and MPSF Gymnast of the Week after winning the all-around title at the MPSF Championship meet a year ago.

Competing for the first time under the new code of points, Bower put up huge scores all night, including three marks of 15.000 or better. There were only nine such scores in all of collegiate gymnastics last week.

The Chandler, Ariz., native started his meet with back-to-back scores of 15.350 on pommel horse and rings, taking the event title on both events. He backed up those eye-popping numbers with a 14.850 on vault in the third rotation and a 15.000 on parallel bars. He rounded out his meet with a 13.900 on high bar and a 14.300 on floor.

Bower's all-around score was the highest in the nation in NCAA gymnastics' first week of competition. He now ranks in the top three nationally on pommel horse (first), rings (first), vault (tied second) and parallel bars (third).

The Sooners are back in action this weekend as they travel to Lincoln, Neb., to take on the seventh-ranked Cornhuskers at 6 p.m. CT. Oklahoma opens its home slate on Jan. 28 at 6:50 p.m. CT inside the McCasland Field House when it hosts Michigan. 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.