Sooners Shine at Day One of the Winter Cup

LAS VEGAS — Competing individually, several Sooners put on impressive performances on a national stage, the Winter Cup. Allan Bower, Yul Moldauer, Alex Naddour, Kanji Oyama, Alex Powarzynski and Colin Van Wicklen qualified for the final session on Saturday at 9:00 p.m. CT.

Moldauer shined in Thursday's preliminary session. The junior — who competed on floor, pommel horse and still rings — showed why he was the defending Winter Cup champion. He tied for first on floor (14.700), second on still rings (14.200) and fifth on pommel horse (14.200). Based on his World Championships results, Moldauer has been automatically selected to the national team after he qualified for the Winter Cup finals.

“I am happy to have Yul back on the national team,” OU head coach Mark Williams said. “Our other guys have some work to do to regain their spots.”

Bower was OU's highest all-around scorer with an 82.600, ranking seventh overall. The alumnus finished fifth on floor (14.150) and parallel bars (13.850) respectively, and earned top-10 finishes on pommel horse (14.100) and vault (14.150).

Oyama followed Bower in 10th place with an 81.600 all-around score. He posted top-10 marks on still rings (13.600) and vault (14.600).

Van Wicklen placed 12th with a 79.950 all-around score. The 2017 graduate started the day off with a standout performance on vault (14.550) which tied for fourth and added two top-10 performances on still rings (13.750) and high bar (13.550).

Powarzynski's 78.650 earned him 14th place. His best performance came on floor where he notched a 13.900 and tied for seventh.

Former Olympian Naddour only competed in two events, but he finished in the top-five in both. His 15.300 on pommel horse ranked first and his 14.000 on still rings ranked fifth.

Signee Spencer Goodell put up a 74.200 during the morning session while fellow 2018 commit Morgan Seyler posted a 73.700 in the afternoon.

Performances at the 2018 Winter Cup Challenge will help determine the 12 men who will comprise the U.S. Men's Senior National Team through the 2018 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Boston, Aug. 16-19. The top six ranked all-around athletes will automatically qualify for the 2018 senior national team. The Men's Program Committee will select six more gymnasts from the participants at the Winter Cup Challenge or from petitions to the team.

The final session will take place Saturday at 9:30 p.m. Live scoring will be available throughout the Winter Cup. Follow the Sooners at the event on the official live stream on the USA Gymnastics YouTube channel.