Three Qualify for U.S. Team at Winter Cup

LAS VEGAS — After an exciting two-day competition, a trio of former and current OU men's gymnasts qualified for the U.S. Senior National Team at the final session of the Winter Cup Saturday night.

Yul Moldauer, Allan Bower and Alex Naddour will represent the United States through the 2018 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Boston, Aug. 16-19.

Moldauer and Bower will also compete in the American Cup on March 3 in Chicago, Ill.

Junior Moldauer automatically qualified for the national team on Thursday based on his performance in the World Championships, marking his third straight year on the U.S. Senior National Team. In his only event of the night, pommel horse, Moldauer earned a 14.050, bringing his two-day total on the event to 28.250.

Bower made the team for the second straight year by virtue of his fourth-place finish in all-around competition, scoring a 165.600. The alumnus finished in the top 10 in each of his events, finishing fourth on floor (28.250), sixth on pommel horse (28.350) and parallel bars (27.750), seventh on vault (28.400), and ninth on still rings (26.600) and high bar (26.250).

Former Olympian Naddour was selected to the national team by the Men's Program Committee. He competed on pommel horse (28.600) and still rings (28.400), finishing in the top-five in both events.

Kanji Oyama finished 10th with an all-around score of 162.100. The former Sooner shined on parallel bars, earning a second-place finish with a 29.050. He rounded out his performance by tying for seventh on still rings (26.650) and eighth on parallel bars (27.400).

Alex Powarzynski totaled 158.350, ranking 12th overall. His best performance came on vault (28.150) where he tied for 10th.

OU returns to NCAA action at McCasland Field House on Saturday, Feb. 24 when it hosts Navy. To purchase tickets to Oklahoma home meets, call the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (405) 325-2424 or (800) 456-GoOU, or click here.