OU Heads to Navy for First Time on Saturday

No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 10 Navy

March 16 | 1 p.m. CT | Annapolis, Md. | Macdonough Hall

MATCHUP AT A GLANCE
	Oklahoma	Navy
Standings	No. 2	No. 10
Coaches Poll	No. 1	No. 10
Season High	425.700	408.500
4-Score Avg.	415.267	400.550
Floor 4-Score Avg.	70.867	67.750
Pommel Horse 4-Score Avg.	66.267	66.200
Rings 4-Score Avg.	69.683	66.550
Vault 4-Score Avg.	72.317	70.017
Parallel Bars 4-Score Avg.	69.033	65.133
High Bar 4-Score Avg.	68.383	66.767

NOTES AND NUMBERS

THE MEET

Oklahoma (13-0) continues its chase for its fifth straight national title on Saturday as the No. 1 Sooners head to Annapolis, Md., to take on the No. 10 Navy Midshipmen inside Macdonough Hall at 1 p.m. CT. It is the first time in program history the Sooners have visited the U.S. Naval Academy. In his 20th season at the helm of OU men's gymnastics, head coach Mark Williams and his team are aiming at an NCAA men's gym record 13th national title in 2019. The team will also look to extend its NCAA-best streak of 110 straight victories on Saturday afternoon. The Midshipmen hold the No. 10 spot in the Road to Nationals rankings and the College Gymnastics Association coaches poll heading into the meet. Live results from Annapolis will be available via Road to Nationals.

LAST TIME OUT

Oklahoma topped the No. 3 Illinois Fighting Illini last Saturday inside McCasland Field House in Norman. The Sooners impressed on Senior Night, topping the Illini with an NCAA season-high 425.700 to Illinois' 415.700. Senior co-captain Yul Moldauer claimed the all-around title, putting up an impressive 87.150. OU claimed five of six team event titles and Sooner gymnasts won four of six individual crowns.

senior day

NEVER 5ETTLE

Oklahoma made more history in 2018, becoming just the third men's gymnastics program since 1938 to win four straight national titles. The Sooners' perfect 21-0 2018 campaign marked 97 straight wins for Williams and his program. OU has claimed 12 all-time NCAA team titles and nine under Williams. OU finished with five All-Americans who notched a total of 11 honors last season.

TOP RANKS

Although the Sooners notched an NCAA-season high 425.700 at home against Illinois March 9, OU dropped one spot to No. 2 in the latest Road to Nationals rankings due to the four-score average ranking system initiated after last weekend. The system takes teams' top two scores on the road and drops the highest home total and averages the next best two scores. OU holds the second-best four-score average (415.267), but claims the top spot on vault (72.317) and ranks in the top four on the other five events.

• Individually, with the shift to the National Qualifying Average, three Sooners hold top-15 spots on floor exercise. Sophomore Gage Dyer ranks second (14.533), while senior Yul Moldauer (14.517) holds fourth and freshman Vitaliy Guimaraes comes in 15th (14.200).

• On pommel horse, Moldauer ranks sixth with an NQA of 14.000.

• OU occupies three of the top eight national spots on still rings. Moldauer ranks second with his 14.567 national qualifying average, while seniors Peter Daggett and Jake Maloley sit seventh and eighth with respective averages of 14.150 and 14.133.

• On the event that the Sooners average a nation-leading 72.317, vault, OU gymnasts hold five of the top 11 individual spots. Guimaraes (14.600) ranks fifth, senior co-captain Levi Anderson (14.600) holds sixth, junior Tanner Justus (14.567) sits seventh, while sophomore Alexei Vernyi (14.533) comes in eighth. Dyer ranks 11th, averaging 14.500.

• After claiming another parallel bars title versus Illinois, Moldauer tops the charts on P-bars with an NQA of 14.717. Fellow senior co-captain Genki Suzuki (14.050) comes in eighth on the apparatus.

• A trio of Sooners land in the top 10 on high bar, led by Anderson at the top of the charts, averaging 14.317. Dyer (13.950) holds his second top-10 individual event ranking on HB with a seventh-place spot. Suzuki comes in at eighth with a 13.933 NQA.

STILL STREAKING

The Sooners have won or finished first in every meet in which they have competed since placing second at the 2014 NCAA Team Finals. In that span they have racked up 110 victories, including 69 straight at home, the most consecutive wins in program history, topping the 52 straight from 2002 to 2004. The streak is the longest active streak in any Division I NCAA sport and is approaching some of the longest winning streaks in NCAA DI history.

team

MOLDAUER NAMED NISSEN-EMERY AWARD FINALIST

Senior Yul Moldauer has made his mark on the OU record books and will continue his historic collegiate career on Saturday when the Sooners visit Navy. The reigning NCAA all-around champion was recently named a finalist for the 2019 Nissen-Emery Award, awarded annually to the top senior male gymnast in the NCAA. Moldauer is a seven-time individual national champion and became just the third men's gymnast ever to win four individual national titles in one year in 2018. Last season marked Moldauer's second all-around national title after claiming the crown his freshman season in 2016. His seven titles rank first all-time at OU ahead of Steven Legendre (6) and Olympians Jonathan Horton (6) and Jake Dalton (4).

IMPACT FRESHMEN

The Sooners welcomed a trio of talented freshmen for 2018-19 in Spencer Goodell, Vitaliy Guimaraes and Morgan Seyler. Goodell was named a U.S. Junior National Team member in 2018 after taking third in the junior elite division all-around at the U.S. Championships. Additionally, Goodell tied for first on still rings and placed second on vault. Guimaraes, a product of 5280 Gymnastics in Colorado, finished just behind Goodell in the all-around at the U.S. Championships, claiming fourth, but took home junior national titles on floor exercise and vault. Seyler, whose parents were both gymnasts at OU, finished seventh in the all-around in the junior elite division at the 2017 P&G Championships.

WORLD STAGE

Yul Moldauer claimed his third consecutive American Cup all-around crown on March 2 in Greensboro, N.C. The reigning NCAA all-around champion joined Bart Conner and Jonathan Horton as the only OU gymnasts to win three American Cup titles, and became the first to do so consecutively.

Additionally, twelve current, former or future OU gymnasts competed at the 2019 Winter Cup Challenge on Feb. 15-17 in Las Vegas, Nev. The USA Gymnastics meet helps determine the 12-man U.S. Senior Men's National Team through the 2019 U.S. Championships in Kansas City, Mo., in August. Of the 12 gymnasts selected, four are current or former Sooners. Senior co-captain Yul Moldauer automatically secured his spot on the team for the fourth consecutive year after claiming the senior all-around title on the first day of the competition, posting an 84.500 score. Also retaining their spots on the squad were fellow senior captain Genki Suzuki and 2017 OU graduate Allan Bower. Bower and Suzuki took third and fourth, respectively, in the all-around. Joining the three on the national team following day two was fellow '17 alum Colin Van Wicklen. Van Wicklen posted two podium event finishes at Winter Cup, claiming gold on vault and silver on high bar.

Moldauer and Van Wicklen also helped the U.S. to a fourth-place finish at the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, last fall. It was the best finish for a U.S. men's team at Worlds since taking bronze in 2014. Moldauer took 12th in the all-around at the championships and finished just shy of a medal on floor exercise, placing fourth.

USNT

UP NEXT

The Sooners continue their road swing with their final regular season dual meet on Saturday, March 23, at the University of California, Berkeley. Cal ranks 11th in both the Road to Nationals rankings and CGA coaches poll. A victory over the Golden Bears would solidify a fifth-consecutive undefeated regular season for Williams and the Sooners.

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP COMES TO NORMAN

Fans have one more chance to catch the four-time defending champions as the Sooners play host to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference championships on April 6. The start time of the championships was recently changed from 5 p.m. CT to 4 p.m. to accommodate television coverage of the meet. The meet will begin at 4 p.m. inside McCasland Field House in Norman and be broadcast live on FOX Sports Oklahoma.

The Sooners host the conference championships for the first time since the 2014 season and will welcome fellow conference foes Stanford, Air Force and California to Norman. OU has claimed seven consecutive MPSF titles, winning last season's conference title by nearly ten points over second-place Stanford.

Tickets for the Sooners final home meet of 2019, the MPSF Championships, are on sale now and can be purchased by calling the University of Oklahoma Ticket Office at (405) 325-2424 or toll-free at (800) 456-GoOU. Tickets can also be ordered online by visiting SoonerSports.com/tickets.

For updates and more information on Oklahoma men's gymnastics, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_MGymnastics) and like Oklahoma Men's Gymnastics on Facebook.