Moldauer Takes Silver, Two Sooners Make Team USA

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The 2019 U.S. Gymnastics Championships concluded at the Sprint Center on Saturday night and two Sooners were named to the U.S. senior men's national team. By finishing in the top six of the all-around competition, Allan Bower and Yul Moldauer received automatic qualifications to Team USA for their third and fifth consecutive years, respectively.

"Our rotation was really good," said OU head coach Mark Williams. "I'm really happy for Allan, he felt much better today after battling a little bit of a head cold. The scores and the performance reflected that. I think Yul was back to himself. It's been a race to get him in good condition after sustaining the elbow injury. I saw that spark and flare in the kid again. I'm happy to see him return to the form that we have known him to be."

Recent graduate and defending Winter Cup and American Cup all-around champion Moldauer took silver in this weekend's all-around with a two-day tally of 168.600. Moldauer put together a solid showing on the second day of competition, putting up an 84.600 day two score that included taking second overall on both floor and parallel bars.

"It's special coming out with a big group of guys from OU. It always helps the nerves and pressure," said Moldauer following the competition. "It was hard coming back after my injury at NCAAs. I had to start fresh, so coming in here I had a little extra pressure than I wanted to. I had to prove to everyone that I wasn't falling down and I had to get back up.

"It was amazing, coming back out here and getting to compete with all the OU guys again, it was special and to make the U.S. team again is a blessing. It's my dream to compete for this country. There's nothing more I could ask for."

Fellow OU alum Bower had an impressive day two (83.000), moving from 10th on Thursday to finish sixth in the all-around in tonight's final. Bower improved on his day one score by over three-and-a-half points to climb the ranks to secure the final auto-qualifying spot to the 2019-20 Team USA.

Bower noted that it wasn't easy fighting through illness but knew what he had to do to accomplish his goals.

"After day one I was pretty upset, it wasn't the way I wanted it to go," explained Bower. "These last couple days I was fighting a bit of a cold, but today I just wanted to come in here with a blank slate and do the gymnastics I've been doing. We started out great on horse and kind of kept that momentum all the way through to floor at the end. Mark came to me before floor and said I needed at least a 14.000 to make the (national) team for sure, so I just gave it my all and really looked for those landings and tried to keep it clean."

Three other Sooners finished between 11th and 18th in the all-around at the meet. 2019 graduate Levi Anderson (160.300), making his first U.S. Championships appearance since 2017, finished 11th to be in the mix for the remaining spots on Team USA. Anderson took home a tie for sixth on high bar with a two-day total of 26.500.

"Tonight was amazing, coming back out here and getting to compete with all the OU guys again, it was special. To make the U.S. national team again is a blessing. It's my dream to compete for this country."
- Yul Moldauer

Current Sooners rising junior Gage Dyer (158.000) placed 14th, including taking bronze on floor exercise and a tie for fifth on vault. U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center member and 2016 OU grad Kanji Oyama finished 18th all-around.

OU graduate and 2018-19 U.S. national team member Colin Van Wicklen and current junior Matt Wenske both had to withdraw from competition this weekend due to injury. At the conclusion of day one, Wenske held eighth in the all-around. Van Wicklen will look to submit a petition to be named to the U.S. senior national team.

"Gage and Levi had good nights and our two freshmen had pretty good performances today, too," continued Williams. "I feel better about the whole meet. We're still reeling a bit from Colin and Matt's injuries but it's looking positive for Colin to be back quickly. Unfortunately, for Matt, it looks like it's going to be a pretty long recovery."

In the junior division, incoming freshman Laz Barnhill took home two junior national titles. Barnhill claimed the pommel horse gold with a two-day total of 26.800 and the title on high bar with a two-day posting of 25.850. Fellow rising freshman Jack Freeman took second on still rings (26.050).

Barnhill finished sixth in the all-around standings with a two-day tally of 153.500, while Freeman came in ninth (151.250).

"Starting off with P-bars being a really good event, it just set the tone for the entire meet," said Barnhill. "Although I had a rough routine on rings, it didn't stop me. I just kept a positive mindset and tried to see what happen if I kept hitting good, clean sets."

"I just feel like this is a stepping stone," Barnhill concluded. "It'll help me be better as a freshman this year and as a senior (level) gymnast."

Six more members of the U.S. senior men's national team will be named by U.S. Gymnastics in the coming days, as well as an announcement about the USSNT members that will be invited to the World Championships team selection camp.

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