Men's Gym Season Starts at Rocky Mountain Open

² Oklahoma

⁵Nebraska

⁶Minnesota

¹³Air Force

Saturday, Jan. 11 / 7 p.m. CT / Colorado Springs, Colo.

Livestream / Twitter / Meet Notes

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The No. 2 Oklahoma men's gymnastics team opens the 2020 season on Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo., at the annual Rocky Mountain Open, hosted by the U.S. Air Force Academy. The meet will be available to watch via livestream on YouTube.

The Meet

The University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics team begins its season in Colorado Springs, Colo., Saturday at the 2020 edition of the Rocky Mountain Open, hosted by Air Force Academy inside the Cadet Gym on the AFA campus. The Sooners, ranked No. 2 in the College Gymnastics Association (CGA) preseason coaches poll, face off against No. 5 Nebraska, No. 6 Minnesota, No. 13 Air Force and No. 17 Washington at the season-opening meet. OU has won 19 of the last 20 Rocky Mountain Opens.

Preseason No. 2

OU checked in at No. 2 in the CGA Preseason Coaches Poll, released last month. Coming off a runner-up finish at the 2019 NCAA Championships, the Sooners received 420 points and two first-place votes in the 2020 poll. Stanford led the poll, receiving 457 points and 17 first-place votes. Michigan sits at third with 404 points while Illinois came in at No. 4 with 383 points. Nebraska, who finished third at last year's NCAAs, secured the fifth spot with 377 points. This season marks the first time in six years that OU hasn't topped the preseason CGA poll.

Lead, RMO Dyer

Quotable

"There are going to be a lot of new faces. There will be a fair amount of developing the talent that we have in the gym over time. There will probably be some surprises and things that happen that we haven't foreseen but I certainly see improvement in this team since the start of school. I've seen things start to get better in terms of their consistency and ability to handle the program and training plan that we've used over the years. I'd like to see where we're at as a baseline Saturday night against Minnesota and Nebraska, some good teams. Our job will be to go out and hit routines and see how we match up against a couple of top-five caliber teams and try to keep getting better every day." - Head coach Mark Williams

Reload Not Rebuild

Despite a massive departure of seasoned veterans from the 2019 squad, OU does not consider 2020 to be a rebuilding season, rather a reloading year. Graduates and program staples Yul Moldauer, Levi Anderson and Genki Suzuki combined to claim 28 All-America honors throughout their time in Norman from 2016-19. Moldauer won an NCAA men's gym record-tying seven individual national titles, including two all-around crowns. Additionally, '19 grads Peter Daggett (SR) and Brian Schibler (PH) concluded their careers as All-Americans last season. 2020 senior and vault All-American Tanner Justus announced his medical retirement from the sport due to lingering back issues this past October. The team they leave behind will surely miss their presence but upper- and underclassmen both will look to step up in 2020 to help usher in a new era of OU men's gymnastics.

2019 In Review

The Sooners made history in 2019, running their then-NCAA best winning streak to 121 consecutive victories before losing in the final rotation to No. 2 Stanford in the NCAA Team Finals in Champaign, Ill., on April 20, 2019, by a margin of just .666. Oklahoma won its eighth straight MPSF conference crown over the Cardinal, Air Force and Cal in Norman two weeks prior to the NCAA Championships. Seniors Levi Anderson and Yul Moldauer along with sophomore Gage Dyer collected six of seven individual conference titles at the meet, wtih Moldauer taking the all-around win. Moldauer capped a historic collegiate career with college men's gymnastics most prestigious award, the Nissen-Emery trophy.

Looking Back at "The Streak"

OU's historic streak of 121 consecutive victories and four straight national titles came to a close in Champaign, Ill., last season in the team finals at the NCAA Championships with a runner-up finish to the Stanford Cardinal by a final tally of 415.222-414.556. The Sooners won or finished first in every meet in which they competed since placing second at the 2014 NCAA Team Finals.

In the span, Williams and co. racked up 121 victories, the most consecutive wins in program history, including 72 straight at home, a streak that is still active. The run goes down as the third-longest winning streak in NCAA history, passing the 111 straight victories by the UConn women's basketball team from 2014-17. The top two streaks are 137 by Miami men's tennis (1957-64) and 130 by BYU-Hawaii women's tennis (2002-05).

Returning Talent

The Sooners look to have a handful of leaders this season. Seniors Tanner Justus and Grant Kell were voted captains by their teammates this offseason and will step into veteran roles as experienced members of the team. The other senior, rings specialist Collyn Kellogg, will also look to make his presence known as he returns to the floor after missing 2019 with an injury. Other notable returnees include 2019 vault All-American, sophomore Vitaliy Guimaraes, who won four event titles a season ago as a true freshman. Junior Gage Dyer won the MPSF conference title on floor exercise last year and claimed seven event titles across floor, high bar and vault. Additionally, redshirt junior Matt Wenske and junior Alexei Vernyi have competed in their fair share of meets for the Sooners.

Lead, RMO Guimaraes

Fresh Faces

With the departure of eight seniors in 2019 and the loss of two gymnasts to medical retirements, head coach Mark Williams brought in one of his largest classes of freshmen in his 21-year tenure at Oklahoma. Added to the roster for 2020 include eight true and redshirt freshmen: Alan Camillus, Braden Collier, Josh Corona, Sean Daugherty, Jack Freeman, Cesar Gracia, David Sandro and Raphael Warner. Freshman and 2019 U.S. Championships high bar and pommel horse junior champion Lazarus Barnhill was forced to retire due to back injuries in September 2019.

The class looks to be led by Freeman of Cypress, Texas, and Sandro of Acton, Ontario, Canada. Cypress Academy product Freeman was the 2019 U.S. Championships junior silver medalist on still rings and took ninth in the all-around at the meet. Sandro, a former junior national team member for Canada, has competed at premier meets including the Calgary International Cup, Pacific Rim Junior Championships and the Elite Canada competition.

Lead, RMO Freeman

Williams Going for Win No. 500

Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams is a household name in the world of gymnastics. Williams enters his 21st season at the helm for the Sooners in 2020. The 1980 University of Nebraska graduate and high bar All-American for the Huskers got into coaching at the high school level before quickly climbing the ranks to be an assistant at OU prior taking over in 2000 as the Sooners head man.

Since 2000, He has led Oklahoma to nine national titles, an NCAA record-tying number for championships as a head coach, 17 conference titles and six undefeated seasons. Along the way he has coached OU student-athletes to an impressive 220 All-America honors and coached at five Olympic Games, including serving as the Team USA head coach in 2016. This weekend he will go for win No. 500 as he currently holds a career record of 498-37, adding up to an exceptional winning percentage of .931.

Lead, RMO Williams

Olympic Gold Medalist Goncharov Added to Staff

After the departure of 2009 OU graduate and Olympian Chris Brooks from the Sooner coaching staff following 2019, Williams announced in August 2019 the addition of Olympic gold medalist Valeriy Goncharov to the coaching staff. Goncharov (pronounced Vuh-leer-EE Gon-CHUR-ov) won an Olympic team silver medal with Ukraine at the 2000 Sydney Games and was a gold medalist on parallel bars at the 2004 Games in Athens.

The Ukraine native spent the last five years as a coach at Texas Academy of Acrobatics and Gymnastics in Baytown, Texas. Goncharov brings a wealth of gymnastics experience to Norman. As a competitor, Goncharov compiled seven medals across Olympic, World Championships and World Cup competitions. With his move up to the college ranks, Goncharov joins former Oklahoma assistant and current Ohio State head coach Rustam Sharipov as the only two coaches in NCAA men's gymnastics with Olympic gold medals.

OU's Last Rocky Mountain Open

The preseason No. 1 Sooners opened the 2019 season with a first-place finish at the Rocky Mountain Open. OU posted a team score of 410.450 to extend their NCAA-best winning streak to 102-straight victories. OU outpaced second-place Nebraska (ranked No. 7) by nearly seven points. The top-ranked Sooners' won five of six events as a team. Senior Yul Moldauer brought home the event title on still rings, notching a 14.350. Junior Matt Wenske took second in the all-around, registering a career-best 80.100.

Up Next

Oklahoma continues its road swing to start the 2020 season with a trip to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the No. 9-ranked Buckeyes and No. 14 Arizona State inside the brand new Covelli Center on the campus of OSU. Last season, the Sooners topped the Buckeyes in Norman by a score of 423.950-395.400. It was OU's third-highest point total on the year.

For updates and more information, follow @OU_MGymnastics on Twitter or like Oklahoma Men's Gymnastics on Facebook.