OU Opens Season at Rocky Mountain Open

² Oklahoma

¹³Air Force

Arizona State

Saturday, Jan. 16 / 7:15 p.m. CT / Colorado Springs, Colo.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Oklahoma men's gymnastics team opens the 2021 season on Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo., at the annual Rocky Mountain Open, hosted by the U.S. Air Force Academy. The meet will begin at 7:15 p.m. CT and be available to watch via livestream on AFA's YouTube channel.

The Meet

Oklahoma kicks off its season in Colorado Springs, Colo., at the 2021 edition of the Rocky Mountain Open inside the Cadet West Gym on the Air Force Academy campus. The Sooners, ranked No. 2 in the College Gymnastics Association (CGA) preseason coaches poll, face off against No. 13 AFA and Arizona State at the season-opening meet. OU has won 20 of the last 21 Rocky Mountain Opens.

The eight-time defending MPSF conference champion Sooners return 14 gymnasts from the 2020 squad, including All-Americans senior Gage Dyer and junior Vitaliy Guimaraes.

Preseason No. 2

OU checked in at No. 2 in the College Gymnastics Association (CGA) Preseason Coaches Poll, released last week.

Coming off a shortened 2020 season that saw OU finish 8-2, the Sooners received 208 points and two first-place votes in the 2021 poll. Stanford led the poll, receiving 221 points and 12 first-place votes.

Michigan sits at third with 187 points while Nebraska came in at No. 4 with 171 points. Illinois rounded out the top five with 156 points. This season marks only the second time in seven years that OU hasn't topped the preseason CGA poll.

Back to Competition

Following a shortened 2020 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sooners return to the competition floor on Saturday for the first time as a team since Feb. 15, 2020.

In a challenging year to build schedules, the Sooners compiled a slate of high-level meets versus top teams in the country for 2021.

Oklahoma will begin its season in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Jan. 16 at the annual Rocky Mountain Open on the campus of the United States Air Force Academy. The Sooners look to claim their 21st Rocky Mountain Open title in the past 22 years at the 2021 edition of the season-opening meet versus Air Force and Arizona State.

Following the trip to Colorado Springs, OU will return to Norman for three consecutive home meets vs. Air Force (Jan. 23), Army (Jan. 30) and Stanford (Feb. 6).

OU will welcome Air Force to Norman for the Jan. 23 meet and the following two meets will be competed virtually using the platform Virtius (pronounced vert-EE-us) with the Sooners competing all six events inside their home facility while the opponent will compete inside their home gym. Additionally, judging will be virtual with each team taking turns on each apparatus. Details and more information on Virtius and how fans can watch will be announced by the College Gymnastics Association.

After OU's three straight home meets, the Sooners will travel to William & Mary College in Williamsburg, Va., or compete against The Tribe virtually on Feb. 13. A decision on competition location will come at a later date.

Oklahoma will virtually compete against Ohio State on Feb. 20 before taking a break from NCAA competition to compete at the annual Winter Cup Challenge. The annual USA Gymnastics meet with U.S. National Team spots on the line will be held in Indianapolis, Ind., Feb. 26 and 28.

Following Winter Cup, NCAA men's gymnastics competition switches to the five-up, five-count format ahead of the stretch run to the postseason and NCAA Championships.

OU will look to add opponents for meets on March 6 and 13 with the dates being open as of January.

On March 20, the Sooners will travel to Berkeley, Calif., to go up against the Cal Bears in the regular season finale.

The MPSF conference championships will be hosted by Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., on April 3 with the Sooners facing off against conference foes Air Force, Cal and Stanford.

The University of Minnesota will host the 2021 NCAA Championships April 16-17 inside Maturi Pavillion in Minneapolis. Oklahoma has won four of the past five NCAA championships and are tied for the most in NCAA history with 12 titles.

Due to limited seating capacity related to COVID-19 precautions, OU will not sell season or single-meet tickets to the Sooners' home meets at McCasland Field House. Home and visitor student-athletes will receive a limited number of complimentary tickets on a pass-list basis.

2020 Rewind

The Sooners stood at No. 2 in the national standings when the 2020 season came to an unexpected end with a four-score average of 410.133. They finished in the top-four on four events, finishing first on floor, second on vault, third on parallel bars and fourth on high bar.

Sooners claimed 19 individual event titles last season, including six by both Gage Dyer and Vitaliy Guimaraes. OU student-athletes claimed five of the six event titles at the Rocky Mountain Open and swept all six events against Iowa on Feb. 8.

OU posted its highest mark of the season against Ohio State and Arizona State on Jan. 18 in Columbus, Ohio. Oklahoma claimed all six event titles at the meet, and its gymnasts collected five individual titles.

Vitaliy Guimaraes and Gage Dyer combined to earn five Regular Season All-America honors. Dyer earned the accolade on floor exercise, p-bars and high bar, while Guimaraes was selected on floor and vault. The duo's honors bring Oklahoma to a total of 328 All-Americans in program history and 233 since 2000.

The Sooners said farewell to the four members of the class of 2020: Tanner Justus, Grant Well, Collyn Kellogg and Randy Scharnhorst, Tanner Justus and Grant Kell.

Returning Talent

Oklahoma returns 2020 Regular Season All-Americans Gage Dyer and Vitaliy Guimaraes for the 2021 campaign along with numerous other contributors from a season ago.

Dyer, a team captain for 2021, earned All-American recognition on three events. The then-junior led the way for the Sooners on floor exercise, where he claimed the nation's top spot and helped Oklahoma to a No. 1-finish in the nation on FX. The Yukon, Okla., native closed the year with a National Qualifying Average (NQA) of 14.717 and a high score of 15.150. In five NCAA meets, Dyer claimed three floor titles, and he became the lone NCAA gymnast to earn an event victory at the 2020 Winter Cup Challenge with a win on FX.

Dyer was also named a All-American on parallel bars and high bar. On p-bars, Dyer ranked sixth in the nation with an NQA of 13.983, while he finished eighth on HB at 13.733. He won a pair of PB titles on the season as well as the HB crown in OU's only home meet against Iowa on Feb. 8. The 2020 All-America honors were the first of Dyer's career.

Guimaraes earned his second-career All-America honor on vault and his first on floor exercise. The Colorado native was the only gymnast in the nation to score a 15.000+ on vault in 2020 and finished with a fifth-place NQA of 14.650. He posted his career-high 15.050 against Ohio State and Arizona State on Jan. 18 and claimed three vault titles on the year.

Guimaraes also owned the nation's highest score of the season on floor exercise after posting a 15.200 at the Stanford Open on Jan. 25. His NQA of 14.600 was good for second nationally, only behind Dyer. In addition to his title at the Stanford Open, Guimaraes also tied for the FX title in the season-opening Rocky Mountain Open.

The duo's brought Oklahoma to a total of 328 All-Americans in program history and 233 since 2000.

Additionally, seniors Alexei Vernyi and Matt Wenske return for the Sooners this season. Vernyi holds three career event tiles while Wenske has won two individual crowns throughout his career. Wenske, a leader for the Sooners in the gym, was voted co-captain for the Sooners in 2021 alongside Dyer.

Also looking to contribute this season are juniors Morgan Seyler and Spencer Goodell, along with sophomores Jack Freeman and David Sandro. Sandro, a Canada product, won two event titles as a freshman a season ago.

Last RMO

The No. 2 Oklahoma men's gymnastics team opened 2020 with a victory at the Rocky Mountain Open on the campus of the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The Sooners topped No. 5 Nebraska, No. 6 Minnesota, No. 13 Air Force and No. 17 Washington with a final tally of 409.900. With the victory, OU claimed it's 20th Rocky Mountain Open title in the past 21 editions of the meet. Additionally, head coach Mark Williams eclipsed the 500-win mark with four wins at the meet to move to 502 career victories.

OU won five of six events as a team on the night, taking three of the six collegiate event titles and Alexei Vernyi finished first among NCAA gymnasts in the all-around with a career-high tally of 81.300. OU swept the collegiate all-around podium with Gage Dyer taking second (career-high 80.850) and David Sandro (79.350) placing third.

Up Next

The Sooners will welcome familiar competition to Norman next weekend for the home opener when Air Force travels to Norman for a dual meet. The meet will begin at 6 p.m. CT on Saturday, Jan. 23 and will be available to watch on FOX Sports Oklahoma or SoonerSports.tv.

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