OU Claims Victory Over Illinois

² Oklahoma

403.850

⁵ Illinois

398.650

Team Scores
	OU	Illinois
FX	67.150	67.150
PH	65.350	64.800
SR	66.500	66.150
VT	71.000	71.650
PB	66.850	62.350
HB	67.100	66.550

High Scores
Event	Gymnast	Score
FX	Connor McCool (Illinois)	14.150
PH	Ian Skirkey (Illinois)	14.100
SR	Raydel Gamboa (OU)	13.650
VT	Evan Manivong (Illinois)	14.700
PB	Fuzzy Benas (OU)	14.250
HB	Hamish Carter (Illinois)	14.150

CHAMPAIGN, ILL. — No. 2 Oklahoma defeated No. 5 Illinois in Champaign, Ill. Saturday afternoon by a score of 403.850-398.650.

"We did our job to win but recognize that we are going to work on some things to be better next weekend," said head coach Mark Williams. "When you're on the road, it's hard to create the same energy you have when you're at home. We weren't making a lot of mistakes but Spencer Goodell and Fuzzy Benas put up some really nice scores on parallel bars to start to move us in the direction of having more consistent routines."

"Fuzzy had a great day. His parallel bars was great. Jack did a good job on rings and had a good high bar set, so they were definitely the key for us. Raydel was the all-around winner. He put up a big score. He was our MVP for the weekend, he cleared out every event and put up some good numbers. He gave us a solid six events."

Freshman Raydel Gamboa collected an 82.000 in the all-around, setting a career-best score and taking the all-around title.

The Sooners started the meet on floor exercise where they collected a 67.150, tying them with Illinois going into the second rotation. The squad was paced by junior Jack Freeman's 13.700 routine. Freshman Raydel Gamboa put up a 13.600 and senior Alexei Vernyi collected a 13.350 on the event.

In the second rotation, OU took on the pommel horse and registered a 65.350 to take the lead. Freshman Zach Nunez showed off his strength to collect the event title with a 13.700. Junior Braden Collier put up a 13.550 and freshmen Fuzzy Benas and Raydel Gamboa both put up a 13.050 on the event.

OU moved to still rings for the third rotation against Illinois. The squad tallied a 66.400 and was led by Gamboa's impressive 13.650 performance, good for the event title. Benas registered a 13.450 and Freeman earned a 13.500 on rings to help the Sooners take the event title.

The fourth rotation showed vault for the Sooners. With a team score of 71.000, redshirt-junior Josh Corona led the squad with a 14.500, tying with his career-best score. Gamboa started the Sooners off on the event and collected a 14.250. Senior Vitaliy Guimaraes had his season debut on vault and put up a 14.150. Benas collected a 14.100 on the event.

The Sooners took the event title on parallel bars in the fifth rotation of the meet with a collective score of 66.850. Benas impressed with his strength and earned a 14.250. Senior Spencer Goodell set a career-high score with a 14.050 on the event. Gamboa also helped the tally with his 13.750 performance.

In the sixth and final event, the Sooners tallied a 67.100 on high bar. Freeman put up the team's highest individual score and set his own personal-best with his 13.900 performance. Gamboa was not far behind with his 13.700 on the event. Gracia collected a 13.400 to help the squad.

The Sooners will head home to host Nebraska in the historic McCasland Field House next Saturday, Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. CT

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

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Players Mentioned

Fuzzy Benas

Braden Collier

Josh Corona

Jack Freeman

Raydel Gamboa

Spencer Goodell

Vitaliy Guimaraes

Zach Nunez

Alexei Vernyi

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics