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Friday, February 25
Frisco, Texas
6:30 p.m.

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Winter Cup

Guimaraes Winter Cup

Guimaraes Claims First at Winter Cup, Secures U.S. National Team Spot

February 25, 2022 | Men's Gymnastics

FRISCO, Texas — In the first meet of the Olympic cycle, Vitaliy Guimaraes claimed first place and notched a spot on the U.S. Senior National Team Friday night at Winter Cup in Frisco, Texas.
 

In his first all-around competition of the year, senior Guimaraes secured first place and claimed a U.S. Senior National Team spot with an all-around score of 83.950. He took first on floor (14.250), second on pommel horse (14.350), fourth on high bar (13.400) and fifth on still rings (13.600). His vault score of 14.450 and parallel bars score of 13.900 helped push him to first place all-around, edging out 37 other gymnasts.

"I feel great, it hasn't hit me yet," said Guimaraes. "I told myself not to worry about the results and just do my thing. I surprised myself. I had a lot of fun."

Guimaraes's performance is a huge milestone, as he is returning from a broken nose injury he suffered after the Rocky Mountain Open. He took multiple weeks off of training and hasn't competed in all-around this year.

He will not compete in Sunday's Winter Cup Finals.

Former Sooner and 2020 Olympian Yul Moldauer finished in fourth and retained his U.S. Senior National Team spot with an all-around score of 81.648. Moldauer earned second on parallel bars with a score of 15.543 and third on pommel horse (13.789) and single rings (14.116).

Alum Colin Van Wicklen (80.147) earned ninth all-around after earning a 14.847 on vault. Sophomore Zach Nunez (79.700) finished in tenth, and freshman Fuzzy Benas (79.300) placed eleventh. Fellow freshman Raydel Gamboa (78.800) finished in twelfth, and junior Jack Freeman earned twentieth with an all-around score of 76.600.

Van Wicklen, Nunez, Benas, Gamboa and Freeman are all set to compete for remaining spots on the U.S. National Team 12-man roster at the Winter Cup Finals on Sunday.
 

Winter Cup finals will begin at 5:30 p.m. CT on Sunday evening at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The meet will be available to watch at FlipNow.tv.

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

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