Sooners Impressive, Finish As National Runners-Up

Saturday, April 16

Norman, Okla.

6 P.M. CT

University of Oklahoma

414.555

423.628

Stanford

Sooners Impressive, Finish As National Runners-Up

April 16, 2022 | Men's Gymnastics

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Team Scores
	No. 1 Stanford	No. 2 Oklahoma	No. 3 Michigan	No. 4 Nebraska	No. 5 Ohio State	No. 6 Illinois
FX	72.433	71.231	70.299	68.830	69.066	69.898
PH	67.999	66.298	65.998	64.997	62.732	59.165
SR	71.666	67.898	68.731	66.698	67.198	68.898
VT	73.432	71.098	71.299	71.798	70.032	69.932
PB	70/732	68.165	69.932	67.699	65.666	66.265
HB	67.366	69.865	68.231	66.431	64.632	64.365
TOTAL	423.628	414.555	414.490	406.490	399.326	398.523

High Scores
Event	Gymnast	Score
FX	Bryan Perla (STAN)	14.800
PH	Chase Clingman (PSU)	14.000
SR	Riley Loos (STAN)	14.600
VT	Paul Juda (MICH)	15.000
PB	Curran Phillips (STAN)	15.233
HB	Brody Malone (STAN)	14.700

NORMAN — Hosting the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2015, the Oklahoma men's gymnastics team posted its second-highest score of the season (414.555) to finish as national runner-up in front of a spirited crowd at Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday. Stanford took first place (423.628), Michigan third (414.490), Nebraska fourth (406.490), Ohio State fifth (399.326) and Illinois sixth (398.523).

Oklahoma has finished in the top two in 19 of the past 21 NCAA Championships.

"We had some young guys who had to figure out what we do and I was really pleased with how well and how quickly they adapted to that, and kept the tradition that we have," said OU head coach Mark Williams. "We've had, since I won my first in 2002, we've been first or second 19 out of 21 years. Which when you think about that I can't even believe that. And even tonight I have a hard time believing we did it again. I'm just thrilled for these guys to trust in what we do as a program and that my alumni even come back and help these guys get better."

Eight Sooners secured 15 All-America honors at the Championships, the program's most All-America accolades since 2017.

Freshman Fuzzy Benas (VT, HB, AA), freshman Raydel Gamboa (PB, HB, AA) and senior Vitaliy Guimaraes (FX, PH, AA) finished in the top five of the all-around. Gamboa took third (83.398), Guimaraes fourth (83.364) and Benas fifth (82.399). The three honors put Guimaraes at six career All-America accolades.

Freshman Emre Dodanli collected two All-America honors (FX, VT). Sophomore Zach Nunez (PH), senior Spencer Goodell (FX), junior Jack Freeman (HB) and redshirt junior Cesar Gracia (HB) each secured the first of their careers.

OU started the night on pommel horse, tallying a 66.298. Nunez led OU with a 13.833 to take second on the event. Guimaraes tallied a 13.766 to notch fifth and Gamboa and redshirt junior Braden Collier each scored a 13.033 as the Sooners finished the first rotation in fifth place.

On still rings, junior Alan Camillus led OU with a 13.833. Gamboa also registered a 13.833 but it did not count toward the team's score. Benas tallied a 13.600 and Goodell a 13.566, and the Sooners finished with a 67.898.

In the third rotation, Oklahoma scored a 71.098 on vault to catapult to third place, led by freshmen Benas and Dodanli, who scored a 14.733 apiece (a career high for Dodanli) and tie for fourth on the event. Guimaraes registered a 14.333 and redshirt junior Josh Corona a 14.266.

OU was led by Gamboa on parallel bars with a career-high 14.066, seventh on the event. Guimaraes scored a 13.866 and the Sooners finished the event with a 68.865 to remain in third place

The Sooners narrowly jumped to second place by registering their highest high bar score of the year with a 69.856. Freeman tied for third on the event (14.266), Benas secured fifth (career-high 14.200) , Gracia sixth (career-high 14.033) and Gamboa tied for seventh (14.000).

On the final event, OU posted its second-best floor score of the season (71.231) to fend off Michigan in the final standings. Guimaraes tied for third place with a 14.600 while Dodanli took sixth with a 14.466 and Goodell seventh with a 14.366. Freeman notched a 14.266 and Gamboa a 14.232.

"That's as good as we could do," said Williams. "At the beginning of the season, we knew Stanford was going to be great. It was going to be a difficult task. We gave it a run, and then to beat the rest of the field, I am super thrilled about (finishing) second, as opposed to 2019 when we probably should've won and didn't. This is better."

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