Sooners Set for Road Tri-Meet vs. Ohio State, Penn State

THE MEET

No. 1 Oklahoma is on the road in Columbus, Ohio, for a showdown against a pair of top six-ranked Big Ten opponents. The Sooners will face No. 6 Ohio State and No. 4 Penn State in a tri-meet at the Covelli Center. The meet is set to begin at 2:30 p.m. CT.

FOLLOW ALONG

The meet will be televised on Big Ten Network, with Dean Linke and Brandon Burns calling the action. Live results will be available via OUStats.com.

STICKS

•   Oklahoma has scored better than 414.500 in each of its last three meets, including a pair of back-to-back 418s against Stanford/William & Mary at home on Feb. 11 (season-best 418.900) and at Nebraska/vs. Simpson on Feb. 17 (418.250). The Sooners topped Michigan last week in their home finale with a score of 414.550.
•   OU has registered the top team score nationally three times this season (Week 6/Feb. 11, Week 7/Feb. 17 and Week 9/March 4).
•   Oklahoma rose to the nation's top spot in the Feb. 20 rankings, and currently holds the position by 3.383 points in four-score average.
•   Fifth-year senior Spencer Goodell was announced Thursday as a finalist for the Nissen-Emery Award. Goodell is a senior captain, an All-American, a two-time Winter Cup participant, a former U.S. Junior National Team member who competed with the Senior National Team at the 2018 Pan American Championships and a college graduate who is working toward his master's degree.
•   Oklahoma leads the nation in three events: floor exercise (69.667 average; 1.167 points higher than the second-best team), pommel horse (69.417; 2.134 points higher than second place) and high bar (67.800; 0.250 points higher than second place). OU also ranks third nationally in vault (71.517) and parallel bars (68.267) and fifth in still rings (67.000).
•   True freshman Ignacio Yockers leads the nation in pommel horse average (15.083). In his last five collegiate meets, he has registered scores of 14.800, 14.600, 15.100, 15.550 and 15.200, and at Winter Cup, posted scores of 14.942 and 15.472. His 15.550 pommel horse routine at Nebraska was the highest pommel score in the country in NCAA competition this season, and was Oklahoma's highest pommel horse since 2017. Yockers has been recognized with CGA national weekly awards five times this season (four times as specialist and once as rookie) and by the MPSF four times (twice as specialist and twice as rookie). See page 4 for full list of awards.
•   Junior Zach Nunez has completed the all-around three times this season, recording an 83.350 average. He was ranked No. 1 nationally in the all-around last week, and would still lead the nation if he met the four-score minimum for the national rankings. He has posted all-around scores of 83.400, 83.550 and 83.100. He is the only Sooner to compete in the all-around so far this season.
•   Senior Jack Freeman ranks second nationally in high bar, with an average score of 14.083. His high score of 14.400, set on Feb. 4, is the fourth-highest high bar score in the country this season.
•   Fifth-year senior Vitaliy Guimaraes ranks third nationally in four-score floor average (14.333), but leads the nation in overall average (14.370). The Sooners have four of the top eight individual floor averages in the country this season; sophomore Emre Dodanli ranks sixth (14.067), Goodell ranks seventh (14.000) and Freeman ranks eighth (13.983). Goodell's 14.900 hit on Feb. 11 remains the highest floor score in the nation this season, while Guimaraes' 14.750 set Jan. 28 ranks second nationally.
•   On pommel horse, junior Zach Nunez ranks third with a 14.350 average and freshman Mac Seyler ranks ninth by averaging a 13.817 score. Dodanli ranks sixth in vault average (14.617), Goodell ranks ninth in parallel bars (13.867) and freshman Kelton Christiansen (13.867) and Dodanli (13.617) rank sixth and 10th on high bar.

LAST TIME OUT

Oklahoma claimed four team event victories and three individual event titles to defeat No. 5 Michigan 414.550 to 410.400 on senior night March 4 at McCasland Field House.

Fifth-year senior Vitaliy Guimaraes won floor exercise with a 14.100 and senior Jack Freeman anchored high bar with a 14.100 to claim event titles. Freshman Ignacio Yockers dazzled again on pommel horse, scoring a 15.200 – his second-highest score in a collegiate meet this season.

The Sooners won event titles on floor (69.750 to 67.350), pommel horse (69.600 to 67.900), vault (71.600 to 71.300) and parallel bars (68.450 to 67.850). The teams tied on high bar, posting 65.950 scores. OU also turned in its best score of the season on still rings (69.200 to Michigan's 70.050).

Oklahoma led throughout the meet, but never by more than its 4.15-point advantage after five rotations and in the final margin.

The Sooners celebrated seniors Guimaraes, Goodell, Morgan Seyler, Freeman, Alan Camillus, Braden Collier and Cesar Gracia, as well as Laz Barnhill who medically retired from gymnastics in 2019, in a ceremony after the meet.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Following this weekend's meet in Columbus, the Sooners close the regular season at California on March 18 in Berkeley.

The MPSF Championship will be held April 1 in Colorado Springs, Colo. The NCAA qualifier and Championships will be held April 14-15 in University Park, Pa.