Sooners Set for MPSF Championships

THE MEET

No. 1 Oklahoma seeks its 20th MPSF team championship and 28th team conference title overall this weekend at the 2023 MPSF Men's Gymnastics Championships, hosted by the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. The meet, which features No. 2 Stanford, No. 8 Air Force and No. 10 California, begins at 5 p.m. CT Saturday.

The Sooners are 15-1 this season and 4-1 against MPSF programs, and have won or finished first in seven straight meets. OU split two regular season meetings with Stanford (finished second to the Cardinal at the Rocky Mountain Open and won in Norman on Feb. 11), and defeated Air Force twice (at Rocky Mountain and in Norman on Jan. 28) and Cal once (March 18 in Berkeley, Calif.).

Oklahoma has won 19 MPSF team titles in 23 contest years since 1999, and won an MPSF record nine straight championships from 2012-21 (the 2020 season was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

FOLLOW ALONG

Live video will be available at MPSports.org and live results will be available via StatBroadcast.

STICKS

•   Oklahoma has scored better than 410.000 in each of its last five meets (and better than 414.500 in three of its last five), 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 on March 4 in their home finale with a score of 414.550, won a tri-meet over Penn State and Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, with a score of 410.000 and defeated Cal in the regular season finale with a 410.050 score.
•   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 (414.883) rose to the nation's top spot in the Feb. 20 rankings, and currently holds the position by 0.083 points in four-score average over No. 2 Stanford (414.800). Air Force (396.483) is ranked eighth and California (391.200) is ranked 10th in the national rankings.
•   Oklahoma leads the nation in two events: floor exercise (70.300 average; 1.583 points higher than second place Stanford [68.717]) and pommel horse (69.417; 0.634 points higher than second place Illinois [68.783]). OU also ranks second nationally in parallel bars (69.283; 0.984 points behind first place Stanford [70.267]), third in high bar (67.800), and fifth in vault (71.700) and still rings (67.567).
•   True freshman Ignacio Yockers was named the MPSF Specialist of the Year in a vote by the league's coaches. He is the top-ranked pommel horse gymnast in both ranking average (15.083) and overall average (14.665). He recorded the highest collegiate pommel score in the country to date with his 15.550 set on Feb. 17. The Tulsa, Okla., product has won six pommel horse event titles this season and scored better than 14.600 in all of them, and has produced seven scores of 14.100 or better in eight NCAA competitions. Yockers is the first Oklahoma gymnast to win an MPSF major annual award since Yul Moldauer was named Gymnast of the Year in 2018.
•   Fifth-year senior Spencer Goodell was announced March 9 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.
•   Sophomore Emre Dodanli was named MPSF Gymnast of the Week and senior Jack Freeman was named MPSF Specialist of the Week on March 20. Dodanli won three event titles in OU's win at Cal, registering a career-high 14.800 on floor. He won vault with a 14.600 and claimed the high bar title with a 13.700. He also notched a 14.000 to finish second (by one-tenth) on parallel bars. Dodanli recorded a personal season-high 57.100 on his four events. Freeman registered a career-high 14.350 on vault and scored a 14.550 on floor in the meet. His vault was a season-best by .250 points and the floor score was his second highest of the season.
•   The Sooners have won 10 MPSF weekly awards this season. Dodanli was MPSF Gymnast of the Week and Freeman was Specialist of the Week on March 20, fifth-year senior Vitaliy Guimaraes was Gymnast of the Week on March 14, junior Zach Nunez was named Gymnast of the Week twice (Feb. 7 and 21), Yockers was named Specialist of the Week twice (Feb. 14 and 21) and Freshman of the Week twice (Feb. 1 and 7) and junior Dan Simmons was named Specialist of the Week on Feb. 7.

INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL RANKINGS NOTES

•   True freshman Ignacio Yockers leads the nation in pommel horse average (15.083). In his last six collegiate meets, he has registered scores of 14.800, 14.600, 15.100, 15.550, 15.200, 14.150 and 14.600, 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.
•   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 two weeks ago, 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.
•   Sophomore Emre Dodanli ranks second nationally on floor with a score of 14.450. His high score of 14.800, set on March 18, is the third-highest floor score in the country this season. Senior Jack Freeman ranks fourth on floor (14.417), fifth-year senior Vitaliy Guimaraes ranks sixth (14.333) in four-score average, but leads the nation in overall average (14.317). and fifth-year senior Spencer Goodell ranks eighth (14.167). Goodell's 14.900, set Feb. 11, is tied for the highest score in the country.
•   Junior Zach Nunez ranks fourth nationally in pommel horse, with an average score of 14.350, but third in overall scoring with a 14.329 average. True freshman Mac Seyler ranks eighth with a score of 13.983.
•   Senior Jack Freeman ranks fourth nationally in horizontal bar with a 14.083 average. His high score of 14.400, set Feb. 4, is the third-highest high bar score in the nation this season. True freshman Kelton Christiansen ranks eighth with an average score of 13.867.
•   Goodell ranks seventh nationally in parallel bars with a 14.050 four-score average. He also ranks ninth nationally in overall still rings average with a 13.783 score (ranks 15th in four-score average on rings). Dodanli ranks seventh in vault with a 14.667 average.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

The NCAA Championships will be held 14-15 at Penn State University in University Park, Pa. Selections to the NCAA Championships will be announced next week, following the conclusion of this weekend's conference championships.

THE MEET

FOLLOW ALONG

STICKS

INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL RANKINGS NOTES

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kelton Christiansen

Emre Dodanli

Jack Freeman

Spencer Goodell

Vitaliy Guimaraes

Zach Nunez

Mac Seyler

Dan Simmons

Ignacio Yockers

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics