OU Set for Rocky Mountain Open

Saturday, January 20

Colorado Springs, Colo.

7 p.m. CT

University of Oklahoma

Air Force

Photo by: Morgan Givens/University of Oklahoma

January 19, 2024 | Men's Gymnastics

Watch $Live Scoring Meet Notes

THE MEET

No. 2 Oklahoma travels to Colorado Springs this weekend for the Rocky Mountain Open at the Air Force Academy, set begin at 7 p.m. CT Saturday in Cadet West Gym. The Sooners will face No. 10 Air Force and Nebraska.

OU faced Air Force last weekend in Norman, claiming a 413.600 to 382.750 victory at McCasland Field House. This is the only scheduled meeting between the Sooners and Cornhuskers this season. Nebraska has not competed yet this season.

The Rocky Mountain Open is a Winter Cup qualifying event. The top three finishers in the all-around automatically qualify, while gymnasts can qualify on single events through a petition process.

FOLLOW ALONG

The meet will be streamed via Overnght. A subscription is required. Live scoring will be available via StatBroadcast.

STICKS

• Following Saturday's meet, the Sooners will be on the road again next weekend before returning to McCasland Field House. OU will travel to Champaign, Ill. for a meet against Illinois on Jan. 28. Oklahoma returns home on Feb. 3 to face Ohio State and Arizona State at McCasland Field House.

• Junior Emre Dodanli was named the MPSF Specialist of the Week after winning titles in all three events in which he competed last weekend. He won floor exercise with a 14.750, which stands as the nation's best score on the event so far this season. He also won the vault (14.700) and high bar (14.050) titles, compiling a total three-event score of 43.500.

• Oklahoma competed in Air Force's Cadet West Gym twice last season. The Sooners opened the 2023 season at the Rocky Mountain Open in January and competed in the MPSF Championships, held at Air Force. OU claimed wins over Nebraska, Michigan, Air Force and club team Arizona State while placing second to Stanford at the Rocky Mountain Open, then took second place at the MPSF Championships, finishing ahead of Air Force and California and behind Stanford.

• Oklahoma is ranked No. 2 nationally after the first two weeks of the 2024 campaign. The Sooners posted a 413.600 in their season opener last weekend, just two-tenths behind Stanford's 413.800 score in its season opener last weekend.

• Fifth-year senior Jack Freeman and senior Dan Simmons were selected as senior captains for the 2024 season as voted by their teammates.

• Oklahoma returned all four gymnasts who earned All-America honors at the 2023 NCAA Championships: Freeman (high bar), Emre Dodanli (floor exercise), Zach Nunez (pommel horse) and Ignacio Yockers (pommel horse). Additionally, Dodanli (floor, vault), Freeman (floor, high bar), Nunez (pommel horse), Yockers (pommel horse), Kelton Christiansen (high bar) and Mac Seyler (pommel horse) earned regular season All-America honors from the CGA.

• Redshirt sophomore Fuzzy Benas, a 2022 All-American in the all-around and on vault and high bar as a freshman, returned after missing the 2023 season with injury. The Sooners also returned juniors Brigham Frentheway, Nikolai Kolesnikov and Cailen Walker, sophomore Adriel Perales-Valencia and redshirt freshman Leo Koike, who missed the 2023 season with injury.

• OU welcomed several newcomers to the roster, including seniors Matt Burgoyne and Zachary Marckx and freshmen Arthur Ballon, Max Bereznev, Colin Flores, Tyler Flores, Tas Hajdu and Nico Hamilton.

• Oklahoma has scored better than 410.000 in eight of its last nine meets, dating back to Feb. 11, 2023, including last season's NCAA Qualifier and NCAA Finals. Last season, OU notched 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 opened the 2024 campaign with a 413.600 score against Air Force last weekend at McCasland Field House.

NATIONAL RANKINGS NOTES

• Oklahoma ranks first nationally as a team on floor exercise (68.900), vault (72.100) and parallel bars (67.800). OU also ranks third on pommel horse (68.400) and high bar (68.500) and fourth on still rings (67.900).

• Junior Emre Dodanli ranks first nationally in floor exercise with his 14.750 score. Fifth-year senior Jack Freeman is tied for second with his 14.000 and redshirt freshman Leo Koike is tied for ninth with his 13.800.

• Senior Zach Nunez ranks fourth nationally on pommel horse (14.250) and sophomore Ignacio Yockers ranks ninth (13.850). Freshman Tas Hajdu, who won the still rings title in OU's meet last weekend, ranks fifth nationally (14.100).

• Dodanli ranks third nationally on vault with his 14.700 while redshirt sophomore Fuzzy Benas ranks fourth with his 14.600, freshman Max Bereznev is tied for sixth with his 14.500 and freshman Colin Flores is tied for 10th with his 14.400 score.

• Flores' 13.800 score on parallel bars slots him at ninth nationally. Dodanli's 14.050 on high bar is tied for fifth and Freeman's 13.950 is ranked eighth in the nation.

LAST TIME OUT

Emre Dodanli won three event titles and the Oklahoma men's gymnastics team swept all six team events in a 413.600 to 382.750 win over Air Force in its season opener at McCasland Field House. It was OU's 61st consecutive meet victory in the field house, a streak that dates back to the 2007 season.

Dodanli claimed the floor exercise (14.750), vault (14.700) and high bar (14.050) titles, while freshman Tas Hajdu won still rings (14.100) and freshman Colin Flores won parallel bars (13.800). The Sooners scored at least a 67.800 on every event, including a meet-high 72.100 on vault. OU posted a 68.900 on floor, 68.400 on pommel horse, 67.900 on rings, 67.800 on parallel bars and 68.500 on the high bar.

Fifteen different gymnasts competed for the Sooners Saturday night, including four athletes competing in an OU uniform for the first time. The Sooners led the Falcons 205.200 to 198.500 at the midway point. Oklahoma created even more separation with its big vault rotation. Following the fourth rotation, OU led 277.300 to 260.000.