OU Set for Road Meet at Simpson

Saturday, February 17

Indianola, Iowa

1 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

Simpson College

Photo by: Morgan Givens/University of Oklahoma

February 16, 2024 | Men's Gymnastics

Watch/Live Scoring Meet Notes

THE MEET

No. 1 Oklahoma travels to Indianola, Iowa, this weekend to take on No. 14 Simpson. The meet is set for a 1 p.m. start in Cowles Fieldhouse. The teams will compete head-to-head on each event, beginning on floor exercise, and rotate in Olympic order.

This will be Oklahoma's first-ever competition at Simpson College, an NCAA Division I newcomer beginning with the 2023 season. The Sooners and Storm did meet twice last season: OU topped Simpson 407.650 to 352.550 on Feb. 4 in Norman and 418.250 to 367.150 in a tri-meet in Lincoln, Neb. on Feb. 17. This is the first meeting between the programs this season.

WATCH/FOLLOW

A free live video stream and live scoring will be available via Virti.us, with commentary provided by former OU gymnasts Peter Daggett and Spencer Goodell.

STICKS

• Following Saturday's meet, the Sooners take a break from NCAA competition for USA Gymnastics Winter Cup, which will be held Feb. 23-25 in Louisville, Ky. OU's next team meet will be March 2 at Michigan.

• Redshirt sophomore Fuzzy Benas was named the MPSF Gymnast of the Week and sophomore Ignacio Yockers was named the MPSF Specialist of the Week and CGA national Specialist of the Week. It was the third MPSF weekly award this season for Yockers and the second for Benas. Yockers now has seven career MPSF weekly honors and Benas has four. Oklahoma gymnasts have now won nine MPSF weekly awards this season. Yockers' CGA honor was his first of the season and marked the fourth straight week an OU gymnast has won one of the CGA's national awards.

• Benas scored an 83.350 to win the all-around and lead Oklahoma past California last week. He also claimed the vault event title with a season-high 14.850. On high bar, he surpassed his previous season high by three-tenths and matched his career-best score with a 14.200, while his 14.300 on parallel bars was his second-highest score on the event this season. Benas has averaged 84.275 on his two all-around performances this year.

• Yockers posted the highest score nationally on any event this season with his 15.450 pommel horse routine on Saturday. His 15.450 is the highest on pommel horse this year by .250 points, and he eclipsed the previous high score overall (15.250 on floor exercise by OU junior Emre Dodanli) by two-tenths of a point. This is Yockers' fourth career 15-plus score on pommel horse and his first this season. He leads the nation in pommel horse three-score average (15.033).

• Last weekend, Oklahoma scored a season-high 72.850 on vault, setting a new season best on the event for the third straight meet.

• The Sooners closed the meet vs. Cal by scoring a 70.950 on high bar, its highest score on the event since posting a 71.150 on March 9, 2019, and its first 70-plus score on high bar since March 16, 2019 (70.100). Sophomore Kelton Christiansen notched a career- and team-season high 14.700, which was OU's highest individual score on high bar since the 2019 season.

• Junior Emre Dodanli has recorded the two highest floor exercise scores in the nation this season (15.250 at Rocky Mountain Open and 15.050 vs. Cal), and is the first gymnast nationally to register at 15-plus score on floor since the 2021 season. His 15.250 was the highest floor score nationally since the 2021 NCAA Finals (15.266 by OU's Gage Dyer). Benas' 85.200 all-around score at the Rocky Mountain Open is the highest in the nation so far this season.

• The Sooners posted 420.350 team all-around score at the Rocky Mountain Open on Jan. 20 in Colorado Springs, Colo., which remains the highest score nationally this season, sitting ahead of the 417.800 score that OU posted on Feb. 10 vs. Cal. Oklahoma's 420.350 on Jan. 20 was not only the highest in the nation this season, but was the program's highest team score since the 2019 campaign. The last time OU scored higher than 420.350 was April 6, 2019 at the MPSF Championships (420.500). Benas' 85.200 individual all-around score was the highest by a Sooner since Yul Moldauer scored 88.300, also in 2019.

• Benas and freshman Colin Flores earned automatic qualification to USA Gymnastics Winter Cup with their top-three placement in the all-around on Jan. 20 at the Rocky Mountain Open. Senior Jack Freeman and sophomore Ignacio Yockers also earned qualification to Winter Cup, and the four Sooners will join alumnus Yul Moldauer at the event. Winter Cup will be held Feb. 23-25 in Louisville, Ky.

• Oklahoma has scored better than 410.000 in 11 of its last 13 meets, dating back to Feb. 11, 2023, including last season's NCAA Qualifier and NCAA Finals. OU has scored 411 or higher in four of its five competitions this season.

NATIONAL RANKINGS NOTES

• Oklahoma ranks first nationally as a team on floor exercise (69.817), pommel horse (69.867), and high bar (69.483), as well as the all-around (416.550). The Sooners rank second on vault (72.400), third on parallel bars (68.950) and fifth on still rings (67.383).

• Junior Emre Dodanli ranks first nationally in floor exercise with his 15.017 average. Fifth-year Jack Freeman's 14.050 average is tied for sixth.

• Sophomore Ignacio Yockers ranks first on pommel horse with his 15.033 average and senior Zach Nunez follows in fourth with his 14.567 average.

• Freshman Tas Hajdu ranks fourth nationally on still rings with his 14.033 average while sophomore Adriel Perales-Valencia ranks ninth with his 13.817 average.

• Dodanli's 14.783 ranks as fourth on vault while freshman Max Bereznev follows in sixth with his 14.717 average. Redshirt sophomore Fuzzy Benas ranks eighth with his 14.667 average.

• Benas' 14.417 parallel bars average ranks second nationally, while freshman Colin Flores ranks sixth (14.067). On high bar, sophomore Kelton Christiansen is first with his 14.200 average, Freeman ranks third with his 14.167 average, and Dodanli ranks fourth with his 14.133 average.

LAST TIME OUT

Fuzzy Benas scored an 83.350 in the all-around and five Oklahoma gymnasts claimed individual event titles to lead the Sooners to a 417.800 to 400.800 win over No. 10 California at McCasland Field House.

Benas also won the vault title with his season-high 14.850. Sophomore Ignacio Yockers registered a 15.450 to win the pommel horse title, which is the highest score recorded on any event nationally this season. Junior Emre Dodanli notched his second 15-plus score on floor exercise this season, winning the event with a 15.050. Sophomore Kelton Christiansen posted a team season-high 14.700 on horizontal bar, and senior Zachary Marckx won the still rings title with a career-high 13.750.

Oklahoma scored a season-high 72.850 on vault, setting a new season best on the event for the third straight meet. The Sooners closed the competition by scoring a 70.950 on high bar, its highest score on the event since posting a 71.150 on March 9, 2019, and its first 70-plus score on high bar since March 16, 2019 (70.100).

OU's 70.200 on floor exercise and 69.650 on pommel horse marked its second-highest scores of the season on each event. The Sooners also scored a 67.750 on still rings and a 66.400 on parallel bars. Cal posted a 68.050 on parallel bars, the only event in which it outscored OU, on its way to a season-high and first 400-plus team score of the year.

OU registered 13 scores of 14.000 or better in the meet and notched 10 routines with an execution score of 9.0 or better.