Sooners Show Out on Senior Night at McCasland

Saturday, March 9

5:45 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

415.300

392.850

Navy

Photo by: Morgan Givens/University of Oklahoma

Sooners Show Out on Senior Night at McCasland

March 09, 2024 | Men's Gymnastics

Final Results Photo Gallery

NORMAN – Sophomore Ignacio Yockers won the pommel horse and parallel bars titles, and the top-ranked Oklahoma men's gymnastics team swept all six events in a 415.300 to 392.850 win over No. 9 Navy in front of a crowd of 1,124 Saturday evening at McCasland Field House.

On Senior Night, it was the underclassmen that claimed the six individual event titles. Yockers notched a 15.050 on pommel horse and a career-high 13.900 on parallel bars to increase his season total to nine event titles. The p-bars title was his first career medal on an event other than pommel horse.

Freshman Nico Hamilton won the floor exercise title with a 14.350, sophomore Adriel Perales-Valencia won still rings with a 13.850, freshman Max Bereznev won vault with a 14.850 and sophomore Kelton Christiansen won horizontal bar with a 14.400.

OU's 415.300 was its second-highest team score in a home meet this season and third-highest score overall. The Sooners registered their second-highest scores of the season on pommel horse (70.750) and vault (72.600), and totaled 70.150 on floor exercise, 67.350 on still rings, 67.450 on parallel bars and 67.000 on high bar, outscoring Navy in every event.

"That was pretty exciting. I was really pleased with our performance," Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams said. "We stepped up from where we were last weekend. We almost hit 100%, which is the goal, and we put up a good score."

Oklahoma, which also recognized its alumni during the meet, remained unbeaten against its last 75 opponents inside McCasland Field House since the 2007 season, a streak that encompasses 64 consecutive meets.

"It's great to have that kind of support," Williams said of the crowd Saturday. "We had the alumni back, we had Jon Horton and Yul Moldauer here, a lot of the greats from the past. It made it really special for them. Jon talked to the team before the meet started, so it got them a little bit fired up.

"That (crowd support) helps a ton. It's an advantage to us. That's something we're looking forward to having when the conference meet comes around, and hope to have that big advantage with the crowd helping us to a conference championship."

Redshirt freshman Leo Koike led off the meet with a career high-tying 14.000 on floor exercise and senior Dan Simmons followed with a career high-tying 13.600. Junior Brigham Frentheway notched a 14.000, fifth-year senior Jack Freeman scored a 14.200 and Hamilton anchored with his 14.350.

Yockers anchored the pommel horse rotation that included a 14.350 from senior Zach Nunez, a 14.000 by redshirt sophomore Fuzzy Benas and a 13.950 by freshman Tyler Flores.

OU posted a 67.350 on rings, its highest score on the event since Feb. 10 against California and nearly four points higher than its 63.700 last week at Michigan. Freshman Max Bereznev started the rotation with a career-high 13.600 and Simmons hit a 13.300 in his first attempt on the event since sustaining an injury on Jan. 20. Benas scored a 13.500 and Perales-Valencia anchored with his 13.850.

For the fifth time this season, all five Sooners scored 14.000 or better on vault. Flores began with his second-highest vault score of the season (14.400), before Koike, Nunez and Frentheway all posted 14.450s. It was only Nunez's second vault of the season, and he tied his previous vault score set on Feb. 17 at Simpson College. Bereznev closed out the rotation with a 14.850, his second-highest score this season.

On parallel bars, Koike set a career high with his 13.300, followed by Yockers' meet-high 13.900 and Hamilton's career-high 13.850. Bereznev led off for the Sooners on horizontal bar, notching a career-high 12.900 and Hamilton tallied a 13.000 in his first collegiate high bar routine. Christiansen led all high bar competitors with his 14.400 and Frentheway tied a career high with his second straight 13.900.

In all, Oklahoma gymnasts set or tied nine career highs on Saturday. OU registered 13 scores of 14.000 or better in the meet and notched 11 routines with an execution score of 9.0 or better.

The Sooners honored seniors Freeman, Nunez, Simmons, Zachary Marckx and Noah Giordano in a ceremony following the meet. Williams was also honored with a video commemorating his 25 seasons as OU head coach.

"That 25-year recognition for me was a total surprise," Williams said. "That was pretty special. We've had a lot of good guys that I've coached here. It's a tremendous family. I look back now, and we've created something really special. I'm thankful for every athlete that's been here through my reign as the head coach."

Oklahoma travels to Palo Alto, Calif., next weekend for a meet against Stanford and California at 6 p.m. CT Saturday.

OU will serve as host for the MPSF Championship on April 6 at McCasland Field House. Tickets for the meet, which is set for a 2 p.m. start, can purchased via SoonerSports.com.

For updates and more information on Oklahoma men's gymnastics, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_MGymnastics) and like Oklahoma Men's Gymnastics on Facebook.