Sooners Open 2025 Season Sunday at McCasland

Sunday, January 12

2 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

Air Force

Tickets

Photo by: Morgan Givens, OU Athletics

Sooners Open 2025 Season Sunday at McCasland

January 11, 2025 | Men's Gymnastics

Tickets Watch Live Scoring Meet Notes

THE MEET

• No. 3 Oklahoma opens the 2025 season against No. 9 Air Force on Sunday, Jan. 12 at McCasland Field House. The meet is set for a 2 p.m. start, with introductions slated to begin at 1:45 p.m.

• Fans are encouraged to arrive early to participate in the first responder Touch A Truck event at 12:30 p.m. and for introductions at 1:45 p.m.

TICKETS/PROMOTIONS

• Single-meet tickets for OU men's gymnastics are available for just $7 for adult general admission and $5 for youth (ages 6-18) and seniors (55+). Season tickets are still available for purchase for just $25 for adult general admission and $15 for youth (ages 6-18) and seniors (55+).

• Members of law enforcement, military, healthcare and first responders can receive discounted tickets through the OU Athletics Ticket Office.

• Saturday is OU's Hometown Heroes meet. Fans can interact with first responder vehicles outside on Brooks Mall beginning at 12:30 p.m. The first 250 fans inside the field house can receive OU men's gymnastics hero buttons.

• The University of Oklahoma enforces a clear-bag policy and walk-through metal detectors at all home athletics events. Review policies and prohibited items at SoonerSports.com/clearbags.

WATCH/FOLLOW

• The meet will be televised on ESPN+ with OU alumni and national champions Bart Conner and Matt Wenske on the call.

• Live scoring will be available via OUStats.com.

STICKS

• Following Sunday's meet, the Sooners will be on the road next weekend at the Rocky Mountain Open, which will be held Jan. 18 at the Air Force Academy. The Sooners then return home to face Illinois on Jan. 25 at McCasland Field House.

• Oklahoma's season opener on Sunday will mark the debut of new rules in NCAA men's gymnastics. This season, all NCAA men's gymnastics meets will feature four-up, four-count competition (four gymnasts compete on each event and all four scores count toward the team score). The 2025 campaign will also be the first of the new Olympic quad under FIG's updated code of points, featuring updated skill values. Most routines (except vault) will require eight skills, rather than the 10 required previously.

• Oklahoma is unbeaten against its last 72 regular season opponents, encompassing 61 consecutive meets, inside McCasland Field House, dating back to the 2007 season. The streak began on March 17, 2007, with a victory over Iowa. OU's last regular-season loss in the field house was March 3, 2007, against Ohio State. Oklahoma and Stanford tied in a dual meet in McCasland Field House during the 2021 season. OU placed second to Stanford in the 2024 MPSF Championship, held at McCasland Field House.

• Oklahoma is ranked No. 3 in the preseason national poll, the same spot it finished the 2024 NCAA Finals. Reigning national champion Stanford is ranked No. 1 and Michigan is No. 2, while Nebraska is No. 4 and Illinois is No. 5, the same order of finish as last season's NCAA finals.

• Senior Emre Dodanli and fifth-year senior Zach Nunez were selected as senior captains for the 2025 season as voted by their teammates.

• Oklahoma returns all four gymnasts who earned All-America honors at the NCAA Championships: Dodanli (floor exercise, parallel bars), redshirt junior Fuzzy Benas (all-around, vault, parallel bars) and sophomores Max Bereznev (vault) and Nico Hamilton (floor exercise). Additionally, Benas (AA, p-bars), Dodanli (FX, VT, HB), Hamilton (FX), Nunez (PH), juniors Kelton Christiansen (high bar) and junior Ignacio Yockers (PH) and sophomore Tas Hajdu (SR) earned regular season All-America honors from the CGA.

• Benas was named the 2024 CGA Gymnast of the Year and Dodanli was the 2024 CGA Specialist of the Year, while Yockers was the MPSF Specialist of the Year for the second straight season, and Hamilton was named the MPSF Freshman of the Year. OU head coach Mark Williams earned his 15th MPSF Coach of the Year award in 2024.

• The Sooners also return seniors Matt Burgoyne, Brigham Frentheway and Cailen Walker, redshirt sophomores Leo Koike and Mac Seyler, sophomores Colin and Tyler Flores and redshirt freshman Arthur Ballon.

• OU welcomed several newcomers to the roster, including redshirt freshman Brandon Zepeda-Orth and freshmen Nick Cruz, Alex Deubler and Francisco Velez Belendez.

• In eight of 12 meets last season, all five Sooners in the vault lineup scored 14.000 or better. OU scored better than 72.000 on vault nine times and no lower than 70.950, and its 73.532 in the NCAA Finals was the program's highest vault total since recording a 73.900 in the 2019 MPSF Championship. Oklahoma's 70.950 high bar score on Feb. 10 was its highest 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). Christiansen notched a career- and team-season high 14.700 in that Feb. 10 meet, which was OU's highest individual score on high bar since the 2019 season.

HISTORY AND TRADITION

• Oklahoma has won 12 national championships (1977, '78, '91, 2002, '03, '05, '06, '08, '15, '16, '17, '18), tied for most in NCAA history (tied with Penn State), including nine national titles since 2000. The Sooners have finished first or second in 19 of the last 23 NCAA Championships, and has reached 24 consecutive NCAA finals, or every championship held since 2000 (does not count the 2020 championship canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). OU has finished among the top 3 in 22 of the last 23 NCAA Championships held, dating back to the 2001 season.

• Mark Williams has led Oklahoma to nine national titles over the course of his 25 seasons as head coach of the Sooners. OU won an NCAA championship held in Norman three times: 2002, 2006 and 2015.

• The Sooners last won an NCAA championship in 2018 in Chicago, Ill., capping a run of four consecutive national titles (2015-18), then claimed second place in three straight championships: 2019, '21 and '22.