Sooners Begin 2026 Season at Rocky Mountain Open

Saturday, January 17

Colorado Springs, Colo.

7 p.m. CT

University of Oklahoma

Stanford

MGYM huddle at Air Force Academy Cadet West Gym

Photo by: Andrew Marsh

Sooners Begin 2026 Season at Rocky Mountain Open

January 16, 2026 | Men's Gymnastics

Watch Live Results Follow Meet Notes

THE MEET

• Oklahoma opens the 2026 season at the Rocky Mountain Open in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Saturday, Jan. 17. The meet, which will be held in the Air Force Academy's Cadet West Gym, is set to begin at 7 p.m. CT. The Sooners will compete against Air Force, Nebraska, Stanford and Arizona State's club program.

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

WATCH/FOLLOW

• The meet will be streamed on Air Force's YouTube page, and live scoring will be available via StatBroadcast.

• Information will be available via @OU_MGymnastics on X.

STICKS

• Following Saturday's meet, the Sooners will be on the road in Ann Arbor, Mich., next Saturday, Jan. 24, for a meet at reigning national champion Michigan. The meet is set for a 1 p.m. CT start. The Sooners then return to Norman for their home opener against Greenville on Sunday, Feb. 1 at McCasland Field House. That meet is set to begin at 2 p.m. CT. OU hosts Ohio State and Air Force for Cleveland Night/Alumni Night on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. CT. Admission to all Oklahoma men's gymnastics home meets during the 2026 season is free.

• Senior Kelton Christiansen and fifth-year senior Brigham Frentheway were selected as senior captains for the 2026 season as voted by their teammates.

• Oklahoma returns two bronze medalists from the NCAA Championships in redshirt-senior Fuzzy Benas (all-around) and junior Tas Hadju (still rings), and and two gymnasts who earned All-America honors in Christiansen (high bar) and junior Colin Flores (p-bars). Additionally, Christiansen (high bar), Hajdu (rings), senior Ignacio Yockers (pommel horse) and sophomore Francisco Velez Belendez (rings) earned regular season All-America honors from the CGA.

• The Sooners also return redshirt juniors Leo Koike and Mac Seyler, juniors Tyler Flores and Nico Hamilton and redshirt sophomores Arthur Ballon, Max Bereznev and Brandon Zepeda-Orth. Bereznev, a 2024 vault All-American, missed the 2025 season with an injury.

• OU welcomed several newcomers to the roster, including sophomore Colby Aranda and freshmen Sasha Bogonosiuk, Max Morelos, Alex Noel, Jackson Rendon and Nathan Roman.

• Fuzzy Benas, Sasha Bogonosiuk and Nathan Roman are pre-qualified for 2026 Winter Cup as members of the U.S. Senior Men's National Team. Future Sooners Dante Reive and Hunter Simpson, who signed with OU as members of the 2026 class, are also pre-qualified to compete at Winter Cup, which will be held Feb. 21-22 in Louisville, Ky.

• Velez Belendez competed in the Artistic World Championships in October with Puerto Rico.

• Roman competed in the Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships in November, where he helped Team USA earn its first team bronze medal in competition history. Roman finished seventh in the floor excercise final with a score of (12.733).

• Mark Williams begins his 27th season as Oklahoma head coach. He has led the Sooners to 612 victories (612-61-1 [.909]), nine national championships and 20 MPSF conference titles since his first season in 2000.

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 25 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 23 of the last 24 NCAA Championships held, dating back to the 2001 season.

• Mark Williams has led Oklahoma to nine national titles over the course of his 26 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.