Sooners Set for Road Showdown at Michigan

Saturday, January 24

Ann Arbor, Mich.

1 p.m. CT

University of Oklahoma

Michigan

Men's gymnastics team huddle at Rocky Mountain Open

Photo by: Jonathan Suni

Sooners Set for Road Showdown at Michigan

January 23, 2026 | Men's Gymnastics

Watch Live Results Follow Meet Notes

THE MEET

• No. 1 Oklahoma travels to Ann Arbor, Mich. to take on reigning national champion and fifth-ranked Michigan on Saturday. The meet is set for a 1 p.m. CT start at Cliff Keen Arena.

• The Sooners and Wolverines met during the regular season last year, a meet OU won by a 327.700 to 326.400 margin on Feb. 15. Oklahoma and Michigan last met in Ann Arbor during the 2024 season, and the Wolverines won 416.300 to 409.550.

WATCH/FOLLOW

• The meet will be broadcast on Big Ten Network+, and will be available to watch for free. Live scoring will be available via Virti.us.

• Information will be available via @OU_MGymnastics on X.

STICKS

• Following Saturday's meet, the Sooners 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. The meet is Everyday Heroes appreciation day, featuring "touch a truck" and an OU beanie giveaway, and a $2 takeover meet, featuring $2 beer, soda and popcorn. There will also be a t-shirt toss, socks for sticks and an ice cream giveaway for the loudest fan of the meet. Admission to all Oklahoma men's gymnastics home meets during the 2026 season is free.

• Freshman Sasha Bogonosiuk was named the CGA national Rookie of the Week and the MPSF Freshman of the Week after his performance in OU's season-opening win at the Rocky Mountain Open. Bogonosiuk competed in the all-around in his first collegiate meet, where he notched a 79.650 to earn second place. He tied for second on vault with his stuck 14.100 and placed fourth on floor exercise with a 13.900. He also scored 13.500 on parallel bars, 12.900 on pommel horse, 12.750 on high bar and 12.500 on still rings. Bogonosiuk is ranked first nationally in the all-around (79.650), fourth on floor exercise (13.900), fifth on vault (14.100) and 12th on parallel bars (13.500).

• 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.

• Mark Williams begins his 27th season as Oklahoma head coach. He has led the Sooners to 612 victories (616-61-1 [.909]), nine national championships and 20 MPSF conference titles since his first season in 2000.

LAST TIME OUT

• Freshman Nathan Roman won the parallel bars title with his 14.500 and Oklahoma posted a 323.950 to win the Rocky Mountain Open on Jan. 17 in Colorado Springs, Colo., hosted by the Air Force Academy.

• The Sooners finished ahead of Stanford (320.750), Nebraska (315.500) and Air Force (302.100) among NCAA programs at the meet. A total of six teams and several individuals competed at the Rocky Mountain Open, a Winter Cup qualifying event. The other two teams in the competition were GymACT club programs Arizona State (280.250) and Rocky Mountain Mavericks (266.600). Oklahoma posted the highest team scores on pommel horse (55.200) and horizontal bar (53.150). OU scored 53.650 on floor exercise, 52.850 on still rings, 54.200 on vault and 54.900 on parallel bars.

• Roman tied with Stanford's David Shamah for the parallel bars title and tied for second on floor exercise (13.950). Freshman Sasha Bogonosiuk totaled 79.650 to place second in the all-around, just shy of Shamah's 79.700. Bogonosiuk also tied for second on vault (14.100) and placed fourth on floor exercise (13.900).

• Senior Ignacio Yockers placed second on pommel horse (14.250), while sophomore Colby Aranda finished third (13.950) and redshirt junior Mac Seyler placed fourth (13.900). Senior Kelton Christiansen placed second on high bar (13.850) and redshirt sophomore Brandon Zepeda-Orth placed fifth (13.400), and sophomore Francisco Velez Belendez placed fourth on still rings (13.750).

• Junior Colin Flores, who competed as an individual in the all-around trying to qualify for Winter Cup, placed fifth with a 75.800 total. OU alumnus Yul Moldauer, who competed in the meet to qualify for Winter Cup and rotated with the Sooners, placed third in the all-around with a 79.100 total.

NATIONAL RANKINGS NOTES

• Oklahoma is No. 1 in the Week 2 national rankings after opening its 2026 campaign by posting a nation-leading 323.950 at the Rocky Mountain Open on Jan. 17. Freshman Sasha Bogonosiuk tops the all-around standings with his 79.650, freshman Nathan Roman leads the parallel bar rankings with his 14.500 and senior Ignacio Yockers ranks first on pommel horse with his 14.250. OU has been ranked No. 1 at some point in every season since 2001.

• OU holds first place in three events after its first week of competition: pommel horse (55.200), parallel bars (54.900) and high bar (53.150). The Sooners rank second on floor exercise (53.650) and still rings (52.850) and ninth on vault (54.200).

• Roman ranks third on floor exercise (13.950) and Bogonosiuk is tied for fourth (13.900). Sophomore Colby Aranda is sixth on pommel horse (13.950) and redshirt junior Mac Seyler ranks seventh (13.900).

• Sophomore Francisco Velez Belendez ranks third on still rings (13.750) and junior Tas Hadju sits ninth (13.250). Bogonosiuk ranks fifth on vault (14.100) and redshirt sophomore Brandon Zepeda-Orth ranks eighth (13.400) on high bar. Hajdu ranks 11th on parallel bars after notching a career-high 13.550 on Saturday.

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.