Sooners Set for Regular Season Finale with Cal

Saturday, March 21

Berkely, CA

9 p.m. CT

University of Oklahoma

California

Photo by: Morgan Givens/University of Oklahoma

Sooners Set for Regular Season Finale with Cal

March 20, 2026 | Men's Gymnastics

Meet Notes Watch Live Results Follow

THE MEET

No. 1 Oklahoma travels west this weekend for a rematch with No. 8 California on Saturday at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. The meet is set to begin at 9 p.m. CT.

The meet will be streamed with live video and live scoring via Virti.us.

The Sooners traveled to Berkeley for a tri-meet against California and Nebraska during the 2025 season. Oklahoma won the meet with a score of 323.100, topping Nebraska (317.100) and California (308.500).

STICKS

• Saturday's meet marks the second competition of the season against California. In the first matchup, the Sooners defeated the Golden Bears 331.600–315.700 on March 7 at McCasland Field House.

• This is OU's final meet of the regular season. Following Saturday's meet, Oklahoma has a week off, before traveling back to Berkeley, Calif., for the MPSF Championship on April 4, hosted by California. The NCAA Qualifier and Finals will be held April 17-18 in Champaign, Ill.

• Redshirt senior Fuzzy Benas and senior Ignacio Yockers were announced as two of the six finalists for the prestigious Nissen-Emery Award, which is presented annually to the year's outstanding collegiate gymnast. Benas is a CGA Gymnast of the Year, a two-time all-around bronze medalist, an eight-time All-American and six-time CGA Regular Season All-American, a CGA Rookie of the Year and has been a member of the U.S. Senior National Team. Yockers is a CGA Specialist of the Year, a two-time MPSF Specialist of the Year, a pommel horse bronze medalist, a four-time All-American on pommel horse and an MPSF pommel horse champion.

• Oklahoma is one of only two programs nationally to score at least 320.000 in each of its meets so far this season (the other is No. 2 Stanford).

• The Sooners have posted the two highest team scores in the nation with a 331.600 score versus California on March 7 and a 331.300 score in a win over Nebraska on Feb. 28. The Sooners are the only team to eclipse the 330.000 mark this season. The Sooners highest score is 2.900 higher than the next highest score in the nation (Michigan scored 328.700 on March 16).

• Sophomore Francisco Velez Belendez was named the CGA national Specialist of the Week and MPSF conference Specialist of the Week following his performance in OU's win over California. Velez Belendez set a new career high on rings (14.400) and competed his first collegiate floor exercise routine (12.850). Yockers was named the MPSF conference Gymnast of the Week following his performance in OU's win over California. Yockers earned two individual event titles on pommel horse (14.050) and parallel bars (13.850).

• Freshman Sasha Bogonosiuk and Nathan Roman were named to the U.S. Senior Development Team following their performances at 2026 Winter Cup. Bogosian won silver on vault with his 13.575 average. Benas also competed at Winter Cup for the fourth time.

• Mark Williams is in his 27th season as Oklahoma head coach. He has led the Sooners to 620 victories (622-61-1 [.909]), nine national championships and 20 MPSF conference titles since his first season in 2000.

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

NATIONAL RANKINGS NOTES

• Oklahoma is No. 1 in the Week 10 rankings with a 325.700 four-score average following a week off from competition.

• The Sooners rank ahead of No. 2 Stanford (321.583) while No. 3 Nebraska (319.933), No. 4 Michigan (318.333) and No. 5 Ohio State (317.350) round out the top five. and ranks second on vault (55.550). The Sooners also rank third on parallel bars (53.867) and fourth on floor exercise (53.967).

• Senior Kelton Christiansen ranks first on high bar (14.033) and is the only gymnast in the nation to have over a 14.000 four-score average on horizontal bar.

• Freshman Sasha Bogonosiuk ranks seventh on floor exercise (13.767) and redshirt senior Fuzzy Benas ranks 10th (13.683). Sophomore Colby Aranda ranks second on pommel horse (14.167) and senior Ignacio Yockers sits sixth (14.067).

• Sophomore Francisco Velez Belendez ranks third on still rings (13.867) and junior Tas Hajdu is seventh (13.650). Bogosian ranks third on vault (14.267), while Benas ranks 10th (14.050).

• Freshman Nathan Roman is third on parallel bars (14.033) and redshirt sophomore Brandon Zepeda-Orth ranks fifth on high bar (13.717).

LAST TIME OUT

Senior Ignacio Yockers earned two event titles as the No. 1 Oklahoma men's gymnastics team swept all six event titles on its way to a team total of 331.600 – the highest score in the nation this season – in a Senior Night win over No. 8 California (315.700) Saturday evening at McCasland Field House.

The Sooners eclipsed their previous nation-leading score of 331.300, set last week vs. No. 3 Nebraska, by three-tenths of a point.

Yockers won the pommel horse title with a 14.050 and the parallel bars title with a stuck 13.850. Junior Nico Hamilton won the floor exercise title for the second straight week with a 14.050.

Sophomore Francisco Velez Belendez won his third straight still rings title with a career-high 14.400, and junior Tyler Flores stuck a 14.500 to earn his second vault title of the season. Senior Kelton Christiansen ended the night with a stuck 14.150 on high bar to win the event title for the second straight week

OU swept all six team events, posting a 54.700 on floor exercise, 56.000 on pommel horse, 56.000 on still rings, 56.350 on vault, 53.800 on parallel bars and 54.750 on high bar. Oklahoma's score on rings was a team high this 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 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.