Oklahoma to Compete for NCAA Title Tonight

Saturday, April 18

Champaign, Ill.

6 p.m. CT

University of Oklahoma

Stanford

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Photo by: Morgan Givens/University of Oklahoma

Oklahoma to Compete for NCAA Title Tonight

April 18, 2026 | Men's Gymnastics

Watch on ESPN2 Live Scoring Meet Notes Apparatus Streams on ESPN+

THE MEET

• No. 1 Oklahoma goes for its 13th national championship Saturday night and first since 2018 in the finals of the 2026 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships at State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill. The meet is set to begin at 6 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN2.

• Bart Conner, Brody Malone and Lauren Sisler will call the action on the ESPN2 broadcast. Individual apparatus streams will be available on ESPN+.

• The Sooners will be joined in the finals by No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Nebraska, No. 5 Ohio State and No. 7 Illinois.

• Oklahoma, which won its qualifying session on Friday with a 322.825, will begin the meet on parallel bars. Stanford (scored 327.992 to win the second qualifier) will begin on vault, Michigan (324.623) will begin on pommel horse, Ohio State (320.294) will begin on horizontal bar, Nebraska (320.059) will begin on floor exercise and Illinois (319.658) will begin on still rings.

• The Sooners have won 12 NCAA team championships, including nine since the 2000 season. OU's last national title came in 2018, and since, Oklahoma has finished second three times (2019, '21, '22), fourth (2023) and third twice (2024 and '25). OU has reached the NCAA Finals in 26 straight years and finished among the top 3 in 23 of the last 24 NCAA Championships held.

• Oklahoma's 12 NCAA team titles is tied for the most nationally (tied with Penn State), and OU's nine national championships since the 2002 season is two more than Stanford's seven in that span. The Sooners and Cardinal have combined to win 16 of the last 23 NCAA team championships, while Michigan has four, Penn State has two and Illinois has one in that time.

STICKS

• The Sooners have posted the three highest team scores in the nation with a 332.100 score at the MPSF Championship on April 4, a 331.600 against California on March 7 and a 331.300 score in a win over Nebraska on Feb. 28.

• Oklahoma has compiled an 8-0 overall record this season against teams in the finals, with three wins over Nebraska, two wins each over Stanford and Ohio State and one win over Michigan.

• Senior Ignacio Yockers was announced as the recipient of the Elite Scholar-Athlete award for the 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Gymnastics Championship at the NCAA Championships banquet Thursday night. Yockers, majoring in computer science and mathematics, currently carries a 4.0 GPA and is expected to graduate in May.

• Freshman Sasha Bogonosiuk was named the national Rookie of the Year by the College Gymnastics Association on Thursday night. Bogonosiuk, who was also named the MPSF Freshman of the Year, is the only freshman nationally to rank among the top 8 nationally on three events. He ranks fourth on floor exercise (13.900 NQA), sixth on vault (14.138 NQA) and eighth on parallel bars (13.625 NQA).

• OU's coaching staff of head coach Mark Williams and assistant coaches Valeriy Goncharov and Josh Yee were named the CGA West Region head coach and assistant coaches of the year Thursday. The staff led the Sooners to a 14-0 record entering NCAA Championships and a second straight MPSF championship.

• Yockers and redshirt senior Fuzzy Benas were 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 former CGA Gymnast of the Year (2024) and Rookie of the Year (2022), a two-time all-around bronze medalist, an eight-time All-American and six-time CGA Regular Season All-American, and has been a member of the U.S. Senior National Team. Yockers is 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.

• Mark Williams is in his 27th season as Oklahoma head coach. He has led the Sooners to 631 victories (631-61-1 [.913]), nine national championships and 20 MPSF conference titles since his first season in 2000.

NATIONAL RANKINGS NOTES (as of April 4)

• Oklahoma is No. 1 in the final rankings with a 328.150 NQA after posting a 332.100 team score in a win at the MPSF Championship over Stanford (327.200), California (317.750) and Air Force (303.800).

• The Sooners rank ahead of No. 2 Michigan (324.250), while No. 3 Stanford (322.988), No. 4 Nebraska (320.963) and No. 5 Ohio State (317.863) round out the top five.

• OU holds first place on pommel horse (55.575) and high bar (53.850). The Sooners rank second on floor exercise (54.438), still rings (54.075), vault (55.825) and parallel bars (54.775).

• Oklahoma has two gymnasts ranked No. 1 on individual events, with freshman Nathan Roman atop the parallel bars rankings (14.325) and senior Kelton Christiansen leading the high bar rankings (14.050).

• Freshman Sasha Bogonosiuk ranks fourth on floor exercise (13.900) and senior Fuzzy Benas ranks fifth (13.775). Redshirt freshman Colby Aranda ranks fourth on pommel horse (14.300), while senior Ignacio Yockers is fifth (14.238). Sophomore Francisco Velez Belendez ranks sixth on still rings (13.888), and junior Tas Hajdu is 7th (13.775).

• Benas ranks fourth on vault (14.200) and Bogonosiuk sits in sixth (14.138). Bogonosiuk also ranks eighth on parallel bars and junior Nico Hamilton is 11th on high bar (13.525).

LAST TIME OUT

• Oklahoma advanced to its 26th consecutive NCAA Championship finals, posting a team total of 322.825 in the afternoon qualifying session of the 2026 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships Friday at the University of Illinois' State Farm Center.

• The top-seeded Sooners placed first in the session and will be joined in the finals by No. 5 Ohio State (320.294) and No. 4 Nebraska (320.059), as well as No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Stanford and No. 7 Illinois from the second qualifying session.

• A pair of freshmen claimed individual event titles, as Sasha Bogonosiuk won vault with a stuck 14.500 and Nathan Roman took parallel bars with a 14.366. Oklahoma notched a season-high 56.498 on vault and also recorded the top team scores of the meet on still rings (53.399) and parallel bars (53.732).

• Ignacio Yockers posted a 13.933 to finish second on pommel horse, while Colby Aranda followed with a 13.900 to tie for third. Francisco Velez Belendez stuck his dismount for a 14.100 to place second on still rings.

• Tyler Flores added a stuck vault for a 14.366 to earn a runner-up finish on the event. Fuzzy Benas finished fourth on floor exercise with a season-high 13.766. Brandon Zepeda-Orth recorded a 13.666 to take second on high bar.

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 have reached 26 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-plus 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.