Oklahoma gymnastics continues to rule the roost nationally

Oklahoma gymnastics has ruled the college world for several seasons, and at the outset of the 2018 season, there doesn’t appear to be any change on the top line.

Both the Sooner men and women are reigning national champions and are a solid No. 1 in the nation early in the 2018 season of competition. Oklahoma not only rules the roost in the sport but is setting the standard in collegiate gymnastics.

The OU men’s squad have worn the national crown for three years running and are dominating the competition again this season. The men were a week delayed getting underway after their season-opening meet at Air Force was cancelled because of the government shutdown.

That only delayed the inevitable, however, as the Sooners went on the road and won five of the six individual event titles, easily defeating Michigan in their season-opening competition. The following week, OU hosted two of the top-five squads in the country. Led by junior All-American Yul Moldauer, topped No. 2 Nebraska and No. 4 Stanford in three of the six events (pommel horse, still rings and parallel bars) and scored what was then the highest team score of the season (418.000) to win the overall competition.

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This past weekend, the OU men did one better, recording a team score of 418.850, the best in the country so far in 2018, in besting No. 10 Iowa over the weekend at McCasland Field House. The win was the Sooners 43rd straight regular-season victory at home and their remarkable 85th consecutive win in competition.

The Sooner women, who are two-time defending national champions, are off to a similar strong start. OU has come out on top in four of their five competitions to begin the 2018 campaign. The lone loss was at No. 5 Florida two weeks ago, but Oklahoma still retains the top spot despite its narrow loss to the Gators that went down to the very last routine before it was decided.

Over the weekend, the OU women’s squad matched the nation-best team score of 198.150 in defeating North Carolina at home. The week before that, the Sooners defeated UCLA, which has moved into the No. 2 spot in the national rankings, one back of Oklahoma.

The reigning national champion Sooner women not only hold down the top spot in the team rankings, but also are No. 1 in four of the five standard events (vault, bars, beam and overall). They are ranked fourth in floor exercise.

Seven Sooners are ranked in the top 25 in at least one women’s event, and six are ranked in the top 10. Sophomore Maggie Nichols ranks first nationally in all-around, vault and the uneven bars and second on beam.

Hats off to both squads, under men’s head coach Mark Williams and women’s coach K.J. Kindler. Both teams are well on their way to a third straight double-double as NCAA Gymnastics champions.

Under Williams, who is in his 18th season at Oklahoma, the Sooner men have won eight national titles in 16 seasons and have finished as the national runner-up seven times. Oklahoma is very fortunate to have Williams, who arguably is the best men’s gymnastics coach in the country. Williams’ Sooner teams are 459-36 with him at the helm. They have registered a perfect season in each of the last three.

Kindler has led the Sooner women to three national crowns (2014, 2016, 2017) and seven top-three national finishes.

It’s pretty obvious that the Oklahoma gymnastics program is in excellent hands.

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