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Oklahoma gymnastics: OU men claim 4th straight NCAA championship

By Chip Rouse

MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 05: Yul Moldauer of The United States of America competes on the rings during the men's individual all-around final of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships on October 5, 2017 at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 05: Yul Moldauer of The United States of America competes on the rings during the men's individual all-around final of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships on October 5, 2017 at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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For the first time in three seasons, there aren’t two Oklahoma gymnastics teams heading back to Norman with national championship trophies in tow.

The top-ranked Oklahoma men’s team made history on Saturday in Chicago, winning the NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships for a record-tying fourth consecutive year. The Sooner women, however, the No. 1 overall seed on the distaff side of the championship, fell just short in their bid for a third consecutive national crown.

OU junior Yul Moldauer topped the field in three individual events and was awarded the all-around title, leading the Sooners to the team victory and become the first Oklahoma gymnast to win four national titles in the same season. The two-time America Cup champion has won seven national individual championships in his Sooner career, the most in program history.

Oklahoma amassed a total score of 414.858 to beat out second-place Minnesota (411.923, Illinois (411.689), Stanford (408.725) and Penn State (401.991).

Only two other schools have won four consecutive national titles in men’s gymnastics (Illinois from 1939-42 and Nebraska, 1979-82). The Sooners have won nine national championships in 19 seasons under head coach Mark Williams. That ties Williams with former Penn State head coach Gene Wettstone for the most national titles in gymnastics by one coach.

With its 12 men’s title in NCAA gymnastics, the Sooners have tied Penn State for the most national championships in the sport.

Moldauer finished first in floor exercise, vault and parallel bars but not, ironically, in arguably his best event, still rings, where he as the defending national champion.

The Sooners were in third place and five points back after three rotations, but scored big on vault. Led by Moldauer, no OU gymnast scored less than 14.000 in the event, enabling the Sooners to move into the team lead after the fourth rotation. Oklahoma, all but locked up its fourth straight team title behind Moldauer’s top individual score and team win on the parallel bars.

Oklahoma finishes out the 2018 season going undefeated for the fourth consecutive year. During that time, the Sooners have 97 consecutive victories, the fourth longest winning streak in any sport in NCAA history.

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The Sooner women gymnasts weren’t as fortunate as their male counterparts.

A perfect score of 10 by UCLA’s Peng-Peng Lee on the balance beam in the final rotation in the Super Six finals on Saturday was enough to propel the Bruins past the Sooners, depriving Oklahoma of a third straight NCAA crown.

Oklahoma came into the 2018 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships with 10 team scores of 198.000 or better in competition this season and an NCAA-record regional qualifying score of 198.120.

The Sooners topped the 198 mark on both nights at this year’s championship, but their 198.0375 in the Super Six finals was bettered by UCLA, which finished with a score of 198.0750 to claim that school’s seventh national championship in women’s gymnastics.

Oklahoma was in first place by .175 over UCLA going into the final rotation on Saturday.

UCLA’s Peng needed a score of 9.975 or better on her beam routine for UCLA to overcome the Sooners advantage and prevent OU from taking home the winning team trophy for a third straight year. She did even better, posting a perfect 10, and that was all she wrote for Oklahoma’s championship bid.

The Sooners defeated UCLA earlier this season in a dual meet in Los Angeles.

Sophomore Maggie Nichols led the Sooners in three of the four event and won the individual national championship on her floor routine.

Despite the disappointing second-place finish in the NCAA Championships. the OU women ended the season with a 30-2 record and another season to be extremely proud of. This is the sixth consecutive year Oklahoma has finished in the top three in the Super Six round of the NCAA Championships.

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