Oklahoma gymnastics: OU men win 8th consecutive conference crown
By Chip Rouse
The Sooner women weren’t the only Oklahoma gymnastics team to grab headlines over the weekend. The top-ranked OU men won their eighth consecutive conference championship and 18th overall.
This Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship was not as easy for the Sooners as some past titles, with Oklahoma’s margin of victory over second-place and second-ranked Stanford just a mere 1.950 points (420.500 to 418.550).
Far back in third place was No. 11 California and 13th-ranked Air Force finished in fourth place.
Oklahoma is now undefeated in a remarkable116 consecutive competitions.
Sooner All-American super star Yul Moldauer won the all-around championship as well as finishing first in three of the six individual events. The four conference titles give Moldauer 12 for his career at OU and moves him past former Sooner gymnast and Olympian Jonathan Horton for the most in program history.
Moldauer took individual titles on pommel horse, parallel bars and still rings. It was a fitting way for the senior to compete for one last time at OU’s McCasland Field House.
The Sooners took over the lead for good in the fourth rotation with an NCAA season-best aggregate score of 73.900 on vault. Senior Levi Anderson led the way with an NCAA-high score of 15.250.
The conference championship came down to the sixth and final rotation, with the Sooners on high bar and Stanford on vault. Led by sophomore Gage Dyer’s second-place performance and with four Sooners sticking their dismounts, Oklahoma received enough team points on the high bar to secure victory over Stanford and earn an eighth straight conference title.
The OU men’s squad and their longtime head coach Mark Williams now head to Champaign, Illinois, home of the University of Illinois, for the 2019 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships. The Sooners are going after their fifth consecutive NCAA championship and 13th overall. Nine of those championships have come under Williams, who is in his 20th season in Norman.
In addition to nine national titles, Oklahoma also has finished second seven times and never lower than fourth in 20 consecutive NCAA appearances under Williams.