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Oklahoma gymnastics: OU men finish 4th in NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championship

By Chip Rouse

August 19, 2017; Anaheim, CA, USA; Yul Muldauer competes on the pommel horse during the 2017 P&G Gymnastics Championships at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
August 19, 2017; Anaheim, CA, USA; Yul Muldauer competes on the pommel horse during the 2017 P&G Gymnastics Championships at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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The men’s Oklahoma gymnastics squad wasn’t quite as fortunate as the Sooner women in this year’s NCAA Championships, but still managed to be among the final six teams competing for the 2023 national title in State College, Pennsylvania, hosted by Penn State.

The Sooner men finished fourth with a five-event score of 414.024 behind national champion Stanford (422.458) and teams from Michigan (419.889) and Illinois (415.590). Nebraska and Penn State, which between them have 20 national championships in NCAA men’s gymnastics, finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

Oklahoma, which was making its 23rd consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championship finals, entered the championship round as the No. 2 overall seed and on the heels of a winning qualifying session on Friday to make it among the six teams in Saturday’s finals.

The 414.024 score posted by the OU men was the Sooners fifth team score of 414 or better this season. Coming into this year’s championship finals, No. 3 Michigan’s highest score of the season had been 413.992 and Illinois’ was even lower at 411.550.

The Sooners’ best event in the finals was on pommel horse. Junior Zach Nunez finished second and freshman Ignacio Yockers placed third as OU posted a team score of 67.464.

OU sophomore Emri Dodanli and senior Jack Freeman were the only two other Sooner gymnasts to finish in the top 10 in one of the six rotations. Dodanli was fourth in floor exercise and Freeman was seventh on the horizontal bar.

All four of the Sooners’ top-10 finishers earned All-America honors with their performances in the championship finals.

Fifth-year senior Vitaliy Guimares placed seventh in the all-around.

As a team, Oklahoma finished fourth on floor, vault and high bar, fifth on the still rings and sixth on the parallel bars.

“There were still great (OU) performances out there,” said Sooner head coach Mark Williams in a press release posted on the Oklahoma athletic website. “I’m just really proud these guys never gave up the fight.”

The Sooner men are tied with Penn State for the most NCAA Men’s Gymnastics championships with 12 each. Stanford, this year’s winner for the third straight season, ranks fourth, one fewer than third-place Illinois, with nine.

Oklahoma men’s gymnastics has appeared in every NCAA Championship final since 2000.

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