Sooners Score Big in Season-Opening Win over Air Force

Sunday, January 12

2 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

318.200

299.000

Air Force

Photo by: Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Score Big in Season-Opening Win over Air Force

January 12, 2025 | Men's Gymnastics

Highlights Final Results Photo Gallery

NORMAN – Six different Sooners won event titles and the Oklahoma men's gymnastics team posted the highest team score in the nation so far this season in a 318.200 to 299.000 win over Air Force in its season opener Sunday afternoon at McCasland Field House.

Senior Brigham Frentheway won the floor exercise title with a 13.700, junior Ignacio Yockers won the pommel horse title with a 14.450, senior Matthew Burgoyne won still rings with a 13.700, redshirt freshman Arthur Ballon won vault with a 14.300, sophomore Tyler Flores won parallel bars with a 13.350 and redshirt freshman Brandon Zepeda-Orth won horizontal bar with a 13.500.

Sunday's meet marked the first for Oklahoma under new rules in NCAA men's gymnastics. This season, all NCAA men's gymnastics meets feature four-up, four-count competition (four gymnasts compete on each event and all four scores count toward the team score). The 2025 campaign is also the first of the new Olympic quad under FIG's updated code of points, featuring updated skill values. Most routines (except vault) require eight skills, rather than the 10 required previously. The changes result in lower scores for both individual routines and team totals than in recent years.

Oklahoma swept all six team event titles as well, scoring higher than 50.000 on every event. OU scored 54.250 on floor exercise, 51.650 on pommel horse, 53.700 on still rings, 55.850 on vault, 52.100 on parallel bars and 51.650 on horizontal bar. OU's total score included a one-point deduction for an injury substitution. Redshirt sophomore Leo Koike was injured during his high bar routine and was replaced in the lineup by Yockers. The Sooners competed Sunday without any of their four returning All-Americans from the 2024 NCAA Finals (redshirt junior Fuzzy Benas, senior Emre Dodanli and sophomores Max Bereznev and Nico Hamilton), who were not in the lineup due to injury or injury recovery.

"I thought that was a good start to the season," Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams said. "We had pretty good performances throughout. We were down a couple of guys, so it was good to see some guys get opportunities and step up to the challenge. I was pleased overall with our performance. There are obviously a few things we can be working on as we head into the Rocky Mountain Open. We're looking forward to maybe getting a couple of guys back to be a part of that first road trip. Overall, it looks like we have the top score from the weekend, and hopefully we can just continue to get better from that score as the season progresses."

Burgoyne led off the meet on floor exercise, scoring a 13.450. Ballon and Koike followed with a pair of 13.550 scores and Frentheway anchored with his meet-high 13.700.

The routines to watch on Sunday were the pommels sets by Yockers and Air Force's Patrick Hoopes, the reigning NCAA pommel horse champion, and Yockers won the matchup by one-tenth over Hoopes' 14.350. Tyler Flores started OU's pommel horse rotation with a 13.000 and senior Zach Nunez scored a 13.250 in the third spot.

Frentheway led off for OU on rings with a career-high 13.450, Burgoyne followed with his 13.700, sophomore Tas Hajdu scored a 13.600 and freshman Francisco Velez Belendez notched a 12.950 in his first collegiate routine.

Ballon's NCAA gymnastics debut included his meet-high 14.300 in the second spot of OU's vault rotation. Nunez led off with a 13.650, Tyler Flores scored 13.700 and Frentheway anchored with a 14.200. Yockers started for Oklahoma on parallel bars, scoring 12.750, followed by a 13.000 from sophomore Colin Flores in his first routine in competition since sustaining an injury at Winter Cup last year. Burgoyne and Tyler Flores closed the rotation with respective 13.000 and 13.350 scores.

Zepeda-Orth registered his meet-high 13.500 in the leadoff position on high bar in his first collegiate routine. Ballon scored 12.700, Frentheway hit a 13.150 and Yockers notched a 12.300 in his first NCAA high bar routine.

Oklahoma travels to Colorado Springs, Colo., next weekend for the Rocky Mountain Open on Saturday, Jan. 18. The meet is set for a 7 p.m. CT start at the Air Force Academy. The Sooners return to McCasland Field House on Jan. 25 to face Illinois (5:45 p.m. start).

For updates and more information on Oklahoma men's gymnastics, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_MGymnastics) and like Oklahoma Men's Gymnastics on Facebook.