Sooners Defeat Michigan, Simpson on Senior Night

Saturday, February 15

6 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

327.700

326.400

Michigan

Photo by: Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Defeat Michigan, Simpson on Senior Night

February 15, 2025 | Men's Gymnastics

Final Results Highlights Photo Gallery

NORMAN – Redshirt junior Fuzzy Benas won the vault title in his return to competition and junior Ignacio Yockers won the pommel horse title to lead No. 1 Oklahoma to a 327.700 total and wins over No. 6 Michigan (326.400) and No. 14 Simpson (285.550) in front of a Senior Night crowd of 1,011 Saturday evening at McCasland Field House.

Benas, competing in his first meet this season after recovering from an injury, stuck his vault for a 14.350 to claim the event medal. Yockers notched his third pommel horse title of the season with his 14.450 on Saturday.

The Sooners led all the way through the meet and won five of the six team events, tying their season high on floor exercise with a 55.200. OU also finished first on pommel horse (53.450), still rings (55.450), vault (56.050) and horizontal bar (55.250), and scored 52.300 on parallel bars.

"I'm really pleased with the send-off for the seniors," Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams said. "It's always a special night to recognize the time they've spent as OU student-athletes. To finish up with a win and send them off on a good note, that was pretty exciting. Going up against another really good team, we weren't perfect tonight, but guys finished when they needed to. I'm pretty happy with the victory."

Oklahoma, which led Michigan by 1.85 points going into the final rotation, finished the meet on high bar while the Wolverines were on vault. Redshirt freshman Brandon Zepeda-Orth led off with a career-high 13.850, followed by stuck dismounts from senior Brigham Frentheway (13.550) and junior Kelton Christiansen (14.050). For the second straight week, senior Emre Dodanli sealed the OU victory, scoring 13.800 to close out the night.

The Sooners started the meet by putting up a big score on floor exercise. Frentheway tied his season high with a 14.000 and Dodanli notched his season high with a 14.250 in the anchor spot. Senior Matthew Burgoyne led off with a 13.650 and sophomore Nico Hamilton scored 13.300 in his first routine of the season after recovering from an injury.

Yockers anchored OU's pommel horse rotation with his meet-high 14.450 following a 13.700 by senior Zach Nunez. Redshirt sophomore Mac Seyler scored 13.100 in just his second pommel horse routine of the season.

Frentheway led off on rings with a career-high 13.850, including a 9.45 execution score, and Burgoyne hit a big 14.150. It was Burgoyne's fourth straight 14-plus on rings. Seyler, competing his first rings routine since the 2023 season, scored 13.450 in the third spot. Freshman Francisco Velez Belendez anchored with a 14.000.

Velez Belendez performed his first collegiate vault to start the rotation for OU and hit a 13.450. Benas followed with his stuck 14.350, Frentheway notched a 14.050 and Dodanli anchored with a 14.200. Burgoyne notched a career-high 13.400 to lead off on parallel bars and sophomore Colin Flores tied his season high by scoring 13.650.

In all, Oklahoma registered nine scores of 14.000 or higher and 10 routines with 9.0 or better execution marks. The Sooners set or tied 11 individual season highs and five career-best marks (including season and career debuts).

The Sooners completed their home schedule with a perfect 6-0 record inside McCasland Field House. Oklahoma is now unbeaten against its last 78 regular season opponents in the field house, encompassing 65 consecutive regular season meets, dating back to the 2007 season. OU's only defeat in the field house during that time was in the 2024 MPSF Championship when it finished second to Stanford.

Oklahoma breaks from team competition for USA Gymnastics Winter Cup, which will be held next weekend, Feb. 21-23, in Louisville, Ky. Benas, Christiansen, Frentheway, Yockers and sophomore Tas Hajdu will represent OU.

The Sooners return to NCAA competition on Friday, Feb. 28, against California and Nebraska in Berkeley, Calif. The start time for that meet is set for 8 p.m. CT.

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.