OU Faces California, Nebraska Friday Night in Berkeley

THE MEET

• No. 1 Oklahoma travels to the Bay Area this weekend for a tri-meet with No. 10 California and No. 6 Nebraska on Friday at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. The meet is set to begin at 8 p.m. CT.

• The meet will be streamed with live video and live scoring via Virti.us.

STICKS

• This will be the first of two scheduled meetings this season between Oklahoma and California. The Sooners and Golden Bears will also meet in the MPSF Championship on April 5 in at the Air Force Academy. OU and Cal met three times in 2024: Feb. 10 (417.800 to 400.800 OU win in Norman), March 16 (410.500 to 404.950 OU win in a tri-meet in Palo Alto, Calif.) and April 6 (418.400 [OU] to 405.600 [Cal] in the MPSF Championship at McCasland Field House in Norman.

• Oklahoma and Nebraska both competed at the Rocky Mountain Open on Jan. 18 at the Air Force Academy. The Sooners posted a 327.200 score to finish ahead of the Huskers' 320.450. OU and Nebraska met twice last season: Jan. 20 (420.350 to 409.600 OU win at the Rocky Mountain Open) and April 20 (OU edged Nebraska 412.956 to 412.427 in the NCAA Finals in Columbus, Ohio).

• Oklahoma has registered three of the top five and five of the top 12 team scores nationally this season. Its 330.700 against Illinois on Jan. 25 is the highest collegiate men's team score in the four-up, four-count meet format introduced for the 2025 season, while its 329.100 on Feb. 8 is the second highest team score of the season. The Sooners are ranked No. 1 for the fourth straight week and the fifth time in six weeks this season. OU has been ranked No. 1 at some point in every season since 2001.

• This is OU's second-to-last meet of the regular season. Following Friday's meet, Oklahoma is off for a week before traveling to Williamsburg, Va., for a meet against William & Mary and Greenville on March 15. The MPSF Championship will be held April 5 at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

• Redshirt junior Fuzzy Benas, the 2024 CGA Gymnast of the Year, missed OU's first five meets of the season while recovering from an injury sustained in the fall. He returned to the lineup in one event on Feb. 15 against Michigan and Simpson, winning the vault title with his stuck 14.350, then competed on vault and floor exercise at Winter Cup. He is expected to continue competing on more events this season as he works his way back into the lineup. Benas ended the 2024 regular season ranked first nationally in the all-around with an 82.663 NQA and won all-around bronze at the NCAA Championships.

• Senior Emre Dodanli has competed a total of 19 routines in five meets this season and leads all gymnasts nationally with his nine scores of 14.000 or better. He is the only gymnast in the country ranked among the top 5 on three events, and as a mark of his high-level consistency over the last two seasons, he was also the only gymnast ranked among the top 8 nationally in at least three events at the end of the 2024 campaign. He was the 2024 CGA Specialist of the Year and is a five-time All-American (FX [3x], VT, PB) and six-time CGA Regular Season All-American (FX [3x], VT [2x], HB) and a two-time MPSF floor exercise champion. He is also an Olympian, competing at the 2024 Paris games with his native Turkey.

• Four Sooners competed at Winter Cup last weekend in Louisville, Ky. Junior Ignacio Yockers won bronze on pommel horse, combining for a two-day total of 27.400 (14.050 on Friday and 13.350 on Sunday). Benas placed seventh on floor exercise with a 26.900 total (13.600 on Friday and 13.300 on Sunday) and stuck his vault for a 14.200 on Sunday to record the fifth-highest vault total of 28.100 (he scored 13.900 on Friday). Junior Kelton Christiansen placed fifth on high bar with his combined 26.400 (13.250 on Friday and 13.150 on Sunday). Senior Brigham Frentheway competed on floor exercise in Friday's session, scoring a 13.000. Five OU signees also competed over the weekend. Sasha Bogonosiuk placed seventh and Nathan Roman placed 10th in the Winter Cup all-around. Alex Noel, Max Morelos and Jackson Rendon competed in the Elite Team Cup. Noel (silver in the Elite Team Cup all-around) and Morelos competed in the Winter Cup finals on Sunday in pommel horse/parallel bars and parallel bars/high bar, respectively.

• Mark Williams is in his 26th season as Oklahoma head coach. He has led the Sooners to 598 victories (598-58-1 [.911]), nine national championships and 18 MPSF conference titles since his first season in 2000.

NATIONAL RANKINGS NOTES

• Oklahoma men's gymnastics team sits atop the Feb. 17 national rankings, which are based on each team's three highest scores, with its 329.167 average. Stanford (325.850), Ohio State (322.567), Michigan (322.183) and Illinois (322.167) round out the top five.

• Oklahoma is ranked in the top 6 on all six events and leads the nation on floor exercise (55.117), still rings (56.000) and horizontal bar (55.283). OU ranks second on pommel horse (55.033), third on vault (56.400) and sixth on parallel bars (53.000).

• Kelton Christiansen (14.067) and Emre Dodanli are ranked second and third on high bar (14.033). On rings, Francisco Velez Belendez (14.150) and Matthew Burgoyne (14.150) are tied for second and Tas Hajdu (14.083) is fourth.

• Dodanli (14.100) is third on floor exercise, while Brigham Frentheway (13.900), Burgoyne (13.800) and Arthur Ballon (13.700) are ranked fifth through seventh. Ignacio Yockers ranks fourth on pommel horse (14.517) and Zach Nunez is 10th (14.017). Frentheway is also ranked eighth on rings (13.817).

• On vault, Dodanli (14.283) is tied for fourth and Ballon (14.183) sits ninth. Dodanli (13.583) and Colin Flores (13.657) are ranked 11th and 12th on parallel bars. On high bar, Brandon Zepeda-Orth is ranked fifth (13.767) and Frentheway is ninth (13.600).

• In all, the Sooners hold 15 spots in the top 10 on the six apparatus, and 18 spots in the top 12. Dodanli is ranked among the top 15 in all four of his events, Frentheway is ranked among the top 12 on all four of his events and Ballon is ranked in the top 10 on both of his events.

LAST TIME OUT

• Fuzzy Benas won the vault title in his return to competition and 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 on Feb. 15 at McCasland Field House. Michigan's score was its highest team total so far this season.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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. After Brandon Zepeda-Orth led off with a career-high 13.850, Brigham Frentheway (13.550) and Kelton Christiansen (14.050) stuck their dismounts, and for the second straight week, Emre Dodanli sealed the OU victory, scoring 13.800 to close out the night.

HISTORY AND TRADITION

• Oklahoma has won 12 national championships (1977, '78, '91, 2002, '03, '05, '06, '08, '15, '16, '17, '18), tied for most in NCAA history (tied with Penn State), including nine national titles since 2000. The Sooners have finished first or second in 19 of the last 23 NCAA Championships, and have reached 24 consecutive NCAA finals, or every championship held since 2000 (does not count the 2020 championship canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). OU has finished among the top 3 in 22 of the last 23 NCAA Championships held, dating back to the 2001 season.

• Mark Williams has led Oklahoma to nine national titles and 18 MPSF conference titles over the course of his 25 full seasons as head coach of the Sooners. OU won an NCAA championship held in Norman three times: 2002, 2006 and 2015.

• The Sooners last won an NCAA championship in 2018 in Chicago, Ill., capping a run of four consecutive national titles (2015-18), then claimed second place in three straight championships: 2019, '21 and '22.