OU to Compete for NCAA Title Tonight

THE MEET

• No. 1 Oklahoma will compete for a national championship Saturday in the NCAA Championship Finals at 5:30 p.m. CT Saturday at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Sooners will face No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Nebraska, No. 5 Penn State and No. 6 Illinois. The finals will determine team, all-around and individual event champions.

• The NCAA Finals will be televised on ESPN2 with Bart Conner, Brody Malone and Lauren Sisler calling the action. Individual apparatus streams will be available on ESPN+. Live scoring will be available via StatBroadcast.

• Oklahoma will start on pommel horse Saturday night. Michigan will begin on parallel bars, Stanford on horizontal bar, Illinois on floor exercise, Penn State on still rings and Nebraska will start on vault.

STICKS

• The Sooners have now reached 25 consecutive NCAA Finals (since the 2000 season) and finished among the top 3 in 22 of the last 23 NCAA Championships held. OU has won 12 NCAA team championships, including nine since 2000. OU's last national title came in 2018, and since, Oklahoma has finished second three times (2019, '21, '22), fourth (2023) and third (2024).

• Oklahoma's 12 NCAA team titles is tied for the most nationally (tied with Penn State), and OU's nine national championships since the 2002 season is two more than Stanford's seven in that span. The Sooners and Cardinal have combined to win 16 of the last 22 NCAA team championships, while Michigan has three, Penn State has two and Illinois has one in that time.

• Oklahoma advanced to the finals by placing second in its qualifying session on Friday. The Sooners posted a team total of 323.460 behind Nebraska (324.894) and ahead of Penn State (321.992). Emre Dodanli placed first in the session on floor exercise with his 14.200. Oklahoma notched 55.199 on vault in the first rotation, followed by season-high 54.766 on parallel bars, 52.732 on horizontal bar, 55.098 on floor exercise, 51.833 on pommel horse and 53.832 on still rings. The Sooners led through each of the first four rotations, and posted the highest team score on floor, parallel bars and high bar. Dodanli's event title was his eighth of the season.

• Oklahoma has compiled a 7-2 overall record this season against teams in the finals. The Sooners have gone 2-1 vs. Stanford (OU won 329.100 to 328.850 in Norman on Feb. 8 and 329.250 to 328.950 in the MPSF Championship on April 5; Stanford won 328.850 to 327.200 at the Rocky Mountain Open on Jan. 18) and 2-1 vs. Nebraska (OU won 327.200 to 320.450 at the Rocky Mountain Open and 323.100 to 317.100 in Berkeley, Calif., on Feb. 28; Nebraska finished ahead of OU in Friday's qualifying session). Oklahoma won against Illinois 330.700 to 325.500 in Norman on Jan. 25 and finished ahead of Penn State in Friday's qualifier.

• Senior Matt Burgoyne was named the recipient of the NCAA ELITE 90 award for the 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Gymnastics Championship at the pre-championship banquet on Thursday night. Burgoyne, majoring in health and exercise science, currently carries a 4.0 GPA. A product of Lansdale, Pa., he has competed in 18 meets over his two seasons with the Sooners. He is a two-time MPSF All-Academic Team selection and was a CGA All-America Scholar-Athlete and an Academic All-Big 12 honoree in 2024.

• The Sooners have won 31 individual event titles and 41 team event titles in 10 meets this season (including the top score on floor exercise and high bar in nine meets). Dodanli paces OU with eight event victories in his seven meets, while redshirt junior Fuzzy Benas and junior Ignacio Yockers have each claimed four event titles. Dodanli (HB) and Benas (PB) won MPSF conference titles on their respective events.

• Dodanli was one of seven finalists for the prestigious Nissen-Emery Award, which is presented annually to the year's outstanding senior collegiate gymnast, and was a nominee for the CGA Gymnast of the Year award. A senior captain, Dodanli was the 2024 CGA Specialist of the Year, a five-time All-American and nine-time Regular Season All-American and a 2024 Olympian (he competed at the Paris games with his native Turkey). He is one of only two gymnasts nationally ranked among the top 10 on three events entering the NCAA Championships (the other is Michigan's Fred Richard), and the only one ranked in the top 7 on three events. Dodanli, who led the team with seven event titles in 2023 and 13 in 2024, has won 30 career event titles.

• A total of six Sooners earned CGA Regular Season All-America honors: Dodanli (floor exercise, vault, high bar), Yockers (pommel horse), Burgoyne, sophomore Tas Hajdu and freshman Francisco Velez Belendez (still rings) and junior Kelton Christiansen (high bar). The top eight-ranked gymnasts and ties on each event and in the all-around, based on four-score average, receive CGA Regular Season All-America accolades.

• Mark Williams is in his 26th season as Oklahoma head coach. He has led the Sooners to 609 victories (609-59-1 [.911]), nine national championships and 19 MPSF conference titles since his first season in 2000.

RECAPPING NCAA QUALIFIER

• The Oklahoma men's gymnastics team advanced to its 25th consecutive NCAA Championship finals, posting a team total of 323.460 in the afternoon qualifying session on Friday at Michigan's Crisler Center.

• The top-seeded Sooners placed second in the session and will be joined in the finals by No. 4 Nebraska (324.894) and No. 5 Penn State (321.992). The top three teams from each qualifying session advance to the NCAA Finals. The second qualifier, which features No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Stanford, No. 6 Illinois, No. 7 Ohio State, No. 10 Navy and No. 11 Army, was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. CT Friday.

• The NCAA Championship Finals will be held at 5:30 p.m. CT Saturday, and will be televised on ESPN2 with apparatus streams available on ESPN+.

• Senior Emre Dodanli placed first in the session on floor exercise with his 14.200. Oklahoma notched 55.199 on vault in the first rotation, followed by season-high 54.766 on parallel bars, 52.732 on horizontal bar, 55.098 on floor exercise, 51.833 on pommel horse and 53.832 on still rings. The Sooners led through each of the first four rotations, and posted the highest team score on floor, parallel bars and high bar.

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 25 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 19 MPSF conference titles over the course of his nearly 26 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.

THE MEET

STICKS

RECAPPING NCAA QUALIFIER

HISTORY AND TRADITION

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Fuzzy Benas

Kelton Christiansen

Emre Dodanli

Tas Hajdu

Francisco Velez Belendez

Ignacio Yockers

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics