01/21/2023 10:12:00 PM | Men's Gymnastics
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The University of Oklahoma men’s gymnastics team placed second at the season-opening Rocky Mountain Open on Saturday evening at Air Force Academy.
The Sooners put up a 411.850 total score to first-place Stanford’s 420.100. Nebraska (405.300) took third, Michigan (398.900) placed fourth and Air Force (397.400) and Arizona State (381.450) rounded out the competition in fifth and sixth, respectively.
"We had a pretty good day," said OU head coach Mark Williams. "Happy about our performance to start the season. Having a 411 to start the year is great until you look at Stanford scoring 420. So we’re tempering our enthusiasm to some degree because there’s still work to do, but in general I was pleased with how our the team performed.
"I saw some improvements on pommel horse, so I think we’re going to be a little better there than we were last year. As we get a few more guys healthy, we hope we can close the gap with Stanford and make a run at catching them this year."
As a team, Oklahoma won the floor exercise event title with a 69.550 and tied for the top spot on high bar with a 69.050. OU junior Zach Nunez claimed the pommel horse event title with a 14.050 set, while the Sooners took home six top-five individual finishes across the six events.
The Sooners started the meet on parallel bars and tallied a total of 67.450. OU was led by super senior captain Vitality Guimaraes’ 14.050. After missing the 2022 season due to injury, fellow senior captain Morgan Seyler returned to the lineup in a big way with a career-best 14.000. Additionally, Nunez chipped in a solid 13.500 in the rotation.
In the second rotation on high bar, Oklahoma put up its third-highest score of the meet with a 69.050 to claim a share of the event title. OU was paced by senior Jack Freeman’s 14.250, good for a tie for fifth place overall. Two more Sooners went 14.000-plus in sophomore Raydel Gamboa (14.100) and freshman Kelton Christiansen (14.000)
The third rotation saw the Sooners move to floor exercise where the team put up its second-highest score of the night (69.550) to take the event title. All five gymnasts tallied scores of 13.500 or better, led by Freeman’s 14.250 that placed second at the meet. Guimaraes put up a 14.050 that was fifth overall while fellow super senior Spencer Goodell scored 13.950 for a sixth-place finish.
OU headed to pommel horse in the fourth rotation, totaling 67.400. The rotation was highlighted by Nunez’s meet-winning 14.050 set. Gamboa chipped in a career-high 13.800 that tied for fourth overall.
On still rings in the fifth rotation, Oklahoma scored 66.300 led by Guimaraes’ 13.900 tally that placed fifth at the meet. Goodell contributed a 13.700 score to help the Sooners keep pace with the Cardinal heading into the sixth rotation.
In the sixth and final rotation, OU put up its highest event score of the meet with a 72.100, its first 70-plus event score of the season. Four of the Sooners five vaults scored 14.000 or better, led by matching 14.700’s from Guimaraes and sophomore Emre Dodanli. Morgan Seyler helped with a 14.600 while junior Dan Simmons chipped in a 14.150.
With the second-place finish, the Sooners have placed in the top two at the annual Rocky Mountain Open 23 of the last 24 seasons.
Oklahoma returns to action next Saturday, Jan. 28, for the home opener at McCasland Field House in Norman. OU will welcome Air Force and Illinois for the tri-meet, set to begin at 6 p.m. CT. The meet can be seen on SoonerVision on ESPN+.
For updates and more information, follow @OU_MGymnastics on Twitter or like Oklahoma Men’s Gymnastics on Facebook.
Men's Gym Takes Second in Season Opener – University of Oklahoma – Soonersports.com
