Photo by Morgan Givens/OU
NORMAN – Senior Emre Dodanli’s high bar routine clinched the victory, as the top-ranked Oklahoma men’s gymnastics team scored 329.100 to defeat No. 3 Stanford (328.850) and No. 12 Greenville (308.800) in front of a record crowd of 2,149 Saturday on Cleveland Night and Alumni Night at McCasland Field House.
The Sooners needed at least a 13.650 on the final routine of the night to stay ahead of the Cardinal, which had concluded its vault rotation, and Dodanli hit a 13.850 to seal the team win and claim the individual event title.
Junior Ignacio Yockers notched a season-high 14.650 to win the pommel horse title. Oklahoma posted the best score of the meet on floor exercise (54.950), pommel horse (season-best 55.050) and horizontal bar (54.050). The team total was OU’s second highest of the season while Stanford tied its best score and Greenville set a season-best mark.
Saturday’s crowd broke the program’s previous McCasland Field House attendance record of 2,111 that was set on Cleveland Night last season. The Sooners fans in attendance, which included students and families from Norman’s Cleveland Elementary School and OU gymnastics alumni, witnessed a thrilling meet and went home happy.
“It was a really exciting day,” Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams said. “The crowd was into it and stayed, we had a record attendance, Cleveland Night and the alumni here. We just had a lot of things going for us tonight, and my team stepped up. We went head-to-head against the five-time defending national champions, and we were good tonight. We’ll take that as a win. We know we’ll have to meet them down the road for conference and the national championship.
“I’m really proud of the team. The work that they’ve put in has really paid off. Tonight they got, at least, halfway through the season, a reward in continuing our duals streak of not having a loss in the field house since 2007, and taking down the defending national champions with good gymnastics and a good environment in the arena.”
Oklahoma trailed Stanford by half a point after the second rotation but retook the lead, 166.500 to 164.550, with a huge rings set in which all four gymnasts stuck their dismounts. OU increased its advantage to 2.85 points after its vault rotation, and led the Cardinal by a 275.050 to 272.600 margin after the fifth event.
Senior Matthew Burgoyne led off the meet on floor exercise by tying his career high with a 13.950. Redshirt freshman Arthur Ballon followed with a 13.450, senior Brigham Frentheway scored 13.550 and Dodanli anchored with a 14.000. OU held a slight 54.950 to 54.050 lead on Stanford, which started on pommel horse.
Junior Kelton Christiansen notched a season-best 13.250 to start the Sooners on pommel horse, sophomore Tyler Flores scored 13.550, senior Zach Nunez hit a 13.600 and Yockers closed the rotation with his 14.650.
Freshman Francisco Velez Belendez anchored the rings team with a team season-best 14.350. Frentheway tied his career high with a 13.800, Burgoyne set a career high with his 14.200 and sophomore Tas Hajdu hit a 14.150 in the third spot. All four rings marks included an execution score of 9.05 or better. Frentheway’s routine earned a 9.4 execution score.
Tyler Flores led off on vault with a team-high 14.100 while Ballon and Dodanli each scored 14.000. Dodanli anchored on parallel bars with a 13.650, and was followed in scoring by a 13.400 from sophomore Colin Flores and a career-high 13.300 from Burgoyne.
On horizontal bar, redshirt freshman Brandon Zepeda-Orth led off by scoring 13.500. Frentheway hit a 13.550 and Christiansen scored 13.150, setting up Dodanli’s meet-clinching turn on the high bar.
“I’m impressed with Emre and Zach as leaders this year,” Williams said. “There was a time early in the season that I kind of had to push them a little bit to be more involved as captains and bring the team into everybody supporting the top end, rather than it going the other direction. I’ve seen some difference in them in the last three weeks, and it shows on the floor. Emre’s high bar routine was spectacular. Those guys stayed focused, and we got four high bar sets that were all very good. It’s very hard to go up against vault on high bar. We needed almost all of the lead that we had going in, but we were able to maintain it. It was a great night.”
In all, Oklahoma registered eight scores of 14.000 or higher, seven routines with 9.0 or better execution and only one sub-13.000 score in the meet. The Sooners set or tied seven individual season highs and five career-best marks. Burgoyne matched or set new career highs on all three of his routines.
The Sooners are now unbeaten against their last 76 regular season opponents, encompassing 64 consecutive regular season meets, inside McCasland Field House, 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 returns to McCasland Field House next Saturday, Feb. 15, to face No. 7 Michigan and No. 15 Simpson at 5:45 p.m. (first routine at 6 p.m.). It will be OU’s final home meet of the season and Senior Night. Tickets are available for just $7 ($5 for youth and seniors) and can be purchased through the OU Athletics Ticket Office.
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.
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