Sooners Start NCAA Championships Friday

THE MEET

No. 1 Oklahoma will compete for a nationwide championship this weekend on the NCAA Championships at State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill. The Sooners start their quest for a thirteenth nationwide title at 1 p.m. CT on Friday within the first qualifying session in opposition to No. 4 Nebraska, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 8 California, No. 9 Greenville and No. 12 Springfield.

The meet shall be televised on ESPN+ with Bart Conner, Brody Malone and Lauren Sisler calling the motion. Individual equipment streams can even be accessible on ESPN+

The high three groups from every qualifying session will advance to NCAA Finals, which shall be held at 6 p.m. CT on Saturday, April 18, on ESPN2, with equipment streams accessible on ESPN+. The second qualifying session, to be held at 7 p.m. CT on Friday on ESPN+, will include No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Stanford, No. 6 Penn State, host and No. 7 Illinois, No. 10 Navy and No. 11 Army.

The Sooners have received 12 NCAA staff championships, together with 9 for the reason that 2000 season. OU’s final nationwide title got here in 2018, and since, Oklahoma has completed second thrice (2019, ’21, ’22), fourth (2023) and third twice (2024 and ’25). OU has reached the NCAA Finals in 24 straight years and completed among the many high 3 in 22 of the final 23 NCAA Championships held.

Oklahoma’s 12 NCAA staff titles is tied for essentially the most nationally (tied with Penn State), and OU’s 9 nationwide championships for the reason that 2002 season is 2 greater than Stanford’s seven in that span. The Sooners and Cardinal have mixed to win 16 of the final 23 NCAA staff championships, whereas Michigan has 4, Penn State has two and Illinois has one in that point.

 

STICKS

• The Sooners have posted the three highest staff scores within the nation with a 332.100 rating on the MPSF Championship on April 4, a 331.600 in opposition to California on March 7 and a 331.300 rating in a win over Nebraska on Feb. 28.

• Oklahoma has compiled a 7-0 general file this season in opposition to groups in its qualifying session. The Sooners have defeated Nebraska twice, with a 323.950 to 315.500 on the Rocky Mountain Open on Jan. 17 and a 331.300 to 321.150 win in Norman on Feb. 28. The Sooners defeated Greenville at McCasland Field House 320.000 to 305.650 on Feb. 1 and beat Ohio State 328.650 to 317.700 on Feb. 7. OU has confronted California in three straight meets with a 331.600 to 315.700 win in Norman, a 325.250 to 315.100 win in at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley and a 332.100 to 317.750 win on the MPSF Championship.

• Redshirt senior Fuzzy Benas and senior Ignacio Yockers have been introduced as two of the six finalists for the celebrated Nissen-Emery Award, which is offered yearly to the 12 months’s excellent collegiate gymnast. Benas is a former CGA Gymnast of the Year (2024) and Rookie of the Year (2022), a two-time all-around bronze medalist, an eight-time All-American and six-time CGA Regular Season All-American, and has been a member of the U.S. Senior National Team. Yockers is a two-time MPSF Specialist of the Year, a pommel horse bronze medalist, a four-time All-American on pommel horse and an MPSF pommel horse champion.

• Freshman Sasha Bogonosiuk was introduced because the 2026 MPSF Freshman of the Year and head coach Mark Williams was named the MPSF Coach of the Year. This is Williams’ third straight and seventeenth MPSF Coach of the Year award in his 27 seasons on the helm. Bogonosiuk is the third straight Sooner to assert the convention’s Freshman of the Year honor (following Francisco Velez Belendez and Nico Hamilton). Bogonosiuk is the one freshman to rank among the many top-8 nationally on two occasions: vault (fourth; 14.267) and flooring train (eighth; 13.767).

• Mark Williams is in his twenty seventh season as Oklahoma head coach. He has led the Sooners to 623 victories (626-61-1 [.911]), 9 nationwide championships and 19 MPSF convention titles since his first season in 2000.

NATIONAL RANKINGS NOTES

• Oklahoma is No. 1 within the remaining rankings with a 328.150 NQA after posting a 332.100 staff rating in a win on the MPSF Championship over Stanford (327.200), California (317.750) and Air Force (303.800).

• The Sooners rank forward of No. 2 Michigan (324.250), whereas No. 3 Stanford (322.988), No. 4 Nebraska (320.963) and No. 5 Ohio State (317.863) spherical out the highest 5.

• OU holds first place on pommel horse (55.575) and excessive bar (53.850). The Sooners rank second on flooring train (54.438), nonetheless rings (54.075), vault (55.825) and parallel bars (54.775).

• Oklahoma has two gymnasts ranked No. 1 on particular person occasions, with freshman Nathan Roman atop the parallel bars rankings (14.325) and senior Kelton Christiansen main the excessive bar rankings (14.050).

• Freshman Sasha Bogonosiuk ranks fourth on flooring train (13.900) and senior Fuzzy Benas ranks fifth (13.775). Redshirt freshman Colby Aranda ranks fourth on pommel horse (14.300), whereas senior Ignacio Yockers is fifth (14.238). Sophomore Francisco Velez Belendez ranks sixth on nonetheless rings (13.888), and junior Tas Hajdu is seventh (13.775).

• Benas ranks fourth on vault (14.200) and Bogonosiuk sits in sixth (14.138). Bogonosiuk additionally ranks eighth on parallel bars and junior Nico Hamilton is eleventh on excessive bar (13.525).

LAST TIME OUT

Freshman Nathan Roman registered the nation’s highest rating on parallel bars and contributed to Oklahoma’s 4 particular person convention titles, because the OU males’s gymnastics staff received its twenty first MPSF Championship on April 4 at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. The top-ranked Sooners posted a 332.100 staff complete to defeat No. 3 Stanford (327.200), No. 8 California (317.750) and No. 13 Air Force (303.800).

Roman received the parallel bars title together with his career-high 14.700, redshirt senior Fuzzy Benas received the vault title together with his caught 14.350, junior Nico Hamilton claimed the horizontal bar title together with his career-high 14.300 and redshirt freshman Colby Aranda earned the pommel horse title together with his 14.150. Benas’ convention title was the third of his profession and second on vault (additionally received vault in 2022 and parallel bars in 2025). Roman, Hamilton and Aranda every received their first particular person MPSF titles.

In successful its second straight MPSF Championship, Oklahoma reset the nation’s excessive rating once more with its 332.100 and now owns the highest three staff totals within the nation this season.

The Sooners received three staff occasions, posting a 54.950 on pommel horse, a season-high 56.150 on parallel bars and a 55.150 on excessive bar. OU scored a season-high 55.700 on flooring train, a 54.450 on nonetheless rings and a 55.700 on vault.

 

HISTORY AND TRADITION

Oklahoma has received 12 nationwide championships (1977, ’78, ’91, 2002, ’03, ’05, ’06, ’08, ’15, ’16, ’17, ’18), tied for many in NCAA historical past (tied with Penn State), together with 9 nationwide titles since 2000. The Sooners have completed first or second in 19 of the final 23 NCAA Championships, and has reached 25 consecutive NCAA finals, or each championship held since 2000 (doesn’t rely the 2020 championship canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic). OU has completed among the many high 3 in 23 of the final 24 NCAA Championships held, relationship again to the 2001 season.

Mark Williams has led Oklahoma to 9 nationwide titles over the course of his 26-plus seasons as head coach of the Sooners. OU received an NCAA championship held in Norman thrice: 2002, 2006 and 2015.

The Sooners final received an NCAA championship in 2018 in Chicago, Ill., capping a run of 4 consecutive nationwide titles (2015-18), then claimed second place in three straight championships: 2019, ’21 and ’22.