Oklahoma to Compete for NCAA Title Tonight

THE MEET

• No. 1 Oklahoma goes for its thirteenth nationwide championship Saturday evening and first since 2018 within the finals of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships at State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill. The meet is ready to start at 6 p.m. CT and will probably be televised on ESPN2.

• Bart Conner, Brody Malone and Lauren Sisler will name the motion on the ESPN2 broadcast. Individual equipment streams will probably be accessible on ESPN+.

• The Sooners will probably be joined within the finals by No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Nebraska, No. 5 Ohio State and No. 7 Illinois.

• Oklahoma, which received its qualifying session on Friday with a 322.825, will start the meet on parallel bars. Stanford (scored 327.992 to win the second qualifier) will start on vault, Michigan (324.623) will start on pommel horse, Ohio State (320.294) will start on horizontal bar, Nebraska (320.059) will start on flooring train and Illinois (319.658) will start on nonetheless rings.

• The Sooners have received 12 NCAA workforce 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 3 times (2019, ’21, ’22), fourth (2023) and third twice (2024 and ’25). OU has reached the NCAA Finals in 26 straight years and completed among the many prime 3 in 23 of the final 24 NCAA Championships held.

• Oklahoma’s 12 NCAA workforce titles is tied for probably 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 workforce championships, whereas Michigan has 4, Penn State has two and Illinois has one in that point.

STICKS

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

• Oklahoma has compiled an 8-0 total document this season towards groups within the finals, with three wins over Nebraska, two wins every over Stanford and Ohio State and one win over Michigan.

• Senior Ignacio Yockers was introduced because the recipient of the Elite Scholar-Athlete award for the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Gymnastics Championship on the NCAA Championships banquet Thursday evening. Yockers, majoring in pc science and arithmetic, at the moment carries a 4.0 GPA and is anticipated to graduate in May.

• Freshman Sasha Bogonosiuk was named the nationwide Rookie of the Year by the College Gymnastics Association on Thursday evening. Bogonosiuk, who was additionally named the MPSF Freshman of the Year, is the one freshman nationally to rank among the many prime 8 nationally on three occasions. He ranks fourth on flooring train (13.900 NQA), sixth on vault (14.138 NQA) and eighth on parallel bars (13.625 NQA).

• OU’s teaching employees of head coach Mark Williams and assistant coaches Valeriy Goncharov and Josh Yee have been named the CGA West Region head coach and assistant coaches of the 12 months Thursday. The employees led the Sooners to a 14-0 document coming into NCAA Championships and a second straight MPSF championship.

• Yockers and redshirt senior Fuzzy Benas have been two of the six finalists for the distinguished 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.

• Mark Williams is in his twenty seventh season as Oklahoma head coach. He has led the Sooners to 631 victories (631-61-1 [.913]), 9 nationwide championships and 20 MPSF convention titles since his first season in 2000.

NATIONAL RANKINGS NOTES (as of April 4)

• Oklahoma is No. 1 within the last rankings with a 328.150 NQA after posting a 332.100 workforce 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

• Oklahoma superior to its twenty sixth consecutive NCAA Championship finals, posting a workforce complete of 322.825 within the afternoon qualifying session of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships Friday on the University of Illinois’ State Farm Center.

• The top-seeded Sooners positioned first within the session and will probably be joined within the finals by No. 5 Ohio State (320.294) and No. 4 Nebraska (320.059), in addition to No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Stanford and No. 7 Illinois from the second qualifying session.

• A pair of freshmen claimed particular person occasion titles, as Sasha Bogonosiuk received vault with a caught 14.500 and Nathan Roman took parallel bars with a 14.366. Oklahoma notched a season-high 56.498 on vault and in addition recorded the highest workforce scores of the meet on nonetheless rings (53.399) and parallel bars (53.732).

• Ignacio Yockers posted a 13.933 to complete second on pommel horse, whereas Colby Aranda adopted with a 13.900 to tie for third. Francisco Velez Belendez caught his dismount for a 14.100 to put second on nonetheless rings.

• Tyler Flores added a caught vault for a 14.366 to earn a runner-up end on the occasion. Fuzzy Benas completed fourth on flooring train with a season-high 13.766. Brandon Zepeda-Orth recorded a 13.666 to take second on excessive bar.

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 have reached 26 consecutive NCAA finals, or each championship held since 2000 (doesn’t rely the 2020 championship canceled as a result of COVID-19 pandemic). OU has completed among the many prime 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 3 times: 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.