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No. 1 Oklahoma finished third in Saturday’s NCAA Championship behind Michigan and Stanford in a back-and-forth battle in Ann Arbor, Michigan that came down to the final rotation.

Oklahoma competed in its 25th consecutive NCAA Championship finals. The Sooners have 12 national championships, including nine under head coach Mark Williams since 2000. Along with 12 team titles, Oklahoma has had 53 individual NCAA champions. 

The Sooners’ last team title came in 2018 and looked to get back to the top of the men’s gymnastics world for a record 13th team national championship. 

To start the first rotation, Oklahoma began on pommel horse, with Michigan on parallel bars, Illinois on floor, Stanford on high bar, Penn State on rings and Nebraska on vault. 

The Sooners ranked second nationally on pommel horse heading into the finals. Sophomore Tyler Flores led Oklahoma off with a score of 13.600. Redshirt junior Fuzzy Benas followed with a 13.533 in his first performance in the event of the season, as he competed for the individual all-around title. Redshirt senior and co-captain Zach Nunez did what he does best, scoring a 13.800. However, an uncharacteristic mistake from junior Ignacio Yockers, who was rested in the qualifier, forced a deduction and final score of 12.633.  

Oklahoma finished with a score of 53.566 on pommel horse, an event the rest of the field later struggled on, sitting in fifth behind Nebraska, Michigan, Stanford and Penn State 56.665-55.832-54.366-53.866-53.566-52.132.

In the second rotation, Oklahoma moved to rings, another event the Sooners ranked second in. Oklahoma posted a 54.565, highlighted by a strong finish from senior Matthew Burgoyne and sophomore Tas Hajdu. Burgoyne scored a 13.933, and Hajdu stuck his landing for a 14.133, 0.120 points off his career high. 

Oklahoma stayed in fifth, while Michigan moved into first with a 54.798 on high bar. The standings stood with Michigan ahead of Stanford, Nebraska, Penn State, Oklahoma and Illinois 110.630-110.299-109.696-109.565-108.131-105.164.

The Sooners looked to score big on vault in rotation three, and they did just that. Benas stuck and scored a 14.333 to add to the team total as well as his all-around total. Senior captain Emre Dodanli anchored in his first event of the evening and did not disappoint, scoring a 14.100. Four scores north of 14.000, including Benas’ and Dodanli’s, led to an event score of 56.532. 

The 56.532 proved to be vital for the Sooners, completely shifting the leader board and moving OU to second place. Michigan maintained the lead, but Oklahoma crept closer, just 2.162 points behind first. The Sooners led Nebraska, Stanford, Penn State and Illinois 166.795-164.633-162.961-162.531-161.563-157.263.

Oklahoma carried the momentum into parallel bars in rotation four. Burgoyne led off with a score of 13.766, sticking his dismount. Two more sticks from sophomore Colin Flores scoring a season-high 13.800 and Dodanli with a 13.600 added to an event score of 54.732 for the Sooners.

OU’s back-to-back massive event scores as well as costly mistakes from Michigan on pommel horse cut the Wolverines' lead to just 0.632 points with the Sooners’ two best events left to go in high bar and floor. Through four rotations, the standings stood as Michigan, Oklahoma, Stanford, Nebraska, Penn State and Illinois 220.027-219.395-218.730-218.125-211.962-211.795.

Oklahoma was on the high bar in rotation five, needing strong performances in the final two events. The Sooners ranked first nationally on high bar, and Dodanli ranked second individually. Dodanli put together a good performance, scoring a 13.833. Junior Kelton Christiansen, who ranked third in the event, stuck his landing for a score of 13.733. 

An event score of 53.965 was just below the Sooners’ season average, and two strong scores from Stanford and Michigan pushed Oklahoma down to third, ahead of Nebraska, Penn State and Illinois. Sitting at 276.162-275.625-273.360-270.957-263.560-263.560, the NCAA Championship came down to the final rotation.

Oklahoma finished on floor, another event it ranked first nationally. Down 2.802 points, the Sooners needed a dominant performance to retake the lead. Burgoyne led off with a 13.866, followed by senior Brigham Frentheway scoring a 13.533. Benas stuck his final pass for a score of 13.966 as did Dodanli with a 13.166.

However, a final event score of 54.351 and team score of 327.891 was not enough to claim the title as the Sooners finished third. Michigan finished strong on vault, earning a 56.599 to claim the NCAA Championship title with a team score of 332.224. 

Dodanli claimed the NCAA individual championship on high bar, with Christansen finishing fourth. Benas took home third in the all-around event and eighth in floor exercise. Nunez took seventh on pommel horse, Burgoyne finished eighth on rings and Colin Flores placed eighth on parallel bars. 

It was not the result Oklahoma wanted, but a third place finish solidified a great year for the Sooners, finishing the season 24-4 while adding a 20th MPSF conference championship along the way.

This story was edited by Josh McDaniel.

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