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OU men's gymnastics: No. 1 Sooners fall to No. 2 Stanford, defeat No. 9 Cal at Stanford Open

Jack Freeman

Junior Jack Freeman competes during the meet against Air Force on Jan. 22.

 Ray Bahner/The Daily

No. 2 Oklahoma (5-2) fell to No. 1 Stanford (4-1) 410.250-405.450 at the Stanford Open on Saturday. No. 9 Cal (1-2) came in third and earned 393.000 in just its second meet of the season.

The Sooners began their night on still rings with freshman Fuzzy Benas nabbing a team-high 13.950. Redshirt junior Evan Perrault and sophomore Zach Nunez produced a pair of 13.100s and freshman Raydel Gamboa earned a 12.850. OU’s 66.300 put it in last place following the first rotation.

Gamboa’s disappointing performance on still rings didn’t carry over to rotation two, as he landed a whopping 14.500 on vault. Nunez followed with a solid 14.100 only to be one-upped by Benas’ 14.700. The Sooners bounce back performances landed them in second place with a 137.250 to Stanford’s 142.100.

Benas continued his dominance with an event-high 14.750 on parallel bars on the third rotation. Gamboa placed a solid 13.800 while senior Spencer Goodell earned a 13.450 to narrow Stanford’s lead to 207.850-205.500 at the halfway mark.

Competing on high bar in the fourth rotation, freshman Emre Dodanli struggled, as he put up an 11.350. Benas, along with Junior Jack Freeman, picked up slack for the Sooners, earning a pair of 13.400s. Redshirt junior Cesar Gracia’s 13.300 sent the Sooners to the fifth rotation trailing Stanford 275.000-269.850.

Oklahoma came out with a bang on floor in the fifth rotation, tallying three 14.000-plus scores from Gamboa, Freeman and redshirt senior Alexei Vernyi. Goodell nabbed a 13.550 and Dodanli recovered with a 13.200 to give the Sooners a 338.700 and keep them in reach of Stanford’s 341.650.

Nunez led the Sooners on pommel horse in the sixth rotation with a 14.100. Unfortunately, his performance wasn’t enough to complete the comeback as Oklahoma was defeated for the first time this season.

The Sooners will take a week off before competing against No. 7 Illinois at 4 p.m. CT on Feb. 12 in Champaign, Illinois.

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