Vitaliy Guimaraes wondered for a long time what the future holds.
Oklahoma’s senior captain was granted an additional year of eligibility after COVID-19 caused his sophomore year to abruptly end halfway through the season.
The 2022 Winter Cup all-around champion had pondered the idea of a return but could never officially make a decision. While OU coach Mark Williams was being interviewed on Saturday night, however, his star gymnast was finally confronted with the million dollar question.
“Hey Vitaliy,” Williams said. “You’re coming back, right?”
“I got you coach.” the senior responded while raising his thumb in the air.
Guimaraes will return eager for a national championship after he and the No. 2 Sooners took home second place in the NCAA finals with a score of 414.555 on Saturday night in Norman. No. 1 Stanford registered a 423.628 en route to its third consecutive title. OU edged Michigan (414.490), Nebraska (406.490), Ohio State (399.326) and Illinois (398.523) for second.
Senior Vitaliy Guimaraes during the NCAA Championships on April 16.
The finish marks the 19th time in 21 years OU has placed in the top two at the national championship. Freshman Raydel Gamboa earned third place in the all-around, with Guimaraes and fellow freshman Fuzzy Benas placing fourth and fifth, respectively.
“That’s as good as we could do,” Williams said. “We knew Stanford was gonna be great, it was gonna be a difficult task. I’m super thrilled about this second opposed to 2019 when we probably should’ve won.”
Gamboa and redshirt junior Braden Collier kicked the night off with a pair of 13.033s on pommel horse. Fresh off a first-place finish on the event in the NCAA qualifier, sophomore Zach Nunez nabbed a team-high 13.833 in the event.
Although the Sooners found themselves in fifth place, their score of 66.298 on the event was nearly a three-point improvement from Friday’s qualifier.
“I just wanted to be better than we were yesterday because that was uncharacteristic for our team,” Williams said. “On pommel horse, usually I kinda stay pretty low but I was fired up. Every routine I was totally into it. When you start like that and get some momentum, the guys calm down (and) they trust themselves.”
OU men's gymnastics head coach Mark Williams during the NCAA Championships on April 16.
Sophomore Daniel Simmons opened the second rotation by registering a 13.466 on still rings. Junior Alan Camillus followed with a 13.833 and freshman Fuzzy Benas earned a 13.600. Despite Goodell landing a 13.566, the Sooners still found themselves in fifth with a score of 134.196.
Freshman Emre Dodanli sparked the Sooners with a career-high 14.733 on vault. Simmons then stumbled his landing, leading to a season-low 13.033. Benas picked up slack with a 14.733, catapulting Oklahoma to third with a total of 205.294.
Déjà vu!A 1️⃣4️⃣.7️⃣3️⃣3️⃣ on vault by freshman Fuzzy Benas!#GymU pic.twitter.com/CB5v8iMKG4
— Oklahoma Men's Gym (@OU_MGymnastics) April 17, 2022
On parallel bars in rotation four, Guimaraes captured a 13.866 and Benas continued a solid showing with a 13.700. After a career-high 14.066 from Gamboa, OU remained one point behind Michigan.
Amid the Sooners and Wolverines’ tight-knit battle, Stanford’s dominant fourth rotation performance gave it a double-digit lead over OU.
Roughly 24 hours removed from a fall on one of his strongest routines, Cesar Gracia registered a 14.033 and was met with a warm embrace from Williams. Gracia’s routine was accompanied by three other 14.000-plus scores as the Sooners’ high bar squad boosted them into second place with a score of 343.324.
“That was one of the best high bar (performances) ever for me,” Williams said. “Yesterday, they were tentative (and) a little bit nervous. The crowd was into it tonight … (they) brought some energy to these guys.”
As the Sooners moved to floor for the final rotation, third place Michigan still had vault — its highest scoring event on average in 2022 — to come. Aware of the uphill battle the Sooners faced, Williams became doubtful entering the home stretch.
“I was sort of like, well, you know, we gave it the best run we could,” Williams said of his mentality toward the meet’s end. “To match vaults (with) floor scores is difficult, (but) our floor team was great tonight. I was actually a little surprised we stayed second, but I’ll take it.”
The impeccable floor team featured five 14.000-plus scores for a tally of 70.531 on the event. The strong performance held off Michigan and secured second place for the Sooners.
Senior Vitaliy Guimaraes during the NCAA Championships on April 16.
Although second overall isn’t the result they set out for, the Sooners are left optimistic knowing they can return 18 of their 20 gymnasts.
Along with Guimaraes, fellow seniors Spencer Goodell, who exercised a season-high floor routine in Saturday’s meet, and Morgan Seyler, who missed the entirety of 2022 with an achilles injury, will also return.
Guimaraes’ decision to return comes after a broken nose held him out of two early-season meets and hindered his chances at accomplishing one of his sole senior year goals.
“(I) didn’t have the senior year that I wanted to have, personally, just because of how everything started,” Guimaraes said. “I wanted my goal to be to compete (in) every competition in my last year. I luckily have the opportunity to have that extra year … so I decided that I was just gonna take it. Hopefully next year we’ll have a better go at it.”
In addition to returning in good faith, Guimaraes has plenty of new aspirations set out for 2023.
“(I’m going to) take a new approach on how to lead the team,” Guimaraes said. “I know that there are some places I could’ve done better leadership wise. Everything was just a learning experience for me this year, and it was an honor.”
Freshman Raydel Gamboa during the NCAA Championships on April 16.
Two additional names that stand out are Benas and Gamboa. The Sooners’ freshman duo finished the regular season as the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked all-arounders in the nation. Although the success had a huge effect on the Sooners, the best may be yet to come.
“It feels like we set a good base for ourselves,” Gamboa said. “There’s a lot to come and we’re just gonna get better and just grow.”
The return of so many talented gymnasts leaves OU high-spirited and eager to get another chance at revenge on the Cardinal in 2023.
“Obviously it wasn’t what we wanted, but definitely so many positive things we can take away from this season,” Guimaraes said. “I can tell just, talking to everybody on the team … we can close the gap (on Stanford) next year.”
