Jake Dalton

QUICK PREVIEW
Former OU gymnast and 2012 Olympian Jake Dalton (2010-12) will compete Feb. 7 and 9 at the 2013 Winter Cup Challenge at the Las Vegas Sports Center in Las Vegas, Nev. Alex Naddour, an OU gymnast from 2010-11 and incoming Sooners Allan Bower, Alex Powarzynski and Colin Van Wicklen will also compete. The preliminary round of the Winter Cup is Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. CT, while the finals are held Feb. 9 at 9:15 p.m. CT.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
• Dalton won the all-around event at the Winter Cup in 2011. Last season, he competed on three events and finished fifth on rings (29.250) and 12th on parallel bars (28.550) and high bar (28.100).
• An Oklahoma gymnast has finished in the top-two at the Winter Cup each of the past three years. OU letterwinners Steven Legendre (2008-11) finished second in 2012, Dalton won the event in 2011 and Chris Brooks (2006-2009) won the all-around in 2010.
• In addition to Dalton, the Winter Cup field includes 2012 Olympians Danell Leyva and Sam Mikulak and U.S. Olympic Team alternate Alex Naddour. Naddour competed at OU from 2010-11.
• The top 42 gymnasts in the preliminary round will advance to Saturday's finals, in addition to the top three gymnasts on each event. The all-around and individual event champions will be determined by combining a gymnast's scores from the two days.
• The Winter Cup Challenge helps determine the 15 gymnasts who will comprise the U.S. Men's Senior National Team through the 2013 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Hartford, Conn., Aug. 15-18. The eight members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic squad, including Dalton, Legendre and three other former Sooners, retain their spots on the national team. The remaining seven spots will be taken from the top finishers in certain criteria at the Winter Cup.

LIVE RESULTS AND UPDATES
Live stats will be available at live.usagym.org. Updates will also be available on Twitter at Twitter at @SoonerGymnasts, on Facebook at Facebook.com/SoonerGymnasts.

HEAD COACH MARK WILLIAMS ON THE WINTER CUP
"Jake has come off the post-Olympic tour in a pretty good position physically. He has gotten himself back in shape quickly and has added a few things to the routines he's done since the Olympics. I feel very good about his chances of having a good competition at the Winter Cup. He's upgraded his pommel horse routine, his weakest event, and is looking forward to having a consistent competition. It's the start of the build towards the 2016 Olympic Games, and that's certainly Jake's goal. I'm very confident in his abilities. He's in a great place after the Olympic cycle to be in this great of shape this early in the new quadrinium."

JAKE DALTON ON THE WINTER CUP
"I'm excited to get out there competing again. It'll be nice to get back into the competition mode, but it also will be great to see all of my friends from the Olympics and other college teams. It's early in the season, so I don't have all of my upgraded routines that I want to do, but I feel ready to do the events I'm doing and hopefully upgrade afterwards."

ROBIN NAMED MPSF GYMNAST OF THE WEEK
Sophomore Alec Robin was named the MPSF Gymnast of the Week after his six career highs led No. 3 OU to a 436.550-420.200 win Saturday at No. 8 Iowa. The sophomore from Calabasas, Calif., earned his first career conference honor and the second straight MPSF award of the year for the Sooners. Fellow sophomore Jacoby Rubin earned the weekly award last week.

Robin posted career-highs on five of six events, in addition to a career-high and first-place 85.400 in the all-around. He recorded career highs on floor (15.300), pommel horse (13.800) and rings (13.200) and tied his career highs on vault (14.800) and high bar (14.550). He added a 13.750 on parallel bars.

GYMINFO NATIONAL RANKINGS
Oklahoma is third in this week's GymInfo National Top 10 Rankings. The rankings are determined by averaging a team's total scores through the first four weeks of competition. Past and future OU opponents are in bold.

LAST WEEKEND AT IOWA
• In its first road dual meet of the season, No. 3 Oklahoma defeated Iowa 436.550-420.200 Saturday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
• OU posted its largest winning margin of the season and won every event as a team. The Sooners claimed individual titles on five of the six events in addition to sophomore Alec Robin winning the all-around crown.
• Robin scored a career-high 85.400 in the all-around, highlighted by career highs on five of his six events. He recorded career highs on floor (15.300), pommel horse (13.800) and rings (13.200) and tied his career highs on vault (14.800) and high bar (14.550).

UP NEXT FOR OU
No. 3 Oklahoma hosts No. 6 Minnesota in its first home meet of the season. Ticket information and a list of promotions for all home meets at the OU Field House can be found here.