QUICK PREVIEW After a season-high home opener last weekend, the No. 3 University
of Oklahoma men's gymnastics team hosts No. 12 Air Force Saturday at 7 p.m.
CT. The contest will be broadcast live by Sooner Sports TV on Fox Sports Southwest
+ and Fox College Sports Atlantic. The meet, held at the McCasland Field House
will feature several special events and highlights for all fans and four-time
national champion and 2012 Olympian Jacob Dalton will perform on two events.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW • OU is 11-1 after a 443.350-435.450 home-opening victory over Minnesota
last weekend and will look to extend its 20-meet regular-season home winning
streak. Oklahoma's last home loss came to Ohio State on March 3, 2007.
• The Sooners are ranked third in the GymInfo national rankings with a three-score
average of 440.467 and the Falcons are 12th with a 415.583. In the team event
rankings, OU is ranked in the top six on each event, while AFA is ranked in
the top 14 on every event. Oklahoma boasts a No. 2 ranking on floor, pommel
horse, still rings and high bar. Air Force's highest rankings are eighth on
vault (72.567) and ninth on rings (70.783).
• With OU's depth its strength, Oklahoma is represented 15 times in the individual
event rankings. Twelve Sooners are ranked in the top 20 at least once, while
eight earned top-10 rankings and three are ranked on two events. Sophomore Michael
Squires is tied for second on rings, while Alec Robin is fourth on floor and
12th on high bar.
• Jacob Dalton will do exhibition routines on pommel horse and high bar on Saturday.
The OU senior made his Olympic debut in 2012 in London and earned 13 All-American
honors while helping the Sooners win two conference titles.
• Sophomores Alec Robin and Jacoby Rubin will both compete in the all-around
Saturday. Robin has won two all-around titles this year, while Rubin will make
his all-around career debut. Both have earned MPSF Conference Gymnast of the
Week honors this season.
SOONER SPORTS TV, LIVE RESULTS AND UPDATES
Saturday's contest will be broadcast by Sooner Sports TV and air live on Fox
Sports Southwest + and Fox College Sports Atlantic. Former Oklahoma gymnasts
Bart Conner and Jason Laughton will call the action. Conner, one of OU's most
decorated athletes, is a three-time Olympian, was awarded the Nissen-Emery Award
in 1981, won national titles in 1977 and `78, and is a 14-time All-American.
Laughton was a member of OU's 2006 and `08 national championship teams, helped
the Sooners win three conference titles and earned All-American honors on pommel
horse in `08. The meet will re-air on Feb. 26 at noon CT, on Fox Sports Southwest.
Michael Squires | So. | Still Rings • Scored a career-high 16.000 on rings
in last week's win over Minnesota
• His 16.000 is the highest rings score in the
country this season
• Ranked second nationally with a 15.450 three-score
average on rings
• Will anchor OU's ring team Saturday against Air
Force
TICKETS, PROMOTIONS AND OLYMPIAN JACOB DALTON
• Single-meet tickets for all regular-season home meets are available for $8
for adults and $5 for youth. Season and group ticket plans are also available.
Tickets can be purchased online here
or by calling the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (405) 325-2424 or toll-free
(800) 456-GoOU.
• All fans in attendance will receive a "Protect the Field House" fan, and there
will be free face painting and pre-meet activities for all children in attendance.
Additionally, a giant American flag will be presented during the national anthem
and t-shirts will be thrown into the crowd throughout the meet. At the conclusion
of the competition the Sooners and Jacob Dalton will be available to sign autographs.
• The top-12 matchup between the Sooners and Falcons is Cleveland Elementary
School Night, Military Appreciation Night, Sooner Kids Club Night and Norman
Public Schools Night. OU will honor its longtime community service partnership
with Cleveland Elementary, which has brought the gymnasts into the classroom
to interact with the students before, during and after class.
• Four-time national champion and 2012 Olympian Jacob Dalton will do exhibition
routines on pommel horse and high bar on Saturday. Dalton earned 13 All-American
honors, helped the Sooners win two conference titles and won eight individual
conference titles in three seasons competing for OU before making his Olympic
debut this summer in London.
HEAD COACH MARK WILLIAMS ON FACING AIR FORCE
"The great thing with the Air Force Academy is that they are in our conference,
host the conference championship and are a program that has continued to get
better, even with the stringent academic load and commitment to the military.
They're a very good gymnastics team, are well coached and I expect that they'll
come in and have a very solid competition with us. For us, we're trying to put
in a little more difficulty and get more comfortable with that as we get into
the last part of the season. Jacoby Rubin will have a chance to compete in the
all-around for the first time and Alec Robin will have that opportunity again
as well. Ultimately we want to continue to build toward when we go to the five-up,
five-count format, and we really want to feel like we can get close to hitting
100% of our routines, so this will be part of that building process of being
comfortable and consistent."
SCOUTING NO. 12 AIR FORCE
• No. 12 Air Force is 5-3 on the season and on a two meet winning streak. The
Falcons defeated both No. 13 Army and No. 15 Air Force last weekend at the All-Academy
Championships.
• Air Force is ranked in the top 14 nationally in all six events. They sit eighth
on vault (72.567), ninth on rings (70.783), 12th on floor (70.467) and high
bar (67.817), 13th on parallel bars (68.883) and 14th on pommel horse (68.083).
• The Falcons are represented once in the individual rankings. Senior Tory Brown
is tied for 17th on vault with a 14.800 three-score average.
• Air Force is led by eighth-year head coach Kip Simons. The Falcons have been
to the NCAA Qualifier the last two seasons under Simons. He won the Nissen-Emery
award in 1994 and was a member of the 1996 Olympic team that finished fifth
at the Atlanta Games.
HOT AT HOME
Oklahoma hasn't lost a regular-season meet at home in 20 meets, dating back
to a loss to Ohio State on March 3, 2007. Last season, OU rolled to four-straight
home wins over Iowa, Stanford, Michigan and Nebraska and Air Force, averaging
355.300 points a meet. Out of 24 events in the four meets, the Sooners claimed
titles in 23, failing to top an opponent only once (pommel horse vs. Stanford).
GYMINFO NATIONAL RANKINGS
Oklahoma moved up to second in this week's GymInfo
National Top 10 Rankings. The rankings are determined by averaging a team's
top three scores through the first six weeks of competition. Past and future
OU opponents are in bold.
1. Penn State (446.233 )
6. Minnesota (432.417)
2. Michigan (441.750)
7. Illinois (428.150)
3. OKLAHOMA (440.467)
8. Iowa (424.650)
4. Stanford (434.317)
9. California (421.917)
5. Ohio State (432.450)
10. Nebraska (421.650 )
TWO MPSF GYMNASTS OF THE WEEK
Sophomores Jacoby Rubin and Alec Robin have both earned MPSF Gymnast of the Week
honors this year.
Rubin earned the award on Jan. 29 after he posted a team-best score of 15.000
on high bar, tied a team high with a 14.800 on pommel horse and scored a career-high
15.050 on rings at the Metroplex Challenge.
Robin was honored on Feb. 5 after he scored career-highs on five of six events,
in addition to a career-high and first-place 85.400 in the all-around at Iowa.
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).
LAST TIME OUT: VS. MINNESOTA
• Oklahoma defeated No. 6 Minnesota 443.350-435.450 on Feb. 16 in its home opener.
OU's total score was its highest of the season, and the Sooners tied or matched
ten individual career highs.
• Led by a season-high 76.200 on still rings and 73.750 on pommel horse, the
Sooners extended their regular season home winning streak to 20 meets.
• OU gymnasts won four of the six event titles and Oklahoma claimed victories
in all but one event as a team. Michael Squires posted a 16.000 on rings, one
of just two gymnasts to score a 16.000 or higher in the nation this year, and
the only such score on rings.
UP NEXT
No. 3 Oklahoma hits the road next weekend for a meet with former conference
foe Nebraska. The March 3 contest will be the first meet where the new five
up, five count scoring system will be used. Behind-the-scenes updates, photos
and stats from Lincoln will be available on Twitter at Twitter
at @SoonerGymnasts, on Facebook at Facebook.com/SoonerGymnasts,
and on Instagram at Instagram.com/OU_MGymnastics.
