OU and Michigan meet for the first time this season in Oklahoma's last regular season road contest.
March 8, 2013
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Sophomore Jacoby Rubin
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QUICK PREVIEW
The No. 3 University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics team travels to No.
2 Michigan Saturday for its final regular season road contest of the season.
The Sooners are 4-0 in the regular season in the last three years against the
Wolverines, and have won the last two meetings in Ann Arbor. OU won both meetings
in 2011 after defeating UM on their home turf in 2010 and 2011 at Cliff Keen
Arena.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
• Oklahoma is 13-1 after a 435.850-426.350 victory at No. 10 Nebraska
on March 3 and are ranked third in the latest GymInfo national rankings with
a 441.717 three-score average. Michigan is a perfect 9-0 and ranked second in
the rankings with a 441.750, just 0.033 ahead of OU.
• The Sooners and Wolverines are meeting for the first time this season. While
OU has faced eight of the teams currently ranked in the top 11 nationally, this
is just the second time this year that Oklahoma will compete against a team
with a higher ranking. In the second week of the season, the Sooners finished
second at the Stanford Open. Fourth-ranked OU fell to then-No. 3 Stanford by
4.100 points.
• In the team event rankings, Oklahoma and Michigan are both ranked in the top
seven on each event. Oklahoma boasts a No. 2 ranking on floor (75.400) and pommel
horse (73.700) and is third on still rings (75.267), parallel bars (73.233)
and high bar (73.033). Michigan has the No. 1 floor (75.517) and parallel bars
(74.750) scores and the second-ranked vault (74.317).
• With OU's depth its strength, Oklahoma is represented 18 times in the individual
event rankings. Twelve Sooners are ranked in the top 20 at least once, while
seven earned top-10 rankings and four are ranked on at least two events. Sophomores
Alec Robin is ranked on four events. Robin is fourth in the all-around, fifth
on floor and 18th on parallel bars and high bar.
• Saturday's contest marks the last regular season road meet of the year for
the Sooners. OU returns to the OU Field House for its regular season finale
on March 23. An April 6, Oklahoma returns to Colorado Springs, Colo. for the
MPSF Conference Championship. The Sooners will go for their 20th conference
title and their 11th in the past 14 seasons.
LIVE RESULTS AND UPDATES
Live stats will be available at MGoBlue.com.
Behind-the-scenes updates and photos from Ann Arbor will be available on Twitter
at @SoonerGymnasts, on Facebook at Facebook.com/SoonerGymnasts,
and on Instagram.com/OU_MGymnastics.
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Alec Robin | So. | All-Around
• Won the all-around with a career-high
86.250 at Nebraska on March 3
• Posted a career high 14.900 on vault and tied
a career high on pommel horse
• Ranked fourth nationaly in the all-around, fifth
on floor and 18th on parallel bars and high bar
• Will compete in the all-around for the third
straight week at Michigan.
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HEAD COACH MARK WILLIAMS ON FACING NEBRASKA
"We have to step it up, knowing that No. 2 Michigan will be a real challenge
on the road. After having two-straight meets at home before going to Nebraska,
we need to do better in recognizing the differences in preparing for away competitions
compared to the friendly environment at home. This week we have prepared and
looked at about everything that we can look at so that we can make the best
run at a tough team Saturday night on the road. I know Michigan will be ready
to compete with us. We've been working hard every day and we're going to go
out and compete the best we can."
SCOUTING NO. 2 MICHIGAN
• No. 2 Michigan is undefeated on the season, having won its first nine competitions.
The Wolverines are coming off a 20.200-point win at Arizona State. The win over
the club team came just three days before OU and UM meet in Ann Arbor.
• Michigan is ranked in the top seven nationally in all six events. They are
first on floor (75.517), and parallel bars (74.750), second on vault (74.317),
fourth on still rings (74.617), fifth on pommel horse (72.533) and seventh on
high bar (70.517).
• The Wolverines are represented 16 times in the individual rankings and at
least once on every event. Junior Sam Mikulak, a member of the U.S. Olympic
Team in London, is first on parallel bars with a 15.433. Sophomore Adrian de
los Angeles is first in the all-around with an 88.683 average and ranked on
four additional events.
• Kurt Golder has been the head coach at Michigan for 17 seasons. The fourth
coach in the program's 80-year history, he led UM to a national championship
in 1999 and 2010. He has led the Wolverines to 12 NCAA team finals in the past
13 seasons. He was an assistant coach on the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team in London.
GYMINFO NATIONAL RANKINGS
Oklahoma is third in this week's GymInfo
National Top 10 Rankings, just 0.033 behind No. 2 Michigan. Rankings are
determined by averaging a team's top three scores through the first eight weeks
of competition. Past and future OU opponents are in bold.
| 1. Penn State (447.083) |
6. Illinois (434.417) |
| 2. Michigan (441.750) |
7. Illinois (432.417) |
| 3. OKLAHOMA (441.717) |
8. Iowa (426.233) |
| 4. Ohio State (435.317) |
9. California (425.633) |
| 5. Stanford (434.993) |
10. Nebraska (425.017) |
FORMER SOONER JACOB DALTON WINS AMERICAN CUP
• Former OU gymnast and 2012 Olympian Jacob Dalton won the 2013 AT&T American
Cup on March 2 with an all-around score of 89.398 in Worcester, Mass. Competing
against eight of the best international gymnasts, Dalton also won the floor, rings,
vault and high bar titles. It was his first World Cup all-around crown. He finished
third in the all-around and came in first on floor and tied for first on parallel
bars at the 2011 American Cup.
• Dalton won the all-around title at the 2013 Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas,
Nev. with a two-day score of 173.250 on Feb. 7 and 9. He also won individual event
titles on floor and rings with two-day totals of 31.250 and 29.650, respectively.
• Dalton, a 2012 Olympian, was a four-time national champion in three seasons
at Oklahoma. He earned 13 All-American honors and helped OU win two conference
titles. He has been a U.S. senior national team member since 2009 and has won
four U.S. championships.
LAST TIME OUT: AT NO. 10 NEBRASKA
• In its first meet since the debut of the new five-up, five-count scoring system,
No. 3 Oklahoma won its fifth-straight meet with a 435.850-426.350 victory on the
road against No. 10 Nebraska on March 3.
• The Sooners won four team events and four individual event titles in addition
to the all-around won by Alec Robin.
• Ranked No. 6 nationally in the all-around, Alec Robin posted a career-high 86.250
to defeat Nebraska's C.J. Schaaf by 2.350 points to claim the all-around crown.
The sophomore's scores were boosted by a career-high mark on vault and a career-high-tying
total on pommel horse. It is the third all-around title for the sophomore this
season.
UP NEXT
No. 3 Oklahoma hosts Ohio State on March 23 in its regular season finale. The
contest will air live on Sooner Sports TV.
