OU Gymnastics: Oklahoma Win 20th MPSF Championship

By OU Media Relations

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – Senior Emre Dodanli and redshirt junior Fuzzy Benas won individual conference titles to lead the Oklahoma men’s gymnastics team to the program’s 20th MPSF Championship on Saturday in Cadet West Gym at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The top-ranked Sooners posted a 329.250 team total to edge No. 2 Stanford (328.950) and defeat California (315.450) and Air Force (313.350).

Dodanli won the horizontal bar title with his 14.300 in the third rotation. Benas won the parallel bars title by scoring 14.100 in the second rotation. Sophomore Tas Hajdu clinched the team victory with a 14.050 still rings score in the final routine of the meet.

The win marks Oklahoma’s first MPSF Championship since 2021. All 20 of its MPSF titles have come since the 1999 season, and OU has won 19 of those championships under head coach Mark Williams, who is in his 26th season leading the Sooners (he was an assistant coach when OU won its first MPSF title in 1999). This is also Oklahoma’s 28th all-time conference championship, including eight Big Eight titles between 1977 and 1996.

Oklahoma entered the final rotation with a lead of 1.8 points and closed the meet on still rings, while Stanford finished on vault. When the Cardinal completed its vault rotation, OU needed at least at 13.8 on its final routine to finish in front. Hajdu turned in a strong rings set for his 14.050.

“That was pretty amazing,” Williams said. “We trained to be better as the season went on, and obviously being in the postseason now, I felt like we had a very consistent year and that it maybe was our time. The guys proved me right. We had a great night, and it was exciting at the end. I’m super proud of them.

“I’m really looking forward to the next two weeks of training. We’re not done yet. We have NCAA (Championships) coming up and it looks like it’s going to be very tight, so we’ll take the victory and move down the road, and finish the season at the national championships at Michigan.”

Benas totaled 69.150 on his five events, which was the third-best individual total among all gymnasts, including the two all-arounders. He placed second on floor exercise with his 14.200 and third on high bar with his 13.850. He also tied for fifth on vault (13.950) and scored 13.050 on still rings.

Hajdu placed second on rings while senior Matthew Burgoyne placed third with his 14.000. Dodanli’s four-event total of 55.850 ranked fifth among all gymnasts at the meet and best among those who competed on four events. In addition to his 14.300 on high bar, he scored 13.900 on floor exercise, 13.900 on vault and 13.750 on parallel bars.

Oklahoma’s rings rotation sealed the conference title. Senior Brigham Frentheway led off with a 13.200 and Benas followed with a 13.050, before Burgoyne and Hajdu posted their big 14s.

The Sooners started the meet on vault, scoring 55.500 as a team. Sophomore Tyler Flores led the way with his 14.050 in the leadoff spot to place fourth on the event. Frentheway scored 13.600, and Dodanli and Benas closed the rotation with their respective 13.900 and 13.950 scores.

On parallel bars, sophomore Colin Flores led off with a 13.450, Burgoyne followed with a 13.400 and Benas stuck his dismount for the meet-high 14.100 before Dodanli anchored with his 13.750, as the Sooners totaled a season-high 54.700. It was OU’s best p-bars score of the year by 1.15 points, and Benas’ score was the team’s best individual p-bars mark of the season.

The Sooners notched a 55.100 team total on high bar, led by Dodanli’s meet-high 14.300 in the anchor spot. Redshirt freshman Brandon Zepeda-Orth led off with a stuck 13.300, Benas followed with his season-high 13.850 and junior Kelton Christiansen stuck his dismount for a 13.650.

OU registered a 55.050 on floor exercise, led by season highs from Benas (14.200) and Frentheway (14.100). Burgoyne led off with a 12.850 and Dodanli anchored with his 13.900. On pommel horse, junior Ignacio Yockers anchored with a 14.250 to lead the Sooners to a 54.600 team total on the event. Senior Zach Nunez led off with a 12.750, redshirt sophomore Mac Seyler scored a season-high 13.700 and sophomore Tyler Flores tied his season best with a 13.900.

In all, Oklahoma registered eight scores of 14.000 or higher and 11 routines with 9.0 or better execution marks. The Sooners set or tied seven individual season highs on Saturday.

The Sooners now turn their attention to NCAA Championships, which will be held April 18-19 in Ann Arbor, Mich. NCAA Championship selections are expected to be announced next week.