OU wins fourth straight title
Down five points entering the fourth rotation at the national championship meet, the Oklahoma men’s gymnastics team felt the pressure mounting.
Back in December, the Sooners didn’t think they’d even make it to Chicago. And in the moments before they began the vault on Saturday night, they weren’t sure that they would win the national title.
That’s when assistant coach Taqiy AbdullahSimmons, who helped the Sooners to three titles during his time as a student-athlete, stepped in to the huddle and launched into a fiery speech.
“This is what we’ve worked so hard for,” coach Mark Williams remembers Abdullah-Simmons telling the team. “We’ve done this. Now get out there and prove to them that you can earn this championship.” OU did just that.
In one rotation, the Sooners turned the fivepoint deficit into a 0.600 lead behind five vaults that all scored at least 14.000, catalyzing their fourth consecutive national championship.
“This is the closest, and maybe the one that we
least expected because of what had happened in the earlier parts of the year,” Williams said. “In some ways, the high was higher because halfway through the meet, it didn’t feel like it was even going to be possible. There was quite a bit of joy, quite a bit of jumping around. We were pretty giddy.”
With 414.858 points, Oklahoma beat secondplace Minnesota by nearly three points. The win makes OU only the third program in men’s gymnastics to win at least four consecutive national titles.
But this title, OU’s 12th overall, tying Penn State’s record for most in NCAA
history, seemed its most unlikely.
Just after last season’s national championship, five gymnasts had surgery to repair injuries, and three more had repairs shortly after starting the 2017 school year — far more injuries than normal.
“It was definitely the best one so far because this team has been through so much and we did not look anything like we do now back in December,” senior Hunter Justus said. “We had injuries and we had stuff going on with people outside the gym. And it really didn’t even feel like a team at that point in time.”
“And now, we’re national champions. How far we’ve come is just unbelievable.”
Eric Holley got the
Sooners going on vault with a 14.000 in the leadoff spot, and Levi Anderson followed with a 14.100. Then, sophomore Tanner Justus stepped up with a monster 14.800. Junior Yul Moldauer pushed OU’s score higher with a 14.900, earning him the individual national title on vault. And Hunter Justus capped off the rotation with a 14.766.
As Hunter Justus landed and the team looked up at the scoreboard, a wave of energy rippled through the Sooners.
“We knew after that, that was going to be the turning point of the meet,” said Hunter Justus, who finishes his Oklahoma career without losing a meet. “That was something that we absolutely had to do. Whenever
we landed and we just looked at each other and looked at the team, we knew we did what it takes to get out of that hole, and now we just have to finish strong.”
The doubt from just a couple minutes before was completely erased, and OU built on the vault performance through the parallel bar and high bar.
When Genki Suzuki stuck his landing to close out the high bar — the final element of the night — the Sooners erupted.
“I knew as soon as Genki landed that we won,” Moldauer said. “All the emotions spilled out. We were yelling. It’s almost like all that hard work finally paid off when everyone thought it
wouldn’t.”
After staying up until nearly 1 a.m., the team caravanned to the airport early Sunday morning to catch a flight with dozens of trophies in tow.
To keep his individual trophies safe, Moldauer wrapped them in clothes and carefully packed them in his bag. When he
filled that bag up, he gave a couple to his teammates to take back, too.
After careful inspection by the TSA agents in the security lines, the Sooners were allowed to bring their national championship trophy on the plane.
“It was a hassle,” Hunter Justus said, “but it’s a good hassle to have.”