OU sports recap: OU men's gymnastics advances to NCAA finals
Apr. 19—Emre Dodanli closed out No. 2 Oklahoma's first rotation with a session-leading 14.866 on the floor exercise to help set the tone for a big night at the NCAA Championships.
The Sooners opened up the meet with a 69.465 on floor and took the lead after a 70.332 on pommel horse. It was their third-highest score on the event all season.
Freshman Max Bereznev posted a 15.000 on vault for just the second time this season and Oklahoma followed with a 72.866 in the event.
After three events, the Sooners had done enough to create a comfortable gap ahead of fourth-placed Penn State, but remained in a tight battle with Michigan for first.
The Sooners would hold on to finish in first in Session II of the NCAA Semifinals with a team score of 418.954.
It was their second-highest team score of the season and an improvement of 0.546 from their score in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship.
They'll advance to the NCAA finals on Saturday at 5 p.m. alongside Michigan and Ohio State.
Earlier in the day, No. 1 Stanford posted a score of 417.398 to advance to the finals from Session I. The Cardinal, who have won the last four NCAA Championships, advanced with Nebraska and Illinois.
OU softball opens Houston series with run-rule win
Kelly Maxwell and Karlie Keeney combined to allow three hits and no runs, and No. 2 Oklahoma was able to walk away with an 8-0 win in six innings on Friday at Love's Field.
Alynah Torres got the scoring started with a three-run bomb in the first inning. She would lead-off the third and hit a single to put the Sooners in position to add to their early lead.
The Sooners would load up the bases and score on a groundout by Cydney Sanders, but couldn't get any more runs across.
With a 5-0 lead heading into the sixth inning, they once again loaded up the bases, but this time Sanders drew a walk to score a run. With two outs and two runners on base, Jayda Coleman hit a walk-off single to secure the win.
The Sooners had 12 hits and drew seven walks in their 37 at-bats.
Maxwell started the game in the circle and only gave up one walk and one hit through the first four innings. The Cougars got two runners on in the fifth, but Maxwell struck out the next two batters to end the threat.
It was Oklahoma's 40th win of the season and 14th straight win over Houston.
The Sooners will host the Cougars for Game 2 on Saturday at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
