Oklahoma's gymnasts seize three individual titles and a national runner-up finish, showcasing elite talent and pushing Stanford to a thrilling victory
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – In a thrilling showdown at the University of Illinois' State Farm Center, the Oklahoma men's gymnastics team delivered a powerhouse performance at the 2026 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships on Saturday evening, claiming three individual national titles while finishing as national runners-up.
Senior Kelton Christiansen, junior Tyler Flores and freshman Nathan Roman each etched their names into Sooner history by winning gold on their respective events. The team posted an impressive score of 328.495, falling just 1.33 points short of Stanford's winning total of 329.825.
Despite the narrow defeat, Oklahoma capped a stellar season with a 23-1 record and produced its fifth score of 328.400 or higher.
Christiansen captured the horizontal bar national title with a score of 14.400, delivering one of the finest routines of his career. The former walk-on from Arvada, Colo., and team captain earned a 9.0 execution score on a 5.3 difficulty, matching his season-best under the updated code of points introduced after the 2024 Olympics.
He becomes the second consecutive Sooner to claim the high bar crown, following Emre Dodanli in 2025.Roman, a Poway, Calif., native, dominated the parallel bars in the opening rotation with a career-high 14.800—the highest score on the event in the nation this season. His routine featured the meet's top difficulty (5.4) paired with a stunning 9.300 execution.
Roman is Oklahoma's first parallel bars national champion since Yul Moldauer in 2018.Flores anchored the vault rotation in the final event, scoring 14.433 with near-perfect 9.533 execution to tie Stanford's Jun Iwai for the title. The Mountain House, Calif., product secured OU's first vault national championship since Gage Dyer in 2021.
All three Sooners stuck their dismounts cleanly, marking their first individual NCAA titles.
Oklahoma finished ahead of defending champion Michigan (324.857), Nebraska (324.662), host Illinois (322.224) and Ohio State (316.093). Stanford recorded a season-high score nearly two points above its previous best to edge out the Sooners.This runner-up finish represents OU's first since 2022.
The Sooners have now competed in 26 straight NCAA Finals and have placed first or second in 20 of the last 25 national championships, while landing in the top three in 24 of those 25 meets dating back to 2001.
"We gave it everything we had," head coach Mark Williams said. "We made a run at it, and our guys just weren't going to give up—even on vault in the last event. They pretty much maxed out what they could do there. We hit 100% on high bar and pommel horse, so I really couldn't ask for a better performance all the way around. I want to congratulate Stanford. They had to be at their best to win tonight."
"I'm proud of my team. That's what we worked for all season, to put up a big number and have a fun night. Still have work to do for next year. We're hosting the championships in Norman and we're already thinking about what we need to do to win a championship at home."
The Sooners opened on parallel bars with a strong 55.366 but sat third after the first rotation. They climbed to second after high bar (54.432), dropped to third midway through floor exercise (53.699), and fell to fourth after pommel horse (54.132). A solid still rings rotation of 54.200 moved them back to third, and they closed with a season-high 56.666 on vault to narrow the gap to the final 1.33-point margin.
Redshirt freshman Colby Aranda added a bronze on pommel horse with a 14.133. Nine Sooners earned 11 All-America honors by finishing in the top eight on their events, including Christiansen (high bar), Flores (vault), Roman (parallel bars), Aranda (pommel horse), Fuzzy Benas (vault, parallel bars), Ignacio Yockers (pommel horse), Tas Hajdu (still rings, parallel bars), Francisco Velez Belendez (still rings) and Sasha Bogonosiuk (vault). Benas concluded his career with 10 All-America honors, eighth-most in program history.
Oklahoma won three individual national titles for the first time since 2018, when Moldauer swept four events. This marked the first season with three different Sooners claiming gold since 1979.
The program now boasts 57 individual national champions and 381 All-Americans overall.
The University of Oklahoma will host the 2027 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, providing the Sooners a prime opportunity to chase the team title on home soil.