Norman — While coach Mark Williams hates to lose, he will accept it if it gets his team to its ultimate goal. That was the attitude Williams took Sunday when his top-ranked Oklahoma men’s gymnastics team’s undefeated streak came to an end in a loss against No. 2 Stanford in a triangular with No. 9 Nebraska at the Devaney Center on the campus of the University of Nebraska.
“Last year it was the reverse situation,” Williams said. “We got the win over Stanford during the year then they got us in the end. Hopefully we can reverse it.”
Stanford, the defending national champion, won the meet with 361.650 points. Oklahoma posted its second highest score of the season with 360.300. The Cornhuskers scored a 347.500.
Steven Legendre led the Sooners by claiming his second all-around title of the season with a score of 88.850. The U. S. national team member also took home an individual event title on floor (16.100).
“Steve had a fall on his first pommel event but after rings he started to pick it up,” Williams said. “Steve is our leader and he did a good job fighting to the end of the meet to win the all-around.”
Even though the Sooners got off to a bad start, they still had their opportunities to take the meet.
“We started slow,” Williams said. “I think the first three events could have been better. Stanford had problems also. It was a dead heat after three events.”
Oklahoma claimed at least a share of three team event titles on the day with wins on floor, pommel horse and a share of the parallel bars title with Stanford. Alex Naddour joined Legendre on the podium with his fourth event title of the season on pommel (14.900).
OU also received a career high from senior Corey English on parallel bars as he finished in second place.
However, the Cardinal was too strong in certain events, which the Sooners didn’t compete well in.
The loss drops OU to 6-1 against top-10 opponents this season. They play Stanford againat the MPSF Conference Championship April 3 in Norman.
