Seven of the top 10 men’s gymnastics teams in the country battled it out for top honors on Saturday at the Aquafina Pacific Coast Classic. Six events ran simultaneously as top-ranked Oklahoma, No. 3 Stanford, No. 6 Michigan and several other talented squads provided a great show for a crowd of more than 3,000 spectators. Unfortunately for the Card, a late collapse in their vault routines left them just short of Oklahoma, the meet’s winner.

The Cardinal, currently ranked No. 1 in the country on vault, seemed a sure bet to win the meet entering the vault ahead by .375. But the young team let the lead slip away with a series of botched landings, scoring just a 35.4. Oklahoma posted several good scores on floor and pulled ahead of the Cardinal to win by more than a whole point, 217.3 to Stanford’s 216.075. California took third with a 212.65, followed by Michigan (208.6), Iowa (207.2), Minnesota (206.575) and William and Mary (200.2).

Oklahoma and Stanford quickly separated themselves from the pack at the meet’s start. Stanford began on parallel bars and hit six for six, as sophomores Jason Shen and David Sender posted season highs of 9.25 and 9.2, respectively.

On horizontal bars, sophomore Sho Nakamori started the Cardinal off with a solid 9.2 routine. Sender posted a 9.35, while junior Dylan Carney earned a season-high 9.65 with an excellent routine and a stuck dismount. Senior Nate Downs had a solid rhythm going, but he put his hands down on the landing and came away with just a 9.25.

After two events, the Cardinal were ahead of the Sooners, but by just .025. Floor started a bit roughly for the Cardinal, as sophomore Eli Alcaraz and junior Brice Rolston missed. But both Nakamori and Carney had solid performances, and although Sender and senior Sean Doolan had no major breaks in their routines, they had to fight through and did not score particularly well. Nevertheless, the Cardinal managed to pull ahead of the Sooners by eight tenths of a point on the strength of some tight scoring against the Sooners on vault.

On pommel horse, though, Stanford had a poor showing. The Cardinal hit only three of six routines — those of freshman Bryant Hadden (8.50), Downs (8.55) and Sender (8.65). Nakamori found himself in the lineup for the first time this year, and despite having a solid set going, he ultimately fell on the dismount. Oklahoma’s authoritative parallel bar effort allowed them to pull ahead of the Cardinal by .075.

The ring team went four for six due to uncharacteristic misses by Shen and Hadden. Although juniors Peter Derman and Alex Schorsch finished tied for second at 9.55, the lineup was a full point below their season best. Even so, Oklahoma’s horizontal bar team couldn’t keep pace with Stanford, setting the stage for the final rotation.

Although the squad ultimately fell in defeat, a number of noteworthy performances offer reason for optimism. Carney produced season highs both on horizontal bar with a 9.65 and on floor exercise with a 9.6. Sender posted his highest all-around total with a 54.45, finishing second only to Oklahoma’s Jonathon Horton.

The team is looking better and better with each successive competition, and this past weekend it let the 2005 NCAA champion Sooners know that they will be facing stiff competition in the postseason.