Most teams would be thrilled with a second place finish at the NCAA Championships. But for Stanford men’s gymnastics, it was the biggest disappointment of the year. The Cardinal men could only stand and watch as No. 2 Oklahoma walked off the Maples Pavilion floor with the NCAA trophy.

Stanford’s second-place finish ended the recent trend of home victories at the NCAA Championships. Oklahoma won the meet when they hosted in 2006, and Penn State won last year in Happy Valley.

In preliminaries on Thursday, the home gym advantage seemed to be working for the Cardinal. Stanford qualified through to finals with the highest score of the meet at 363.85, more than four points ahead of the next closest competitor. The Card began competition on parallel bars and struggled out of the gate.

Freshmen Ryan Lieberman and Josh Dixon missed multiple skills, but their teammates picked them up right away. Redshirt junior Sho Nakamori had the highest score of the day at 15.05, while senior co-captain David Sender, junior Bryant Hadden and redshirt junior Jason Shen all turned in very good routines. High bar was solid as well, with redshirt senior co-captain Dylan Carney scoring a 15.1 to lead all scores. Sender and Dixon kept the momentum going on floor exercise. The duo tied for the best score of the day at 15.65, and redshirt sophomore Greg Ter-Zahariants added a 15.55.

Stanford struggled on pommel horse, but finished the meet strong on rings and vault. Freshman Tim Gentry and Sender paced the card on rings with scores of 15.45 and 15.7, respectively. On vault, Dixon stuck his landing and Gentry executed a beautiful handspring double front flip. Sender added a 16.2 to finish the session on a high note.

Despite their success Thursday, the Stanford men were confident they could improve across the board going into finals.

“I’ve done every event better than I did today, in practice or in meets,” said Sender.

“There’s room for little improvements on every event,” Nakamori agreed, citing his “shaky” pommel horse set and “landing problems” on floor exercise as areas needing improvement.

Hadden, who competed on five events, said his high bar and parallel bars routines needed improvements going into finals. But he took the team’s slow start as a positive. Said Hadden, “It’s kind of good to have a shaky start and so you can settle down.”

Volunteer assistant coach and former Stanford gymnast Brice Rolston liked what he saw from his team, but cautioned against putting too much stock in Stanford’s performance in preliminaries.

“This meet is all about [finals] tomorrow,” he said, “but I think the guys set themselves up well.”

Oklahoma came out flat in prelims. Head coach Mark Williams was critical of his team’s performance on high bar and parallel bars, but the Sooners got into a groove as the preliminary session continued.

“We were much better on the last two events,” said Williams. “We need to come out with a better start and we’ll be in good shape [at finals] tomorrow.”

Friday’s final session was hotly contested and came down to the final event. Stanford began on parallel bars while Oklahoma began on vault. The Cardinal struggled right away. Shen was up first on parallel bars and fell on his second skill.

Head coach Thom Glielmi was shocked.

“I think Jason [Shen] just got a little too excited and he missed his first or second skill,” said the coach.

Dixon and Lieberman followed and continued to struggle on the event. Strong efforts from Hadden, Sender and Nakamori helped to counteract the freshmen’s struggles, but Stanford was forced to include Lieberman’s mediocre tally of 13.85 because four of the six athletes must count their scores toward the team total. The Sooners outscored Stanford on the event.

The Cardinal got on track when it moved to high bar. Carney paced the field with a 14.95, while Sender, Nakamori, and freshman Alex Buscaglia each had good sets. Dixon bounced back with a great routine that earned him a score of 14.85.

“Dylan has been a huge help,” Dixon said. “We trust him because he has so much experience.”

Stanford was good on floor exercise and got another great set from Dixon. The freshman scored a 15.7, Ter-Zahariants added a 15.650, Buscaglia a 15.3, and Sender a 15.2. But Oklahoma got clutch performances on floor, including a 16.0 from freshman Stephen Legendre. The Sooners built their lead as Stanford was off for rotation four.

The Cardinal moved to pommel horse for the fifth rotation. Oklahoma is weak on horse, providing Stanford with a golden opportunity to climb back into the lead. Unfortunately, the Card was unable to convert.

Sender and senior Chris Harper — who placed third on the event last year — both fell during their routines. Because a fall means an automatic deduction of eight tenths, both seniors scored below 14. Strong sets from Nakamori, Ter-Zahariants, and freshman Kyle Oi kept Stanford alive, but the Sooners built their lead going into the final two rotations.

Stanford was strong on rings, getting clutch contributions from Gentry, Hadden, and Nakamori. Sender received a controversial mark-down on his dismount, but still scored a solid 15.5. Buscaglia missed his vault and landed on his backside, but Stanford’s five other competitors came through with great performances. The Cardinal finished with a total score of 362.725.

Oklahoma finished the finals on still rings.

Was coach Williams nervous?

“Oh yeah,” he said. “I told our guys that if they score a 64 [on vault] and we score a 62 [on rings] like we did yesterday, we’ll be okay. Then I went and looked at the scorecard from yesterday and we’d only scored 61. Of course, I didn’t tell them that.”

His athletes did not know or did not care that they had to score a full point higher in finals to get the win. Captains Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons and John Horton nailed their sets and secured a win for the Sooners.

Nakamori was third in the all-around individual competition, and Sender fourth. But the Stanford men were clearly disappointed by the team results. Their heads were down and faces long.

“We never got into a groove, never got comfortable,” said Glielmi.

Individual event finals were held Saturday, and Stanford earned 13 All-American honors. Sender was second on vault and rings, giving him nine career All-American awards. His five honors are the most in Stanford history.

Ter-Zahariants was fourth and Dixon seventh on floor. Kyle Oi had a phenomenal pommel horse set and finished in fourth place. Oi began the season fighting for a spot in the lineup and finished as the number four pommel horse competitor in the nation.

“There wasn’t anything specific that happened,” said the freshman. “I felt great in warm-ups, and I just hit my set.”

Nakamori and Ter-Zahariants also placed in the top eight on horse.

Buscaglia and Carney earned All-American honors on high bar, while Dixon added a seventh place finish on vault. Nakamori was sixth on parallel bars for his second All-American award.

Contact Jacob Johnson at twoj@stanford.edu.