When you are the top-ranked team in the country, you’re supposed to win your conference. Someone forgot to relay that message to the Stanford men’s gymnastics team. Rather, maybe it was Oklahoma that didn’t get the memo.

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Alex Oppenheimer

The Cardinal men failed to capture the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title despite their top ranking nationally, falling 359.150-357.200 to Oklahoma on Saturday, which won its fourth straight conference championship.

The No. 2 Sooners claimed their fourth straight Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) title on Saturday, beating out No.1 Stanford by a score of 359.150 to 357.200. On paper, the result didn’t exactly qualify as an upset. Oklahoma is the best team in the nation on floor exercise, still rings and vault, and is ranked third on high bar and parallel bars. However, the Stanford men expected a victory and return to the Farm after a “disappointing” and “frustrating” meet.

The Cardinal began the meet on pommel horse and was unable to live up to its No. 2 ranking in the event. The team got strong performances from senior Chris Harper and freshman Kyle Oi, but their scores were surprisingly mediocre. The crowd and even other teams were surprised by Stanford’s low marks.

“I thought Oi got scored a lot lower than he performed,” said a frustrated Harper. The team’s frustration continued when redshirt junior and US National Team member Sho Nakamori had to pull out of the meet after the first event. Nakamori has been fighting back problems for the past two weeks.

Stanford did have chances to take control of the meet. On still rings, freshman Tim Gentry and junior Bryant Hadden hit their routines and scored well, but senior co-captain David Sender scored well below his season average, only able to muster a 14.900 after missing two skills and putting his hands down on his dismount.

All six of Stanford’s vaults were good, and Sender rebounded from his sub-par rings set to win the event with a 16.400. The team put up strong scores on parallel bars as well, but Oklahoma held onto its early lead.

On high bar, Stanford was able to make up for the absence of senior co-captain Dylan Carney, the No. 2 high bar competitor in the nation. Dylan sat out the meet while recovering from an ankle sprain.

“It’s always frustrating when you have to sit out,” he said, adding that he was “very proud” of his teammates’ performances. Despite tough judging that resulted in low scores, the Stanford men won the event by more than a point.

As far as the ankle, Dylan is pleased with how quickly he has recovered.

“I’ve been in the gym every day and can do everything on high bar,” he said.

Although he could have competed, Carney was conservative and chose to rest this weekend in hopes of being 100 percent healthy at the NCAA Championship meet.

“I should be ready to go on all my events,” the senior co-captain said.

Stanford scored well on floor exercise to wrap up the competition, but it was too little, too late. Although Sender’s outstanding routine earned him a 15.800 and a share of the conference title, and freshman Josh Dixon’s 15.600 was second, but Oklahoma was a little deeper and again outscored the Cardinal.

Although Oklahoma came out on top on Saturday, the real test comes at NCAAs on April 17-19. It will be a home meet for the Stanford, as the competition will be held in Maples Pavilion.

Going into NCAAs, the Stanford men must balance their motivation from this weekend’s loss with the need for rest and recovery. Is there a risk of over-training in the next two weeks?

“I’m not worried about that,” said Carney. “We’re all in the gym together, and we’ll help keep each other on track.”

With NCAAs only 10 days away, the men will need to stay focused to win their first NCAA team title since 1995.