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Gymnastics: Oklahoma Freshman Lands Conference Honor

Ignacio Yockers was named Specialist of the Year by the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
John E. Hoover|
Gymnastics: Oklahoma Freshman Lands Conference Honor
Gymnastics: Oklahoma Freshman Lands Conference Honor

By OU Media Relations

Oklahoma men’s gymnastics freshman Ignacio Yockers, the No. 1-ranked pommel horse gymnast in the nation, was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Men’s Gym Specialist of the Year, the conference office announced Thursday.

Yockers is the top-ranked pommel horse gymnast in both ranking average (15.083) and overall average (14.665). He recorded the highest collegiate pommel score in the country to date with his 15.550 set on Feb. 17. That score stands the highest pommel horse score nationally since 2020 and OU’s highest since 2017.

The Tulsa, Okla., product has won six pommel horse event titles this season and scored better than 14.600 in all of them. He has produced seven scores of 14.100 or better in eight NCAA competitions this season, the only exception being his first collegiate meet where he scored a 13.200. He has posted three scores of 15 or better (15.550, 15.200 and 15.100) and his other 14-plus scores were: 14.800, 14.600, 14.600 and 14.150.

Yockers finished second in pommel horse at the USA Gymnastics Winter Cup, totaling a two-day score of 30.414. He notched a 14.942 in the first round and followed up with a 15.472 in the event final. He qualified for Winter Cup by registering a 14.500 at the Houston National Invitational on Jan. 14, before the Sooners officially began their collegiate season.

Yockers is the first Oklahoma gymnast to win an MPSF major annual award since Yul Moldauer was named Gymnast of the Year in 2018.

The Sooners compete at the MPSF Men’s Gymnastics Championship on Saturday at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Stanford, No. 8 Air Force and No. 10 California will battle for the league crown at 5 p.m. CT.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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