NORMAN – California headed to Middle America with a mission: to prove it contend with the best.
 
In its first meet outside of the state California, the 13th-ranked Golden Bears showed that they belonged on the big stage after outscoring the reigning national championships and currently top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners on floor exercise Saturday at McCasland Fieldhouse in Norman, Okla.
 
The Bears bested the Sooners on the floor exercise 68.500-68.150 to build momentum in the first two rotations leading to a season-best finish for Cal with a 397.250 team score. Sophomore Kyte Crigger also pulled in a strong performance in the Bears second rotation to lead the team with a 14.300 and finish as the floor runner up.
 
Unfortunately, Cal could not hang onto its early efforts through the six-apparatus cycles and the champion Sooners outlasted the Bears recording a 410.100.
 
Cal pulled in its best collective score of 69.550 on the vault and saw a collaborative effort from the team.

"We finally put a full meet together and I'm extremely proud of this team," said head coach JT Okada. "Coming off a tough weekend the team came together and had focus throughout the meet. We put attention to detail in front of our goals and that allowed us to keep in the meet from start to finish."
 
Individually, Yordan Aleksandrov and Aaron Mah tied for second in the all-around with a score of 80.150. Saturday marked Aleksandrov's first all-around meet of the season.
 
The Bears head to Minneapolis, Minn., for a match-up with the sixth-ranked Gophers on March 18 at 12:30 p.m. (PT).
 
For more information on Cal men's gymnastics, follow the team @CalMGYM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.