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Oklahoma Women Gymnasts Enter National Championship Weekend as Favorite

By Chip Rouse

Apr 16, 2016; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners celebrate with the national championship trophy after the team finals of the 2016 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships at Fort Worth Convention Center Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 16, 2016; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners celebrate with the national championship trophy after the team finals of the 2016 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships at Fort Worth Convention Center Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Oklahoma women gymnasts enter the NCAA National Championships St. Louis this weekend in exactly the position they hope to end it: as the No. 1 team in the nation.

Apr 16, 2016; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners gymnast Natalie Brown competes on the floor exercise during the team finals of the 2016 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships at Fort Worth Convention Center Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 16, 2016; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners gymnast Natalie Brown competes on the floor exercise during the team finals of the 2016 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships at Fort Worth Convention Center Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /

The Sooners are out to defend the national championship they captured a year ago in women’s gymnastics, their second all-time, and they are in a strong position to do so.

Oklahoma advanced to the 2017 NCAA Championships as champions of the Seattle Regional, the sixth consecutive year the Sooners have won a conference and regional championship in the same season and the seventh in nine seasons.

All 12 schools competing in the are ranked in the nation’s top 25. Oklahoma’s side of the bracket includes No. 4 Utah, No. 5 UCLA, No. 8 Oregon State, No. 9 Denver and No. 13 Washington, runners-up to the Sooners in the Seattle Regional.

The other side of the bracket, in semifinal two, has No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Michigan, No. 10 Georgia and No. 14 Nebraska.

Oklahoma faced eight of the 11 other schools that are competing in the NCAA Championships this weekend earlier this season, and went 10-0 against those teams. The Sooners were a perfect 15-0 during the regular season.

The Sooners are one of only five teams (Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, LSU and Utah) to advance to the 12-team NCAA Championships every season since 2004.

Oklahoma has compiled a team score of 198 or higher on five different occasions this season. That is the most in a single season in program history. To put that achievement in perspective, the other schools in the country posted just three such performances (LSU once and UCLA twice).

Sooner gymnasts Maggie Nichols, a freshman, and senior Chayse Capps rank No. 2 and 3, respectively, in the nation among all-around competitors.

Related Story: Oklahoma Women Gymnasts Roll Through Seattle Regional

Seventeen of Oklahoma’s team and individual scores in women’s gymnastics this season rank in the top 10 in school history.

The top three teams in each semifinal will move on to the Super Six championship finals on Saturday.

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