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Oklahoma gymnastics: Sooners win 8th straight Big 12 championship

By Chip Rouse

SAN JOSE, CA - JULY 08: Maggie Nichols competes on the balance beam during day 1 of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team Trials at SAP Center on July 8, 2016 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
SAN JOSE, CA - JULY 08: Maggie Nichols competes on the balance beam during day 1 of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team Trials at SAP Center on July 8, 2016 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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A near-perfect performance by the final Oklahoma gymnastics performer, freshman Olivia Trautman, in the final event put the Sooners over the top and secured an eighth straight Big 12 championship for the OU women.

No. 1-ranked Oklahoma edged out conference affiliate Denver, 197.575 to 197.250, to win the conference championship for a 12th time in program history and for the 11th years in head K.J. Kindler’s 13 years as head of OU women’s gymnastics. Iowa State finished third and West Virginia fourth.

The Sooners knew that it was going to require a near flawless performance from Trautman in her best event, floor exercise, to give OU the points it needed to get by Denver, which was leading the team competition after it had completed the final rotation of the conference championship, held at OU’s Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday.

The OU freshman came through with the pressure on, delivering the best floor exercise routine in the competition and a winning score of 9.975. Not only was Trautman the conference champion in floor exercise, after the championship she was honored as Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in women’s gymnastics.

Senior Brenna Dowell preceded Trautman in the No. 2 spot among the three Sooners competing in floor exercise and also delivered an outstanding routine that scored better than 9.9.

Oklahoma won three of the four events (vault, horizontal beam and uneven bars). Ironically, the one event the Sooners did not win was floor exercise, the event that put OU over the top to capture yet another Big 12 crown.

In addition to Trautman, OU senior Maggie Nichols recorded the best score on the beam and shared top honors on the uneven bars with Maddie Karr of Denver, who was also awarded the all-around title.

Next up for the Oklahoma women gymnasts is the NCAA Regional competition, which will take place at four campus sites around the country (Georgia, LSU, Michigan and Oregon State) April 4-6. The Sooners will find out where they are headed on Monday when the regional assignments are announced.

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