Oklahoma gymnastics: Sooners advance to NCAA Championship
By Chip Rouse
Sitting in third place after the first two rotations, there was some doubt whether the top-ranked women’s Oklahoma gymnastics team would make it out of the regional round, let alone defend its reigning national championship.
The resilience and pride of the Sooner women’s squad was on full display in the Norman Regional final on Saturday. The defending national champions refused to be denied.
With their hopes of advancing in some jeopardy and just two rotations remaining, the OU women dug a little deeper and turned in a pair of sensational performances in floor exercise and on vault to capture the regional championship and move ahead to the NCAA Championship in a couple of weeks.
The Sooners’ clutch team performance on the floor and on vault enabled them to overcome the surprising slow start and finish with a cumulative score of 198.050 and win their 12th regional championship in the past 13 years. It was OU’s nation-best eighth score of 198-plus this season.
The squad from No. 9-seeded Kentucky scored 197.850 and finished second. OU and Kentucky qualify for the NCAA Championships in Ft. Worth, April 13-15. No. 16 Ohio State (197.750) finished third and No. 6 Alabama (197.650) was fourth.
Oklahoma started out the regional final on the uneven bars and put up a huge number, sticking all six landings for a cumulative score of 49.675, a program record for regional competition. Sooner freshman Jordan Bowers just missed a perfect score, receiving a 9.975 to the lead OU on bars and capture the individual title in the event.
Trouble struck the Sooners when they moved to the beam for the second rotation. Seniors Jenna Dunn and Olivia Trautman, who were in OU’s first two positions on beam, surprisingly fell. The Sooners recovered somewhat with four 9.9-plus performances by the final four OU gymnasts in the event, but Oklahoma still posted the lowest beam score (49.075) of the four competing teams.
"“Things can happen when you make mistakes on beam,” said Sooner head coach K.J. Kindler in the post-competition interview session. “Your team falls apart, or your team rises up.”"
Oklahoma scored highest in floor exercise, led by three 9.950s scored by sophomore Danielle Sievers and freshmen Bowers and Faith Torrez. Then came the final rotation with the Sooners needing an especially strong finish to take home another regional championship. And that’s exactly what they got.
Led by a perfect 10 posted by junior Katherine LeVasseur, Oklahoma closed out the competition with a score of 49.625, the Sooners second-highest vault score in NCAA regional competition.
"“I couldn’t be prouder of the whole team,” Kindler said afterward. “It was a team effort from top to bottom.”"
Oklahoma gymnasts won all four events as well as the all-around competition.
Bowers was awarded the all-around championship, the eighth time time this season she has done so. Her 39.700 score fell just short of her career-best 39.750. LeVasseur was the vault champion, Bowers on bars and floor, and Torrez took the beam title, despite OU coming in fourth in that event as a team.
Oklahoma moves on to the NCAA Championships semifinals for the 22nd time in 16 seasons under K.J. Kindler. The Sooners have finished in the top four of the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships in each of the last nine seasons and 11 of the last 12. Moreover, OU has finished as one of the top two teams in each of the last six seasons and eight of the last nine.