In one of the closest and most dramatic finishes in NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships history, Oklahoma finished off a near-perfect season, edging out LSU to repeat as national champion and win its eighth national championship.
The winning margin between Oklahoma as champion and LSU as runner-up was a razor-thin 0.0875, the closest finish since Michigan's national championship win over the Sooners in 2021, when the Wolverines won by the same margin.
Oklahoma's winning score was 198.1625, the 10th time this season the Sooners eclipsed the 198-level. LSU was an extremely close second with a score of 198.075, followed by third-place Florida (197.6875) and Minnesota (197.375), competing in its first NCAA Championships Finals.
It all came down to the final rotation with No. 2 LSU leading top-ranked Oklahoma by 0.750 and the 2026 championship on the line.
The Sooners finished on floor exercise while LSU moved to the beam for its final event of the competition at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. Oklahoma had little margin of error to work with if it was going to overcome the deficit and take home the national championship trophy for the second consecutive year.
Freshman Ella Murphy led off for the Sooners on the floor and posted an opening score of 9.8750. The next four OU gymnasts followed with scores of 9.900 or better, which put the Sooners in a strong position to retain the championship, but there was still the final competitor to come for both Oklahoma and LSU.
Hollywood couldn't have scripted a better ending. The final outcome of the championship came down to the two anchor spots for both OU and LSU -- Faith Torrez on floor and LSU's Kailin Chio on beam, the best gymnasts on the respective teams, to determine which team would ultimately prevail.
Torrez ended her collegiate career with a 9.950 floor routine. Meanwhile, LSU's Chio, who had 14 perfect 10s this season, including a 10 on vault in Saturday's championship finals, finished with a 9.900 on beam. That wasn't enough to hold off the Sooners from capturing their eighth national title in women's gymnastics, moving ahead of UCLA for third most all-time.
The Sooners caught a huge break in the final rotation of the championship when LSU's Lexi Zeiss fell in the second spot on beam, putting more pressure on the four other teammates to follow. A pair of 9.8 beam scores following Zeiss opened the door for Oklahoma in its floor routine.
Ella Murphy led off the Sooners' floor routine with a solid 9.875, but that wasn't going to be good enough to get OU over the hump. The Sooners followed that with five consecutive scores of 9.9-plus, capped off by a sensational 9.950 performance by the veteran Torrez in the anchor position.
"We just reminded ourselves to go for it, leave it all on the floor," Sooner head coach K.J. Kindler said. "Just be aggressive, don't play it safe, and you know what we have to do.
"Boy, as we were meeting after our last routine, I did not know. We did not know what position we would end up in, but what I told them was, 'You did everything you could.'"
And it proved to be just enough. Nothing became official until Kailin Chio's 9,900 LSU beam score was posted in the arena. Within seconds, the OU team, huddled together on the side with their arms around each other, learned the outcome and erupted in celebration.
As had been situation most all of the 2026 season, Oklahoma began the championship final on vault, its best event. The Sooners took the early lead, posting a score of 49.600 in the opening vault routine behind a near-perfect 9.9875 by sophomore Lilly Pederson in the anchor position, the highest OU vault score in NCAA Championships competition.
The Sooners moved to bars in the second rotation and extended their advantage, leading 99.0875 at the halfway point to LSU's 98.9875. Florida (98.8375) was third at that point and Minnesota (987125) was fourth.
OU experienced issues in its beam routine and dropped down to second place behind LSU (148.600 to 148.525) after the third rotation. While the Sooners were experiencing trouble on beam, LSU posted five scores of 9.9 or better to take over the top spot, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
Kindler was asked after the championship trophy presentation what was special about this national title run.
"We were just on the edge of our seats," she said. "I honestly could not believe it. They're all different. They're all unique, and they're all incredibly special. You don't get immune to the feeling of having an accomplishment like this."
3 telling takeaways as OU moves to 3rd all-time in gymnastic championships
1. Senior Faith Torrez finishes her collegiate career in grand style
Faith Torrez ended her collegiate career with this year's NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships. Her outstanding floor routine in the anchor position for the Sooners on Saturday in the final rotation of the championship proved to be the deciding factor in Oklahoma edging out LSU for the national crown.
It was the Sooners' third national championship in Torrez's four years at Oklahoma, and she was a major factor in all three. With the national championship literally on the line when Torrez stepped on the mat for the final routine in her outstanding collegiate career, the Sooner senior delivered, as she has so often throughout her career, posting a clutch team-best 9.950 to secure another OU national title and cap off a 35-1-1 season. Torrez also had a 9.950 score in OU's beam routine on Saturday.
In Thursday's semifinal session, Torrez posted the highest all-around score of 39.3875 and became the fifth Oklahoma gymnast to be crowned national all-around champion.
As ESPN staff writer D'Arcy Maine put it in her coverage of the NCAA Women's Championships, "For Torrez, who had been limited throughout the season with injury, the weekend was a fairy tale ending to a storied collegiate career."
2. Oklahoma's 8th national championship, all since 2014
All eight of Oklahoma's national championships have come since 2014, including back-to-back championships three different times (2026-27, 2022-23 and 2016-17). The Sooners rank third all-time behind Georgia with 10 national titles and Utah with nine. Oklahoma's regional championship this season was the team's 16th consecutive regional title and its 12th NCAA Finals appearance in the last 13 years.
3. What does the future look like for Oklahoma women's gymnastics?
OU's recent dynasty in women's gymnastics and position as a perennial national title contender under head coach K.J. Kindler appears strong for the immediate future. Of the 10 Sooner gymnasts who participated in this year's championship finals, only senior Faith Torrez will not return next season. The group includes three juniors, four sophomores and two freshmen. Additionally, the Sooners will add six more elite women gymnasts as part of the country's top 2026 recruiting class, according to CollegeGymNews.com.
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