The 'Intimidating Aura' Alabama Gymnastics Wants to Have with No. 1 Oklahoma Coming to Coleman

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC grabbed the splashiest headlines in regards to football, but the conference addition might just have the biggest impact in two women's sports: gymnastics and softball.

This Friday night, the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners come to Coleman Coliseum as a member of the SEC in gymnastics for the first time for a matchup with No. 10 Alabama. Oklahoma has won six national championships over the last decade, including back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023. Under head coach KJ Kindler, the Sooners are consistently among the top two or three teams in college gymnastics each season.

Oklahoma was No. 1 for all of last season and entered the postseason as the top overall seed and favorites to win a third straight national title. Instead the Sooners experienced unprecedented mistakes on the vault in the NCAA semifinals and got excluded from the "Four on the Floor" for the first time since the format changed from six to four teams in the finals in 2019. (Alabama has not made the final four since the format switch and has not won a national title since 2012.)

The Sooners have come out of the gates hungry in 2025 with three straight scores above 197.550 to start the season, including a 197.950 in a quad meet victory over Cal, LSU and Utah in Week 2. Alabama also got off to a good start as one of the first teams in the country to hit the 197 mark in its opening meet, but then struggled last week with a 196.100 at Kentucky.

Even though this is the first year the Sooners are part of the conference, this is far from the first time that the Sooners and Crimson Tide have met on the gymnastics competition floor; however, it will be Oklahoma's first trip to Tuscaloosa since 2020. Last season, Alabama was the only team to post a 198+ road score against the Sooners when the Crimson Tide put up a 198.025 in the regular season finale, yet the Sooners still won by more than seven tenths of a point.

Oklahoma rightfully draws a lot of respect for its accomplishments in gymnastics, but Alabama head coach Ashley Johnston wants to make sure her team isn't distracted by outside factors this Friday. Because at the end of the day, gymnastics is a unique sport in the fact that you can't do anything to positively or negatively effect your opponent . It truly is all about focuing on yourself and competing to the best of your ability.

"There’s no offense and defense in gymnastics, but I will say you can certainly feel the energy from another team and what they bring to an arena," Johnston said. "One of the things our team has talked a lot about is having an intimidating aura— a presence the dominates and intimidates when you walk into the competition you’re competing in. And I think this will be a great test for us because Oklahoma certainly brings a dominating presence as well, and so it’s important that we acknowledge that that’s going to be there. But we have to keep our focus on what we can control, the presence that we bring into the arena and how we attack our routines.”

Junior gymnast Gabby Gladieux, one of Alabama's two leading all-around competitors alongside senior Lilly Hudson, described what that 'intimidating aura' means for the team.

"I think it just means walking into the meet with confidence, staying connected to each other, staying connected to the mission and knowing that all we have is all we need with each other," Gladieux said. "That’s really all that matters. All the other external factors that we can’t control, we don’t have to worry about."

Johnston said her team is "committed to getting it right this week" after a self-proclaimed below-standard performance last time out against Kentucky.

"It’s all about how you respond and having that resiliency to move forward and let that be one more tool that we continue to build upon as we step into intense competition week after week," Johnston said. "So, we’re moving on. It’s a 0 to 0 mentality and starting strong with an intense matchup this week against Oklahoma.”

Whether or not the Crimson Tide is able to defeat the Sooners in the head-to-head matchup, Johnston definitely wants to see improvement in the score from a week ago. Alabama will take on Oklahoma Friday night in Coleman Coliseum at 7 p.m.

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