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Gymnastics: Oklahoma Shines, Advances to National Championship Finals

The Sooners had powerful performances in three of the four rotations and ended up dominating the competition and now hope to win their sixth title in 10 years.
John E. Hoover|
Gymnastics: Oklahoma Shines, Advances to National Championship Finals
Gymnastics: Oklahoma Shines, Advances to National Championship Finals

Oklahoma is in familiar territory — back in the NCAA Championships, with a steely glare on winning yet another women’s gymnastics crown.

The No. 1-ranked Sooners put on a show for most of Thursday in the NCAA Championship Semifinals at Dickeys Arena in Fort Worth, posting a 198.1625 to finish second behind Utah (198.2250) and advance to another final.

In the earlier semifinal Thursday, Florida and LSU advanced to Saturday’s national championship — the Four on the Floor.

No. 1 seed OU — the defending national champion with five of the last nine NCAA crowns (with three runners-up) after staging a dramatic rally last year — outlasted 9-seed Kentucky and 4-seed UCLA in their semi and will join 5-seed Utah in moving into Saturday’s finals.

OU was in first place going into the final rotation on vault, but the Sooners struggled with their landings and didn't finish strong as Utah jumped them with a strong performance on balance beam. The Red Rocks posted the second-highest score in NCAA semifinal history.

Oklahoma opened on parallel bars and got a 9.9 from Danielle Sievers, a 9.85 from Danae Fletcher, a 9.8875 from Olivia Trautman, a 9.925 from Ragan Smith, a 9.875 from Jordan Bowers and a 9.9 from Audrey Davis.

OU posted a 49.4875 on bars and trailed UCLA (49.5125) and Utah (49.5000) after one rotation.

From there, the Sooners headed to the balance beam, where the team had big problems two weeks ago in the Norman Regional, including two falls.

There were no such problems this time, however, as the Sooners scored a 49.55 on beam. Jenna Dunn — one of the falls at regionals — scored a 9.9125. Trautman, arguably the Sooners’ go-to on beam, followed that with an eye-popping career-high of 9.95. Bowers scored a 9.825, freshman Faith Torrez posted 9.925, Davis landed a 9.8625 and Smith hit 9.9 as OU climbed over Utah for second place heading to the third rotation.

The Sooners (99.0375) trailed UCLA (99.2250) and held a slim lead over Utah (98.8625) heading to a dominating performance on the floor exercise.

Davis started OU on floor with a 9.90, and was followed by Bowers, who scored a 9.950. Sievers then recorded a 9.9375, and Torrez followed that with a 9.95, bouncing OU from third place into first, three-tenths ahead of the Bruins. Fletcher finished the rotation with a 9.850. The Sooners finished floor with a 49.6625

OU (148.7000) seized first place while Utah (148.5375) jumped into second heading into the final rotation, ahead of UCLA (148.4000) and Kentucky (147.8500).

On vault, Seivers opened with a 9.875, and Allie Stern and Katherine LeVasseur each recorded a 9.90. Bowers landed a 9.8125, Davis a 9.8375, and Trautman stuck a 9.95 to clinch the Sooners’ trip to the finals. 

Trautman's score locked up an individual NCAA vault championship. She's the seventh Sooner to win an individual national championship and the first since Anastasia Webb in 2021.

Saturday’s team final will begin at 3 p.m. and will be broadcast by ABC.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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