Oklahoma Sweeps Big 12 Awards
By OU Athletics Media Relations
For the second time this season, a trio of Oklahoma gymnasts swept the weekly Big 12 Conference honors, the conference announced Tuesday.
Danielle Sievers was named Gymnast of the Week, Allie Stern was Event Specialist of the Week and Faith Torrez was named Newcomer of the Week. Sievers notched her fifth weekly league honor and first Big 12 Gymnast of the Week accolade. Stern earned her second weekly league honor with her last being in 2021. Torrez earned her second weekly conference honor and is the first repeat winner this season.
The trio were all instrumental in leading the Sooners to match a season-high 197.925 last Sunday against then-No. 5 Utah, which is now ranked fourth nationally. In front of the third-best crowd in program history (7,013) and OU’s largest attendance for a home opener, OU improved to 5-0 on the season and won 11 of its last 12 meetings against powerhouse Utah.
Stern and Sievers were contributors to the vault lineup (49.650) which earned its eighth-best score in program history and is currently tied with No. 3 Michigan for the best vault score this season. The Sooners are the top vault team (49.500) in the nation and one of two teams (alongside Utah) currently featuring 10.0 start value vaults in all six spots.
Sievers has scored 9.850 or higher on every routine (eight total) she’s competed this season. Last Sunday night, she led off the Sooners on two of the four events, including a career-high 9.950 on vault and matching season highs on bars (9.875) and floor (9.900). Moving to the leadoff spot on vault for the first time this season, Sievers is ranked 11th on vault with an average score of 9.908. She is third in the conference behind teammates Jordan Bowers and Katherine LeVasseur.
Stern won her seventh career vault title and first this season, earning a 10.0 from one of the two judges and scoring a near-perfect and season-high 9.975 against the top five Red Rocks last Sunday. The super senior’s score of 9.975 was the best mark in the conference on any event over the weekend. Moving to the No. 3 spot on the event, Stern shared the vault title with reigning NCAA vault champion Jaedyn Rucker (Utah).
In her second straight start in the all-around, Torrez won her first career all-around title with a career-high 39.525 in Oklahoma’s win over No. 5 Utah last Sunday. Torrez finished ahead of Bowers (39.500; second) and 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Grace McCallum of Utah (39.350; third). Torrez also earned a pair of event titles with career highs on bars (9.900) and floor (9.950) to bring her individual title total to four overall. For week three, Torrez led the Big 12 in the all-around and scored the highest among Big 12 freshmen on bars, beam and floor and in the all-around. She was the second-best freshman nationally in the all-around (39.425) behind UCLA’s Selena Harris (39.725).
The Sooners open their conference slate at Denver on Sunday, Jan. 29, at 3 p.m. The meet will broadcast on Altitude Sports TV.
Oklahoma continues Big 12 play at home on Friday, Feb. 3, at 6:45 p.m., against Iowa State inside Lloyd Noble Center