Oklahoma Wins It: Sooners Bring Home Another National Championship
The Sooners have added to their claim of Gym U. Oklahoma has brought home another national championship.
No. 1-ranked OU came from last place after one rotation and won the program’s fifth national crown under coach K.J. Kindler on Saturday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.
"I've been thinking the whole meet, I have never seen anything like this in my life from any team that we've had," Kindler said during her post-meet TV interview. "They had to fight and fight and claw themselves back into this meet. I mean, I am so impressed with their mental stability. ... I just can't even tell you I'm just so proud of 'em."
Oklahoma celebrates its fifth national championship.
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Winning its first title since 2019, OU outscored Florida, Utah and Auburn to win it.
"It feels amazing," said freshman Jordan Bowers. "All of our hard work has paid off. This is what we have been working for since day one since we got there and it's all paid off. And it's an amazing feeling."
The Sooners dug themselves an early hole when both Bowers and Ragan Smith both stepped out on their floor routine. Bell Johnson and Carly Woodard each scored a 9.850, and Danae Fletcher and Danielle Sievers each hit a 9.875.
OU went into the second rotation with a season-low floor routine score of 49.1875, fourth overall and nearly half a point behind first-place Utah (49.5125).
Oklahoma quickly made up some ground on the vault, though, with four gymnasts scoring north of 9.9. Allie Stern hit a 9.9, Katherine Levasseur scored a 9.975, and Bowers turned in a 9.9375. After a 9.85 from Sievers, Olivia Trautman pounded a 9.9625, leaving Fletcher to close out the rotation with a 9.8875.
OU finished the vault with a season-high 49.6625, the program’s highest vault score in NCAA Championship history. That pushed the Sooners’ score at the midway point to 98.850, good for third and only .125 behind the Utes (98.975).
Oklahoma and their trophies.
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OU's réponse to their own adversity changed the meet — and saved the season.
"I just had to change my mindset from floor to vault," Bowers said. "I was definitely, on floor, I could not think about that anymore. Just go to vault and do my vault. We had a group talk before, and we just needed to do our gymnastics and that's all that matters, just leave it on the floor. And that's exactly what we did."
The Sooners went to parallel bars for their third rotation and were even better as Sievers started strong with a 9.975. Levasseur followed with a 9.9375, and Trautman landed a 9.900. Smith put down a 9.825, and Bowers was then nearly flawless with a 9.95. Audrey Davis then closed it out with authority when she executed a daring double front-half dismount to score a 9.9625.
The five 9.9-plus scores gave OU a 49.725 on bars — another all-time high for the Sooners in an NCAA Championship — and vaulted Oklahoma into first place for the final rotation. OU went into the balance beam with a 148.575, two-tenths ahead of Florida (148.375).
The Sooners and their fans
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jenna Dunn led off the beam with a 9.850, and Trautman and Levasseur each delivered a 9.900. Davis inched OU closer with a powerful 9.9375, and Carly Woodard all but clinched it with a 9.925. But it took Smith’s 9.9625 to finish it off in the final routine and push the Sooners to an overall total of 198.200, comfortably ahead of Florida’s 198.0875.
"I was like, nothing fazes me," Smith said. "Like, I'm me and no one else can be me. So I just did it."
Smith's finish brought Kindler out onto the floor for an emotional and celebratory hug as it was all but official that the Sooners would bring home another trophy.
When Florida's final score was posted and the official announcement was made, it set off a raucous trophy celebration in the OU corner as athletes held the national title trophy overhead.
Kindler said she was most proud of the way her team rallied from a slow start and finished strong.
"I mean, honestly, the way we just did it," Kindler said. "I've never seen anything like it just it just felt like they weren't not gonna give up. That is what I'm more proud of."
"What makes me most proud," Bowers said, "is we didn't start off the best like we really wanted to, but we fought back hard. It means a lot more than starting off strong."