OU Gymnastics: Oklahoma Vying for First Road SEC Win Against No. 10 Alabama

After a strong start to its first SEC season, Oklahoma is hitting the road for its first first conference road trip.

The No. 1 Sooners, fresh off a top-15 home win against Missouri last week, battle No. 10 Alabama on Friday evening. They’re 7-0 overall on the young season.

OU coach K.J. Kindler praised her team’s overall success in the 197.775-196.750 win against previously-No. 10 Mizzou.

Audrey Davis, a fifth-year senior, earned the all-around title with a personal-best 39.725. Davis also claimed the title in bars with a score of 9.95.

OU Gymnastics: Oklahoma Secures First SEC Victory in Top 10 Win

The Sooners clinched the match on the floor, where Faith Torrez and Jordan Bowers notched near-perfect 9.975 scores. As a team, OU earned 49.650 on the floor.

“It was really exciting to get out in front of our home crowd in front of Sooner fans and start our SEC schedule to have Missouri back,” Kindler said. “They used to be our Big 12 rival, and it felt like an old family friend.”

Like in several other sports, the SEC is dominant in gymnastics.

All three of the top-ranked squads — Oklahoma, LSU and Florida, respectively — in the Road to Nationals rankings are from the conference. Five other SEC teams (No. 6 Kentucky, No. 10 Alabama, No. 11 Missouri, No. 12 Auburn and No. 13 Georgia) are within the top 15.

In addition to the Sooners’ win against Mizzou, they took down LSU and Auburn at non-conference meets earlier in the season.

For OU to already have success against some of the nation’s best teams excites Kindler.

“These programs are great — national championship-level programs,” Kindler said. “Obviously the strength of schedule is going to be huge, and we’ll be well-prepared when we get on to the postseason, just having to meet these teams week in and week out. “

Since 2014, the Sooners have won six national championships, with their most recent coming in 2023.

OU had a chance to three-peat a year ago (Oklahoma also won the national title in 2022), but the Sooners ultimately lost in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. Florida and Utah advanced over Oklahoma and Alabama at their semifinal meet before LSU eventually won the title.

The Sooners weren’t far off last year, and with the camaraderie that her team has built throughout the offseason and the beginning of 2024-25, Kindler believes her team is still a national championship-caliber squad.

“It was intentional by our staff to put together a program that brought them together off the gym, not just in the gym,” Kindler said. “Inside the gym, they’re always together, they’re inseparable. But outside the gym, we thought it was important for their relationships to grow, for them to get a little vulnerable and invest in each other because that shows on the competition floor.

“If you come to Oklahoma, you have the chance to win a national championship.”

Oklahoma still has three months to prepare for the postseason. In the meantime, Kindler hopes her team’s performance against Alabama is the same as it was at home against Missouri.

“I really hope our team rises up on the road,” Kindler said. “We’re known to be one of the best road teams in the country. I hope we continue that tradition. It’s really important for us to be methodical when we’re on the road. And we expect, obviously, to try to go in there and get a W.”