OU Gymnastics: Oklahoma's Ragan Smith Sets Record For Perfection as OU Rolls Michigan
NORMAN — Senior Ragan Smith recorded a program-record eighth perfect score on beam Friday night as No. 1-ranked Oklahoma’s perfect record survived in a 198.65-197.325 win against No. 7 Michigan at Lloyd Noble Center.
“I just feel like I know when I do my best routine and when I hit the landing,” Smith said after the meet. “I feel like, just that feeling never goes away.”
The Oklahoma faithful erupted as Smith dismounted from the beam. All 8,900 people at LNC — including Smith and Sooners head coach K.J. Kindler — knew Smith had not only executed a flawless routine, but had broken Maggie Nichols' 2020 record of seven career perfect 10s on beam in the process.
It was Smith's third consecutive week (also a school record) to score perfect on beam.
“Just that feeling when K.J. gives me the biggest hug and my teammates as well, I just feel like I’m so supported and they have my back no matter what,” Smith said.
“That is something,” Kindler said, “and the thing to me is that every time (Smith) does her routine, it almost looks identical, so that score is available to her almost any time she hits.”
The Sooners tied their team program record on beam Friday night, too, at 49.8 (set last week during their record 198.675 performance against West Virginia). OU led by less than a point through the first two events.
“I love it when it’s that close,” Kindler said. “We’ve been behind this year where we have had to push ourselves. There have been moments where it’s been that tight, and I feel like they do their best in those moments, so I think that’s not something we’re afraid of. It’s something we have to respond to when it happens.”
Five Sooners scored north of 9.9 in the event and senior Audrey Davis scored a career-high 9.975 in that event but admitted her warm up was sub-par.
“I just told myself, after the warm up ... I just reminded myself to trust my training because I haven’t done that in practice in a long time,” Davis said, “so, just relying on everything that I do inside the gym is something that I was really focused on tonight.”
Davis finished with an all-around score of 39.65. Katherine LeVasseur took home the team’s best score of 39.775, a personal record in her first year competing in the all-around. She scored 9.975 on the beam and vault, though Kindler, Davis and Smith agreed she wasn’t far from a perfect 10.0 on the vault.
“It’s just an amazing experience,” LeVasseur said. “I’m just super grateful to be able to do the all-around this year. It’s something I’ve always dreamed of doing, and so just going out there and doing the routines that I practice every day, it’s just amazing.”
The Sooners had their second-best performance this season on bars at 49.725 and their third-best on vault at 49.525. All six Sooners went above 9.9 on bars. Faith Torrez tied her season and career-highs in vault at 9.925.
Sporting an unblemished record heading into a three-team meet Sunday (against Texas Women’s, Clemson and Penn in Denton, TX) and having scored their two best performances of the year on consecutive weeks, Kindler likes where her team is in relation to a third consecutive national title.
“I feel like they’re performing exceptionally well, but most importantly, consistently,” Kindler said. “The consistency of this team is what makes them special. It’s what makes them great from week to week. There are small things. There are adjustments, but they are the same team every week. ... So I think that’s the key to the future, too.”
The Sooners host their next home meet against Alabama on March 17 at 2:45 p.m. The Big 12 Championship will be held at LNC the following week, March 23 at 6 p.m.
- Follow AllSooners on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest OU news!
- Want even more Sooners news? Check out the SI.com OU team page here!
- Listen and subscribe to the AllSooners Podcast!
- Watch more Sooners videos and subscribe on YouTube!
- Sign up for your premium membership to AllSooners.com today, and get access to the entire Fan Nation premium network!