Sooners Finish Second at Big 12

COLUMBIA, Mo. The No. 10 Oklahoma women's gymnastics team finished second after posting a team score of 195.325 at the 2007 Big 12 Championships at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo.

Nebraska took home its eighth Big 12 crown with an overall score of 196.475.

"This was a good learning experience for us," said OU head coach K.J. Kindler. "It's a good platform to be on against a great team in Nebraska who won the championship. I thought that we really rose to the occasion at the end of the meet on balance beam. It's a tough rotation we had and I thought we handled that really well."

The Sooners had athletes place in the top three of the four events and the all-around competition. Junior Kiara Redmond was third on the uneven bars (9.875), second on the beam (9.90), third on the floor exercise (9.875) and third in the all-around (39.475).

Senior Brittney Koncak-Schumann tied for first on the floor exercise with Nebraska's Emily Parsons.

The Sooners began the night on the floor exercise where Koncak-Schumann tied her season high with a 9.9. Redmond posted a 9.875 and sophomore Ashley Jackson received a 9.8 for her performance.

Final Scores

Moving to the vault, sophomore Haley DeProspero tied her season high with a 9.85, previously set against Iowa State on Feb. 16. Junior Kiara Redmond scored a 9.825 and senior Lori Winn and Jackson both received 9.8s.

On the bars, the Sooners posted scores of 9.825 (Stephanie LoPiccolo), 9.825 (DeProspero), 9.15 (Hinkis), 9.875 (Redmond) and 9.85 (Koncak-Schumann).

"The uneven bars definitely wasn't our best performance of the year," Kindler said. "It's the first time we've counted a fall. I think it was a fluke. It won't happen again and we were a lot more prepared than that."

OU finished the competion on the beam where Redmond set a career-high score of 9.9. Freshman Hollie Vise posted a 9.825 and DePropero received a 9.8.

This is the third time the Sooners have finished as the conference runners-up. The previous two times were in 1997 and 2003.

Oklahoma will move on to NCAA regional competition on Saturday, April 14. The regional location will be announced on Monday, April 2.

"I felt like we had three or four really fantastic performances on each event and then we just couldn't come together as a whole unit," Kindler said. "Every event was like that, some performances were really dynamic and others were a little flat. At regionals we are going more dynamic as a team. We are going to have to hit five or six routines out of six that really shine."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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