Koncak, Redmond Finish in Style

SALT LAKE CITY -- Senior Brittney Koncak-Schumann and junior Kiara Redmond closed out the OU gymnastics season in style in Saturday night's NCAA Event Finals at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Both gymnasts recorded top-10 finishes on their respective events Koncak-Schumann on vault and Redmond on vault and floor exercise.

Redmond scored a 9.9 on the floor exercise to finish in a four-way tie for fourth place with Florida's Corey Hartung and Savannah Evans and Nebraska's Emily Parsons.

"Even though I was out on the floor by myself I felt like my team was out there with me," Redmond said. "I knew they were behind me 100 percent and that gave me a lot of confidence."

Koncak-Schumann closed out her outstanding collegiate career scoring a 9.85 to tie for third in the nation on vault with Parsons.

"It's really exciting to place in the top five at nationals," Koncak-Schumann said. "It was something I had never done before and it was a great gift to be able to finish out my career like that."

Competing third on the apparatus, Redmond finished in a tie for eighth place with a 9.7875 total.

Gymnasts were required to perform two different vaults with the final score being the average of the two individual scores.

Both Koncak-Schumann and Redmond earned first team All-America honors for their first time in their careers in Thursday night's preliminary rounds. Redmond, who was a second team All-American in the all-around and on floor last season. Her three first team honors (AA, FX, V) in 2007 were the most for an Oklahoma women's gymnast since Olympian Kelly Garrison earned five honors in 1988.

Koncak-Schumann finishes her OU career with three All-America awards after earning second team distinction on floor and in the all-around at the 2006 NCAA Championships.

"I think our whole team's performance from this week will really open things up for OU in the future," Koncak-Schumann said. "It's going to make people keep an eye out for this team next year and in the years to come."

To qualify for Saturday night's event finals, gymnasts had to finish in the top four (plus ties) on the apparatus in their session in Thursday's preliminary rounds.

Alabama's Terin Humphrey claimed the national title on bars with a 9.95, while Ashley Postell of Utah took the beam championship with a 9.9375. 2007 all-around winner Courtney Kupets of team champion Georgia also won the vault crown with a score of 9.9188 and Alabama's Morgan Dennis took the floor title with a 9.9625.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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