No. 10 OU Heads to TWU for Quad Meet

Jan. 20, 2012

Women's Gymnastics at TWU with Centenary/Utah State
Date	Saturday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. (CT)
Location	Denton, Texas \| Kitty Magee Arena
Watch Live	Free Webcast
Online	Live Scoring
Additional Info	Media Guide \| Meet Notes \| Blog \| Twitter

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 10 Oklahoma women's gymnastics team faces its second quad meet of 2012 in Denton, Texas, as OU will compete against Centenary, Texas Woman's and Utah State on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m., at TWU's Kitty Magee Arena.

Oklahoma enters Saturday's quad meet after its first regular season loss since 2009 to then-ranked No 7 Oregon State, 196.525-195.975, last Friday, Jan. 13. The Sooners' last regular season loss was to Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Friday, March 13, 2009.

Oklahoma dropped to No. 10 in this week's rankings following the loss. Utah State is currently ranked No. 36, TWU is No. 38, while Centenary is No. 58.

During OU's last trip to Kitty Magee Arena, K.J. Kindler recorded her 100th win as head coach with the Sooners. OU defeated the Pioneers 196.175-195.350 to notch Kindler's 100th victory on Jan. 23, 2011.

Centenary (2-2) enters Saturday's meet after a second-place showing at a quad meet with Central Michigan, UW-Eau Clarie and UW-La Crosse last weekend. The Sooners lead Centenary, 19-1, all-time. OU won the last meeting between the schools, 195.300-187.625, in 2011.

TWU(1-0) is coming off its season-opening win against Air Force last weekend. The Pioneers posted a 191.450 in the win. OU leads the all-time series with TWU, 59-3.

Utah State(0-1) is coming off a 191.925 score in their season-opener last Friday at No. 5 Utah, who notched a 197.400 and moved to No. 2 in this week's rankings. The Aggies posted a WAC-leading 48.850 on bars, as well as 47.950 on floor, 47.725 on beam and 47.600 on vault in the loss. OU leads the all-time series with the Aggies, 5-3, and won the last meeting 195.950-192.875 in 2003.

ON THE WEB
Fans can find a free live webcast of Saturday's quad meet at TWUAthletics.com. TWU will also provide live scoring during the meet, also on TWUAthletics.com.

GYMNAST TO WATCH - TAYLOR SPEARS
Spears was named Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week for Jan. 17 after winning the vault and beam titles at Oregon State. Scored a career-high 9.875 on vault while posting a season-high on beam and bars.

NEXT UP
Friday's meet is OU's last road meet before its home opener on Friday, Jan. 27 against N.C. State. The Sooner gymnasts will share the floor with the OU wrestling team for the fifth annual “Beauty and the Beast” competition beginning at 7 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center.

BIG 12'S BEST
Sophomore Taylor Spears was OU's second gymnast in as many weeks to be named Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday. Spears won her first career vault title with a career-high 9.875 on the event and took home a share of the beam title with a 9.875 against the Beavers. Spears also posted a season-high 9.825 on bars at Oregon State. With her three event titles in Kentucky, Junior Brie Olson was named Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week for Jan. 10. The weekly award was the first for Olson. The St. Cloud-native tied her career-high of 9.9 on vault to win the event championships at the Kentucky Classic and also finished first on bars and floor with a 9.85 on both events.

TO BE THE BEST...
You have to beat the best. OU is no stranger to tough schedules and 2012 is no exception. The Sooners have four of the current top five teams on its 2012 slate, including No. 1 Nebraska and No. 3 Arkansas on the same weekend. OU will see the Huskers on Friday, Feb. 3 at the Lloyd Noble Center before heading to Fayetteville, Ark., on Sunday, Feb. 5. OU will also see No. 5 Alabama on March 2 at the LNC. Oregon State moved up to No. 4 this week after defeating the Sooners last Friday, 196.525-195.975.

LAST TIME AT KITTY MAGEE
Head coach K.J. Kindler recorded her 100th win at OU on Jan. 23, 2011, with a 196.175-193.050 win over TWU at Kitty Magee Arena in Denton, Texas. OU won the team title and individual title on all four events against TWU, and tied its own season-high team score of 196.175 (previously set at N.C. State on Jan. 14, 2011). Madison Mooring took home the beam title after becoming the first freshman in the NCAA to score a 9.95 in 2011.

NEWCOMERS SHINE
Three of OU's five newcomers competed in the Sooners' first two meets of 2012. Freshman Rebecca Clark finished in the top three on vault, bars and beam at the Kentucky Classic and has scored a 9.8 or higher in four of her six routines this season. Sophomore-transfer Lara Albright finished in second place on floor with a 9.825 at the Kentucky Classic. Freshman Erica Brewer has competed on vault, bars and floor and exhibitioned on beam in both of OU's competitions. Brewer scored a 9.85 on vault in Kentucky and a 9.825 on bars at Oregon State.

STREAK SNAPPED
The Sooners lost their first regular season meet since 2009 last week as OU fell to No. 7 Oregon State, 196.525-195.975. OU's last regular-season loss was to Alabama in Tuscaloosa on March 13, 2009. With the loss, OU's nation-leading regular season win streak of 32 ended. Despite the loss, Oklahoma is 70-7 in the regular season under Kindler. OU clinched its third perfect regular season in four years (and second straight) on March 11, 2011, with its 196.875-194.800 win over Michigan State in Norman.

CLOSER LOOK AT OKLAHOMA IN 2012
OU starts the 2012 season ranked No. 4 in the GymInfo preseason coaches poll, behind No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Florida. The Sooners received two first place votes in the poll and tied OU's program-best preseason ranking. The Sooners add five newcomers for 2012 and return an impressive 18 of 24 routines from the 2011 lineup, including nine All-American performances. Headlining OU's returners are five-time All-American Megan Ferguson, two-time All-American Kayla Nowak and All-Americans Brie Olson and Sara Stone. Ferguson, Nowak Olson and Stone provide veteran leadership and experience that will be vital for the young Sooners. OU will be tested in 2012 with the loss of All-American Natasha Kelley and a challenging schedule. Kelley, who consistently scored in the 9.9s on vault, bars and beam, suffered a season-ending injury during preseason practice. The loss of Kelley's talent and experience will challenge OU's depth throughout the 2012 schedule, which includes 10 teams ranked in the preseason top 25 and five top 10 teams.

FOLLOW THE SOONERS
The OU gymnastics program maintains its own Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts, which are updated frequently with all of the latest news about the squad. Links to each of these pages as well as a behind-the-scenes blog can be found at www. SoonerSports.com.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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