OU Faces Arkansas in Regular Season Finale

No. 2 Oklahoma at No. 16 Arkansas \| Friday, March 14 \| 7 p.m.
Be There	Barnhill Arena (Fayetteville, Ark.) Arkansas Ticket Office \| 800-982-4647
Watch Live	SoonerSports.TV (Live Stream)
Follow Live	Twitter (@OU_WGymnastics)
Pre-Meet Info	Game Notes (PDF)

IN THE GYM: NOTES AND NUMBERS FOR WEEK TEN

1. ON THE RISE
The No. 2 Oklahoma women's gymnastics team returned to the nation's top-two this week, surging past Florida to sit only .02 behind LSU. The Sooners will be on the road this weekend to face No. 16 Arkansas in Fayetteville, marking OU's sixth meet against an SEC foe and 12th contest against a ranked opponent this season. Oklahoma is 10-1 in road contests this year, with its lone loss coming to then-No. 2 Florida on Jan. 31. The Sooners have logged victories over four top ten opponents and two currently ranked within the top five en route to the nation's second-highest regional qualifying score (RQS): 197.640.

2. ROAD WARRIORS
OU holds the distinction of being one of the nation's strongest teams on the road this season, boasting an average of 197.665 in away or neutral site meets in 2014. Three of OU's top five efforts have been in road contests, including its two scores of 198.0 or higher this season. Oklahoma is the only team to have scored a 198+ on the road this year and has achieved the feat two times. The Sooners are also the only team in the nation's top five to currently average a higher score on the road than at home.

3. LANDMARK APPROACHING
A victory over Arkansas this weekend will give head coach K.J. Kindler her 199th win at the University of Oklahoma, a landmark Kindler will have achieved in her eighth season at OU. With Kindler set to break the 200-wins mark in eight or fewer seasons, she will join only two other active NCAA women's gymnastics coaches to have achieved the feat (Rhonda Faehn-Florida, Bev Plocki-Michigan). Kindler has coached the Oklahoma program to unprecedented levels of success, guiding the Sooners to three top-three NCAA finishes, seven NCAA Championship appearances and five Big 12 titles since 2007.

4. HOT START, BIG WIN
OU answered Coach Kindler's call for a hot start in its quad meet at TWU, and the start proved key to the team's second 198+ score this season. OU led off on bars with a 49.525, its second-highest mark of the year. The score set the tone for the Sooners' effort as Oklahoma rolled to a 49.425 or higher on every event, including a season-best 49.625 on vault. Oklahoma's four highest team totals this season (at Metroplex, at TWU quad meet, at Arizona, vs. Georgia) came from meets where the Sooners started fast with efforts of 49.350 or higher on the first two events.

5. AWARDS KEEP ROLLING
Taylor Spears led the listing of this week's Sooners to earn awards as the senior was named one of six finalists for the prestigious AAI Award. The AAI Award is given annually to the nation's most outstanding senior female gymnast and is awarded at the NCAA Championships banquet in April. Spears followed up by being named Big 12 Gymnast of the Week on Tuesday, joining Charity Jones (Co-Event Specialist of the Week) and Kara Lovan (Newcomer of the Week) in earning the awards. The award marked Spears' ninth Gymnast of the Week honor overall; Jones' award was her first weekly honor, and Lovan's was her second.

NOTABLE NUMBER
198...Already the nation's only team to post a 198.000 or higher on the road this year, OU added another check mark to the list as it became the first team to break the 198-mark on the road two times. Both of Oklahoma's 198+ meets came at contests in North Texas: the Metroplex Challenge in Fort Worth, and a quad meet at TWU in Denton.