TONIGHT: Sooners Vie for NCAA title

2015 NCAA Super Six
April 18 | 6 p.m. | Fort Worth Convention Center

Notes

NOTES AND NUMBERS FOR NCAAs

LEADER OF THE PACK
Oklahoma enters NCAA competition this weekend as the No. 1 overall seed for the first time in program history. After opening the 2015 season as the preseason No. 2 team, OU has owned at least a share of the nation's No. 1 ranking for every week this season, totaling 13 weeks at the top. The Sooners have earned solo possession of the No. 1 spot in 12 of those 13 weeks. In addition, Oklahoma has been ranked No. 1 for multiple weeks on all four events and enters NCAA competition ranked in the top four nationally on every apparatus.

SOONERS AGAINST THE FIELD
The Sooners have faced five teams in the 2015 NCAA Championship field and hold a perfect 5-0 mark against those teams. Oklahoma has defeated four of the nation's top-six ranked teams in head-to-head competition this season, logging victories over No. 2 Florida, No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Alabama and No. 6 Michigan.

BEAM QUEENS
Balance beam continues to be one of Oklahoma's strengths in 2015. Head coach K.J. Kindler also serves as the beam coach and has led OU to six consecutive weeks ranked No. 1 in the nation on beam. The Sooners have been ranked as the nation's top team in nine of 12 weeks this season, while five members of Oklahoma's six-person lineup were named NACGC/W All-Americans on the event. On March 6, OU snapped a 12 year program record on beam, posting a 49.750 on the event against Florida.

TOP REGIONAL TEAM
Oklahoma won the program's sixth consecutive NCAA Regional title on April 4 in Norman to advance to this weekend's competition in Fort Worth. The Sooners posted a 197.625, the nation's best score in regional competition, and captured individual titles on three of four events. Ali Jackson (vault, 9.95), Haley Scaman (floor, 9.975) and Haley Sorensen (beam, 9.9) each took home event titles as Oklahoma joined runner-up Oregon State in the championship field for this weekend.

QUICK HITS
• On Feb. 9, OU accomplished an uncommon feat: the Sooners earned the No. 1 national ranking as a team and No. 1 rankings on all four apparatuses. Oklahoma was the first team to achieve the accomplishment since Florida in 2011.
• Oklahoma is the nation's only team ranked in the top ten that has never competed an all-arounder this season.
• OU returns six previous NCAA All-Americans in 2015. The group has amassed a total of 11 accolades during their careers, including four-time winner Erica Brewer (UB, BB, AA). She is joined by two-time winners Maile'ana Kanewa (V, FX) and Haley Scaman (V, FX) and honorees Chayse Capps (BB), Rebecca Clark (UB) and Kara Lovan (FX)
• With 294 career victories, head coach K.J. Kindler is within striking distance of her 300th career win in 2015. Should OU win every session of competition from this point onward, Kindler would cross the 300-win mark during the Super Six team finals.

QUOTING COACH KINDLER

Opening comment after semifinals:
“We had a great start. I felt that we were very aggressive on floor. There was only one minor mistake there. You asked about the byes, and it is tough to start on a bye, so they have to stay loose in that back room. You come out and everyone else has already started, and that is tough. We'll have to handle that, because I believe that's our rotation again tomorrow. I was really proud of the way they did floor and vault. It's a benefit to do floor and vault with all the adrenaline. It kind of gets you over the hump a little bit. I'm really impressed with vault. That was pretty stellar for us. We've been trying to stick landings like that all year long, and tonight I think we really capitalized off the landings. Bars was spot on coming out of a bye, and they did a great job with their landings there as well. I think we stuck four of six bar dismounts, which is big for us. It's something we've been trying to improve on. Beam, we actually haven't been in that situation all year. We haven't countered a fall all year, and we only had a fall one time the entire season. This was a very unusual situation for them to be in. I'm actually very proud of how they handled themselves. It's not like this is something they've gone through before. It's not like this happened in meets and they conquered it there. They conquered it in prelims night, which is very hard to do. They were very unusual mistakes from Haley (Sorenson) and Kara (Lovan), and of course they're beating themselves up. Nobody wants to make a mistake in this type of competition. I'm very excited for them tomorrow night, because they have the opportunity to do it again. I'm very proud. I thought three of our events were top notch. I thought the three that finished balance beam, and our starter Keeley (Kmieciak) started us off great. The three that finished really kept their cool. I have a defensive beam strategy. I took out elements in two of the athletes' routines that they can remove in this sort of situation and I did that. I think that helps a little bit with their calmness. They know they have a safety routine. For them it's the way to go. You might be seeing a little more from them tomorrow. Hopefully you will be seeing more. We're pretty happy.”

Players Mentioned

Erica Brewer

Chayse Capps

Rebecca Clark

Maile'ana Kanewa

Kara Lovan

Haley Scaman

Haley Sorensen

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics