Brown Secures Big 12 Weekly Award

NORMAN — After setting a career-best mark on beam and achieving a season high on floor last Friday, sophomore Natalie Brown has been named the Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday.

In Oklahoma's tri-meet with Big 12 opponent Iowa State and Arizona State, Brown tallied a career-best 9.925 on beam (previous high was 9.875) to secure the first event crown of her career. Her score helped the Sooners match their season-best beam score of 49.400.

Brown continued her strong night on floor, setting her season-high score with a 9.825 to aid OU to a team mark of 48.350, its best of the year on the event. The Sooners finished first in the meet with a season-high 197.475.

The honor marks the fourth weekly conference recognition for the Sooners this season and the first for Brown. It is the second Big 12 honor of her career, having been named Newcomer of the Week once last season.

Denver's Nina McGee earned Big 12 Gymnast of the Week honors for Jan. 26, and West Virginia's Kirah Koshinski took Newcomer of the Week accolades.

This weekend, No. 2 OU (5-1 overall, 1-0 Big 12) will travel to Fort Worth, Texas, to compete in the Metroplex Challenge on Saturday. Opponents at the meet will be No. 6 LSU, No. 12 Stanford, No. 16 Missouri and Washington. The event will be held in the Fort Worth Convention Center, the host site of the 2016 NCAA Championships.

The Sooners will return to the Lloyd Noble Center on Sunday, Feb. 7, when they host No. 22 West Virginia in a conference contest. The meet is slated for a 1:45 p.m. CT start, and tickets are available for purchase online or by calling the OU Athletics Tickets Office at (405) 325-2424 or toll-free at (800) 456-GoOU.

Players Mentioned

Natalie Brown

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics