Make It Eight

1st

197.575

2

197.250
3

195.950
4

195.600

Results

Highlights

Photo Gallery

Team Scores
	Vault	Bars	Beam	Floor
OU	49.350	49.575	49.475	49.175
DU	49.350	49.425	49.250	49.225
ISU	49.000	49.200	48.250	48.875
WVU	49.050	48.875	48.700	48.975

Event Winners
Event	Gymnast	Score
Vault	Maddie Karr (DU), Lynnzee Brown (DU)	9.95
Bars	Maggie Nichols (OU), Maddie Karr (OU)	9.95
Beam	Maggie Nichols (OU)	9.95
Floor	Olivia Trautman	9.975
AA	Maddie Karr (DU)	39.600

OU Team Highs
Event	Gymnast	Score
Vault	Anastasia Webb	9.925
Bars	Maggie Nichols	9.95
Beam	Maggie Nichols	9.95
Floor	Olivia Trautman	9.975
AA	Anastasia Webb	39.550

NORMAN – Make that eight consecutive Big 12 titles for the Oklahoma Sooners.

Top-ranked Oklahoma recorded a 197.575 to take the 2019 Big 12 Championship on Saturday inside Lloyd Noble Center. Conference affiliate member and fifth-ranked Denver took second with a 197.250, with No. 22 Iowa State finishing third with a 195.950. West Virginia placed fourth with a 195.600.

The Big 12 title is the 12th in program history for OU and the 11th under 13th-year head coach K.J. Kindler.

The Sooners took home three of four event titles. Junior Maggie Nichols won the beam title and a share of bars with matching 9.95s. Freshman Olivia Trautman earned the floor title with near perfection and a 9.975. Denver's Maddie Karr earned the all-around title and shared vault with teammate Lynnzee Brown.

Following the conclusion of the meet, Big 12 Yearly awards were announced as well. Senior Brenna Dowell was named the Big 12 Gymnast of the Year, the second major conference award of her career after being named the Newcomer of the Year in 2015. Freshman Olivia Trautman was named the Newcomer of the Year, joining teammates Dowell, junior Maggie Nichols and sophomore Anastasia Webb as Sooners to have won the honor. Junior Jade Degouveia was named the Event Specialist of the Year for the first time in her career.

OU opened the meet on vault with a 49.350. Denver led after the first rotation with a 49.425 on bars, while Iowa State tallied a 48.875 on floor and West Virginia notched a 48.700 on beam.

“Our vault landings, although our vaults were dynamic, at the end of the day in the postseason, the landings are going to be everything,” head coach K.J. Kindler said. “We had three hops that were greater than three foot which is a two-tenths deduction. That is what they were getting deducted for because the vaults were very pretty in the air. We have to do a better job of reigning that in so that it is a small step an only a tenth off verses that big step and the two tenths off.”

Webb posted a team-high 9.925 in the No. 3 spot, while seniors Lehrmann and Dowell each posted 9.9s. Trautman added a 9.825 in the No. 4 spot with freshman Allie Stern and junior Jade Degouveia notching a pair of 9.8s.

At the midway point, the Sooners held a narrow .250 lead after recording a 49.575 on bars. Denver was on beam, West Virginia on floor and Iowa State on vault in the rotation, posting totals of 49.250, 48.975 and 49.000, respectively.

“Bars was lights out from beginning to end,” Kindler said. “Absolute lights out. I am really proud of that. Alex Marks had her career high score of 9.900 in a championship meet. That is hard to do, to get a career high. Karri Thomas also had a career high score on bars. Very amazing. Nico, and you never see her get below a 9.9, this was probably her lowest score of the last couple of years. But she did not touch the bars all week because of a tricep pull. She is kind of a hero for just going. She went with having zero reps. Nothing until this meet. So I was really proud of her and I told her that after her routine because without her it would have been tough. Then Maggie (Nichols) reigning in that 9.95 was pretty amazing. Brenna had a little hop on her landing, but a very good routine.”

OU posted its fourth-best score at the Big 12 Championships on bars to carry a 98.825 into the third rotation. The Sooners counted five scores of 9.9 or better, highlighted by Nichols who anchored with a 9.95. Webb started the rotation strong with a 9.9. Senior Alex Marks, in her final performance at the LNC, matched her career high with a 9.9 in the No. 2 spot.

Sophomore Karrie Thomas performed her best routine to date, matching her career high with a 9.925. Dowell added a 9.9 in the No. 5 spot while Lehrmann tallied a 9.875.

The Sooners moved to beam for the third rotation, posting a 49.475 to extend their lead to .500. Denver was on floor (49.225), Iowa State on bars (49.200) and West Virginia on vault (49.050).

Nichols anchored with a 9.95 to lead the team, while Lehrmann and sophomore Carly Woodard boasted a pair of 9.9s. Webb added a 9.875 in the No. 5 spot after Trautman led things off with a 9.850.

“Balance beam I felt the same way,” Kindler said. “A little shaky start. Brenna did not have a good week of practice and I think that bleeds into what we are doing in the meet. She knows, that is what makes her so good is having that solid practice behind her because she relies on that. So, I think that coming in she was a little off and on beam you think you should never be off. We talked about technique and settling down. Honestly, she did a good job on the beam routine when she missed her connection and kept her wits about her, but she was just a little jittery. Other than that, I thought awesome beam routines. Nico, Carly (Woodard), Anastasia, Maggie, all in a row. Olivia did a great job at the start except her mount. It was not really her mount, she made it up on the fly which I thought was really impressive.”

OU had an uncharacteristic floor rotation, posting a 49.175. Denver scored 49.350 on vault, Iowa State tallied a 48.875 on beam and West Virginia notched a 48.700 on bars.

Trautman and Dowell anchored with incredible performances to lead the Sooners to victory. Trautman posted a near-perfect 9.975 in the anchor spot.

“You know, I've said since the beginning of the season, Olivia just showed a great calmness and maturity that most freshman do not have,” Kindler said. “In a pinch you know she's going to come through for you. You look into her eyes and you just see a raging bull. She is confident and I can't tell you how unusual that is, quite honestly, it's hard to get someone who's new to the situation, new to pressure like this, and to get them to kind of go after it with that kind of aggressiveness and no doubt, no doubt in their mind. She's special, she's very special in that way.”

Dowell added a 9.925 in the No. 2 spot to come in second on the event. Webb and sophomore Jordan Draper each added 9.85s at the start of the rotation.

“Brenna and Olivia pretty much saved the day on floor,” Kindler said. “They had no choice not to just stay on their feet, but to nail their routines with giant scores. One a senior and one a freshman, one experience and one can obviously handle the pressure. That is what I think of the meet. I think that there were some really great things and some things we can definitely improve on.”

The meet was the second-highest attended Big 12 Championship in history, second only to the 4,200 who attended the 1998 championship in Lincoln, Neb.

Oklahoma will receive its regional assignment next on Monday. NCAA Regional competition is set for April 4-6 at campus sites around the country (Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Oregon State). The top-two placing teams from each regional will advance to the 2019 NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas on April 19 and 20.

Players Mentioned

Jade Degouveia

Brenna Dowell

Jordan Draper

Alex Marks

Maggie Nichols

Allie Stern

Karrie Thomas

Olivia Trautman

Anastasia Webb

Carly Woodard

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics