Sooners Set For Perfect 10 Challenge

Friday, February 21

Oklahoma City, Okla. (Cox Convention Center)

6:45 PM

University of Oklahoma

Stanford

Photo by: Joshua R. Gateley

February 20, 2020 | Women's Gymnastics

Tickets SoonerSports.tv Live Stats Meet Notes

By: Lindsey Morrison

¹ Oklahoma

²⁵ Stanford

Friday, Feb. 21 / 6:45 p.m. CT / Oklahoma City, Okla. / Cox Convention Center

Watch / Live Stats / Meet Notes

NORMAN – The No. 1 Oklahoma women's gymnastics team is set for its third podium meet of the season as the Sooners travel down the road to Oklahoma City for the Perfect 10 Challenge. The meet is set for 6:45 p.m. CT at the Cox Convention Center and will feature No. 25 Stanford along with the No. 1 Sooners.

NOTES AND NUMBERS FOR MEET NINE

PERFECT 10 CHALLENGE
The Sooners will look to defend their Perfect 10 title after taking home a quad-meet victory in 2019. The Sooners defeated Arizona State, George Washington and Washington in that meet. A pair of current Sooners have earned a perfect 10 at the Perfect 10 Challenge. In 2017, Maggie Nichols earned her first career 10 on floor at the meet. In 2019, Olivia Trautman did the same, earning her first career 10 on floor to become the fourth freshman in program history with a perfect score.

LOOK BACK AT IT
In its last meet, Oklahoma picked up a pair of victories over West Virginia and TWU to stay perfect inside Lloyd Noble Center in 2020. The Sooners posted the highest score of the 2020 season and the third-best score in program history with a 198.400. It's the second highest score in NCAA history in the last five years, second only to Oklahoma's 198.475 set in 2019. Maggie Nichols was perfect on a pair of events, earning a 10.0 on both vault and beam. Olivia Trautman and Allie Stern were nearly perfect on vault as they tallied matching scores of 9.975, both career highs. Anastasia Webb continued her streak of winning the all-around title with a 39.650. The junior also added a floor title with a career-best 9.950. The Sooners are now 13-0 on the year, extending their win-streak to 45 victories.

VAULTING TO THE TOP
On Feb. 14, the Sooners vaulted to the top of the OU record books as they posted a 49.775 on vault to set a new program record. The previous record of 49.700 had been untouched since the 2014 season. The Sooners were the first team in 2020 to post a lineup of six 10.0 start-value vaults since the devaluation of the Yurchenko full. Olivia Trautman and Allie Stern led off the rotation with matching 9.975s. Jade Degouveia added a 9.900 and Anastasia Webb notched a 9.925 to set up a 10.0 from Maggie Nichols. OU is one of only two schools who have posted a 49.500 or better on vault (LSU). The Sooners have tallied a 49.500 or higher on five occasions, while LSU has reached that mark twice.

SEEING DOUBLE
For the third time this season, the Sooners are seeing a team they have previously faced. OU and Stanford went head-to-head at the Collegiate Challenge on Jan. 4 to open the season with the Sooners victorious. OU competed at TWU on Sunday, Feb. 9, and faced them five days later in Norman. The Sooners faced Alabama twice in an eight-day span. OU traveled to Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Jan. 17 before heading to the Metroplex Challenge on Jan. 25 where Alabama was one of four teams in the quad meet. OU will face Denver three times in 2020. The two teams met at the Metroplex Challenge and will face off in Norman on Feb. 29. The final meeting between the two teams will be at the Big 12 Championships on March 21.

SWAGGIE MAGGIE
Senior Maggie Nichols is taking her senior season by storm as she leads the country with four perfect marks on the season. Nichols has three perfect 10s on vault and one on bars. For just the second time in her career, Nichols posted a pair of perfect scores in one meet as she earned a perfect 10 on vault and bars on Feb. 14. Nichols had not achieved this feat since 2018 when she tallied perfect marks on vault and beam against Michigan. Nichols posted her second-highest career all-around score with a 39.900 against Arkansas on Jan. 20. Days after being the first gymnast in 2020 to post a score of 39.800 or better, Nichols became the first gymnast this season to break 39.900. Nichols is still the only gymnast to break 39.800 this season. Nichols is the only gymnast to eclipse 39.900 since Courtney Kupets (Georgia) notched a 39.900 in 2009. Nichols has posted four scores of 39.900 or better with her highest being a 39.925 in 2017. She is the only gymnast in NCAA history with multiple scores of 39.900 or better.

TO 198 AND BEYOND
For the third year in a row, the Sooners became the first team in the country to reach a score of 198 or better with a 198.250 on Jan. 17 at Alabama. OU reached 198 once again with a 198.250 on Jan. 20 against Arkansas and again with a 198.400 on Feb. 14.
In each of last two seasons, the Sooners have posted at least eight marks of 198 or higher. Since 2016 OU has totaled 29 scores of 198 or better and has 36 such scores in program history. Of those 36, only 13 have been earned at home with the other 23 all coming at road or neutral sites. Nine of those scores have come in regional or national competition, including the 198.475 mark at the 2019 NCAA Athens Regional which is the top road score in NCAA history. In 2018, OU set the NCAA record with 10 scores of 198 or better in a single season. OU has more scores of 198 in the last five years than any other program has in their entire history. The 198.400 set on Feb. 14 was the 125th score of 198 or higher in NCAA history and tied for the 12th best score in women's gymnastics history.

DEPTH DISPLAYED
OU has showcased the depth it has on its roster with 14 Sooners appearing in at least one lineup this season. Seniors Maggie Nichols (AA) and Jade Degouveia (VT, UB, BB), juniors Anastasia Webb (AA), Carly Woodard (BB), Jordan Draper (UB, FX) and Evy Schoepfer (VT), sophomore Allie Stern (VT, FX) and freshmen Jenna Dunn (BB) and Ragan Smith (AA) have competed in every meet this season. Junior Karrie Thomas (UB, BB), sophomores Emma LaPinta (FX) and Olivia Trautman (UB, BB) and freshmen Vanessa Deniz (UB, BB, FX) and Brooke Weins (VT) have all competed in at least two meets this season. The underclassmen are playing a major role once again as the eight sophomores and freshmen have combined for 75 of 191 routines (39.2 percent). Degouveia, Nichols, Smith and Webb have contributed 108 routines (56.5 percent). Degouveia, Smith and Webb have competed at least three routines in every meet with Webb being an all-arounder in all eight. Nichols has competed at least three routines in seven of eight meets. Webb is the only Sooner on the current roster to appear in every meet of her career. Webb has hit 103 of 108 routines, good for a .953 average.

STILL ON TOP
The Oklahoma women's gymnastics team posted the top score in the country this season with a 198.400 to remain the No. 1 team in the country for the seventh week in a row. OU improved to 13-0 on the season with a tri-meet victory over Texas Woman's and West Virginia Friday in Norman. The Sooners are averaging a 197.859 through eight meets to maintain their hold on the No. 1 ranking. The Sooners have now been ranked No. 1 every week since Jan. 7, 2019, a streak of 19 weeks. The rest of the top five remained unchanged as Florida sits in second (197.688), Utah and UCLA are tied for third (197.071) and Denver is in fifth (197.054). Oklahoma remained the top vault (49.500) and bars (49.538) team in the nation. The Sooners rank third on beam (49.422) and floor (49.400).

DENIZ, NICHOLS HONORED BY BIG 12
Freshman Vanessa Deniz and senior Maggie Nichols were named the Big 12 Newcomer and Gymnast of the Week, respectively, after their incredible performances last Friday night. Nichols was named the Gymnast of the Week for the fourth time this season and the 14th time in her career, while Deniz was named Newcomer of the Week for the second time. Nichols had an exceptional night against West Virginia and Texas Woman's, posting a pair of perfect scores. The Little Canada, Minn., native went back-to-back, earning a perfect score on vault - her third perfect score on the event in 2020 - and bars. This was just the second time in Nichols' career that she has posted two 10s in one meet. The perfect 10 on vault was the eighth of her career and her fourth on bars. Nichols has the most perfect scores of any gymnast in 2020 with four total. The senior now has 21 career perfect 10s, tied for fourth-most in NCAA history. Deniz had a career-night as she posted two career highs. Deniz tallied a career-best 9.9 on bars, the second-highest mark of the meet. On floor, she posted a career-high 9.925 as one of only two gymnasts to break 9.9 in the meet. Deniz placed second on the event, posting a top-two finish on both events.

QUICK HITS

OU was ranked No. 1 in the WCGA preseason coaches poll, the sixth-straight season the Sooners have been ranked in the top two to begin the year.
Twelve of Oklahoma's 13 regular season opponents are ranked in the preseason coaches poll.
OU will face six preseason top-10 opponents during the 2020 season including No. 4 UCLA, No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Denver, No. 8 Georgia, No. 9 California and No. 10 Alabama.
Oklahoma returns seven previous NCAA All-Americans who own 23 total accolades: Jade Degouveia (VT, FX), Maggie Nichols (AA, VT, UB, BB, FX), Bre Showers (VT, AA), Karrie Thomas (UB), Olivia Trautman (FX), Anastasia Webb (UB, FX), Carly Woodard (BB).
The Sooners will be featured on ESPN networks four times during the regular season: at Arizona State (ESPNU), at Alabama (ESPN2), Denver (ESPNU) and the Big 12 Championship (ESPNU).

SCOUTING STANFORD
Stanford is No. 25 in this week's rankings and is 3-9 on the year after facing tough competition in UCLA, Cal, Washington and Oregon State. The Cardinal are ranked in the top 35 on all four events, coming in at No. 21 on beam, No. 29 on vault, No. 30 on bars and No. 33 on floor.