OU Ready To Fight For Big 12 Title

¹ Oklahoma

⁹ Denver

²² Iowa State

West Virginia

Saturday, March 20 / 1 p.m. CT / Morgantown, W.Va. / WVU Coliseum

ESPN2 / Live Stats / Meet Notes

NOTES AND NUMBERS FOR THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP

POSTSEASON TIME
On Saturday, the No. 1 Oklahoma women's gymnastics team will compete at the Big 12 Championship, scheduled for a 1 p.m. CT in Morgantown, W.Va. The meet, which will pit the Sooners against No. 9 Denver, No. 22 Iowa State and West Virginia will air live on ESPN2. John Roethlisberger and Alicia Sacramone Quinn will be on the call.

TIME FOR NINE
This weekend, the Sooners will pursue an unprecedented ninth consecutive Big 12 Championship title. The Sooners are the only program in Big 12 Conference history to reach a streak of eight straight titles after earning the crown in 2019. OU holds 17 conference titles (five Big Eight, 12 Big 12) in its program history and 11 Big 12 titles under 15th-year head coach K.J. Kindler. The 2020 Big 12 Championships were cancelled due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. No regular season champion was declared in 2020.

WHERE THEY BELONG
After starting the season ranked No. 2 in the nation and finding themselves as low as No. 5 during 2021, the Sooners are back at the top of the standings, claiming a No. 1 rankings last week. This marks the 10th straight season that the Sooners have finished within the top two of the regular season national rankings based on national qualifying scores (NQS). OU is currently tied at the top with Florida and has one final chance to boost their NQS and take sole possession of the No. 1 spot at the Big 12 Championship. The Sooners will need a score of 197.825 or higher to improve their NQS heading into regionals.

CONFERENCE ACCOLADES
Six members of the top-ranked Oklahoma women's gymnastics team combined to capture a conference-high nine spots on the All-Big 12 Gymnastics team. Seniors Anastasia Webb (AA, VT, BB, FX), Evy Schoepfer (VT) and Karrie Thomas (BB), sophomore Ragan Smith (FX) and freshmen Audrey Davis (UB) and Katherine LeVasseur (UB) all earned awards. This season marks the 14th straight year that the Sooners have led the conference in All-Big 12 selections and the 12th consecutive season that the Sooners have earned at least eight spots on the All-Big 12 team.
Webb brought her career total to 9 honors and finished her career being honored three times on floor and beam, twice on vault and one in the all-around. Smith earned her third career honor after being recognized on bars and beam in 2020. Davis, LeVasseur, Schoepfer and Thomas all earned their first career accolades.

WEBB NAMED AAI FINALIST
Anastasia Webb has been named one of six finalists for the prestigious AAI Award, recognizing the most outstanding senior female gymnast in the country. The honor is voted on by NCAA women's gymnastics head coaches and sponsored by American Athletic, Inc. (AAI). Alyssa Baumann (Florida), Lynnzee Brown (Denver), Nia Dennis (UCLA), Kyana George (California) and Lexy Ramler (Minnesota).

The AAI Award is considered one of the highest honors given in the sport of women's gymnastics. Webb is Oklahoma's 10th consecutive finalist for the award, joining Megan Ferguson (2012), Brie Olson (2013), Taylor Spears (2014), Erica Brewer (2015), Haley Scaman (2016), Chayse Capps (2017), AJ Jackson (2018), Brenna Dowell (2019), and Maggie Nichols (2020).

Webb is joined by five additional finalists including Alyssa Baumann (Florida), Lynnzee Brown (Denver), Nia Dennis (UCLA), Kyana George (California) and Lexy Ramler (Minnesota).

KINDLER VS. THE BIG 12
In 15 seasons, Kindler is 82-3 against current and former members of the Big 12 (not including regionals and NCAA Championships). Against current members of league (Denver, Iowa State, West Virginia), Kindler is undefeated in the regular season with a 44-0 record. At the Big 12 Championship, she is undefeated against current members with a 13-0 record against Iowa State, 7-0 record against West Virginia and 4-0 over Denver.

THEY'RE GOING BACK TO BACK
When Anastasia Webb and Evy Schoepfer earned back-to-back perfect 10s on vault on March 7, they joined an elite club. The duo were just the third pair to earn back-to-back perfect scores and the first since 2018. This is the second time Webb has been a part of back-to-back perfect 10s. In 2018, Webb earned a perfect 10 on balance beam and was followed by a perfect score from Maggie Nichols. McKenzie Wofford and Nicole Lehrmann went back-to-back on uneven bars on Feb. 26, 2017. Ironically, the meet was also against TWU in Denton and led the Sooners to a 49.700 on the event. The pair were the first in program history to achieve the feat.

WINNING WAYS
With an 18-0 record, the Sooners have extended their winning streak to 66 consecutive wins, dating back to the 2019 season. OU's last loss came at the 2018 NCAA Championships when they finished as the runner-up. This is the second longest winning streak in school history for the Sooners who have posted three streaks of 50 victories or more. From 2016-2018, the Sooners had 75 consecutive victories, including a perfect season in 2017. From 2014-2015, the Sooners won 50 consecutive meets. OU currently has the nation's longest active win streak. Florida currently ranks second with 18 consecutive wins after going undefeated in the shortened 2020 season.

NQS BREAKDOWN
After wrapping up their final dual meet of the season, the Oklahoma women's gymnastics team remained in a tie for the No. 1 spot in the rankings with a 197.944 National Qualifying Score (NQS). With Florida on a bye week, the Sooners and Gators remained tied as the 197.475 earned by OU did not factor into its ranking. Michigan made a jump to No. 3 (197.788) with LSU at No. 4 (197.700). For the first time this season, California joined the top five with an NQS of 197.575.
Due to the limited number of meets for some teams in 2021, NQS will be calculated with just four scores instead of six. The top four scores, two of which must be away, will be averaged and no score will be dropped. The Sooners hold a top five spot on each event. OU is No. 2 on vault (49.556), No. 2 on beam (49.606), No. 3 on bars (49.469) and No. 5 on floor (49.475).

NATIONAL RANKINGS
Six Sooners hold 12 individual rankings. Senior Anastasia Webb leads the pack with top-15 rankings on all four events and the all-around. Webb is No. 2 on vault (9.956), No. 3 on beam (9.963), No. 4 in the all-around (39.706), No. 6 on floor (9.944) and No. 14 on bars (9.913). Senior Evy Schoepfer remained No. 1 in the nation on vault with a 9.963 NQS. Junior Allie Stern came in at No. 14 (9.919) with freshman Katherine LeVasseur at No. 23 (9.906). LeVasseur also boasts a top-10 ranking on bars coming in at No. 8 (9.925). Joining her and Webb in the bars rankings are freshman Audrey Davis (9.938) at No. 6 and Karrie Thomas (9.913) at No. 14. After her third score of 9.95 this season on beam, Thomas jumped in the beam rankings with an NQS of 9.931. She is now ranked 12th on the event.

THOMAS HONORED BY BIG 12
For the third time in 2021, senior Karrie Thomas has been named the Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday. This is the third honor in the last four weeks for Thomas who has had an exceptional run in the final weeks of the regular season. Thomas now has six career honors including four event specialist accolades and two newcomer accolades.

In the final meet before the conference championship, Thomas shined by taking home the event title on beam with a career-best 9.95. With a fall in the leadoff spot, all five remaining Sooners needed to hit and Thomas made sure to bring a near perfect routine to the lineup to help OU put up a 49.325 on the event. On bars, the senior added a 9.9 in the anchor spot to lead OU to its third best score of the season on the event with a 49.450. It marked the third week in a row Thomas earned a 9.9 or better on bars and the fourth time this season.

UP NEXT
Oklahoma will receive its regional assignment next Monday, March 22. NCAA Regional competition is set for April 1-3 at four campus sites: Alabama, Georgia, Utah and West Virginia. The top two placing teams from each regional will advance to the 2021 NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, April 16-17.

NOTES AND NUMBERS FOR THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP

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Players Mentioned

Audrey Davis

Brenna Dowell

Nicole Lehrmann

Katherine LeVasseur

Maggie Nichols

Evy Schoepfer

Ragan Smith

Allie Stern

Karrie Thomas

Anastasia Webb

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