NCAA Title Hunt Begins Friday in Fort Worth

Friday, April 16

Fort Worth, Texas

5:00 PM

University of Oklahoma

LSU

Photo by: Joshua R. Gateley

NCAA Title Hunt Begins Friday in Fort Worth

April 15, 2021 | Women's Gymnastics

By: Lindsey Morrison

Oklahoma

LSU

Utah

Alabama

Friday, April 16 / 5 p.m. CT / Fort Worth, Texas / Dickies Arena

ESPN2 / Live Stats / Meet Notes

NOTES AND NUMBERS FOR SEMIFINAL II

THE BIG STAGE
When the No. 1 Oklahoma women's gymnastics team takes the competition floor this weekend at the NCAA Championship in Fort Worth, Texas, it will begin its quest for a fifth national title. The No. 2 seeded Sooners will compete in Semifinal II with No. 3 LSU, No. 6 Utah and No. 7 Alabama with the top two teams advancing to the NCAA Four on the Floor on Saturday afternoon. Competing on the opposite side of the bracket for a shot at the title will be No. 1 Florida, No. 4 Michigan, No. 5 Cal and No. 8 Minnesota. Friday's semifinal will air on ESPN2 at 5 p.m. CT from Dickies Arena.

ROTATION ORDER
In semifinal action, the Sooners will rotate starting on bars, followed by beam, floor and ending on vault. If the Sooners are the top team advancing out of the semifinal, they will rotate in Olympic order (vault, bars, beam, floor) in the finals. If they are the No. 2 team out of the semifinal, they will begin on floor and end on beam. With the changes to the postseason made in 2019 and reducing the number of teams down to four, there are no longer byes during the competition.

REIGNING CHAMPIONS
With no championship in 2020, the Sooners have held on as the reigning champs after earning their fourth national title in 2019. OU dominated the first Four on the Floor and capped off the meet with a near-perfect 9.9875 vault from Brenna Dowell. The 2019 season was dedicated to Dave Richardson, the late husband of athletic trainer Jenn Richardson. The Sooners motto of Do it for Dave was carried throughout the postseason.

The Sooners have won four of the last seven national championships, including back-to-back titles in 2016 and 2017. OU's first national title was won in 2014.

POSTSEASON SUCCESS
Postseason has become a strength of the Sooners under head coach K.J. Kindler. Since 2010, OU owns nine seasons in which it has captured a conference and regional championship in the same season, accomplishing the feat in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2010. Despite coming in second at the 2021 Big 12 Championship, the Sooners claimed their 11th straight regional title at the Tuscaloosa Regional. The Sooners have advanced to the NCAA Championships 20 times in program history and every season dating back to 2004. OU has never missed NCAA competition under Kindler's leadership.

TOP REGIONAL TEAM
The Sooners secured their spot at nationals in dominating fashion as they won their 11th straight regional title, earning a first-place finish at the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional. For the fourth-consecutive season, OU posted the highest regional score with a 198.175. Senior Anastasia Webb claimed the uneven bars title with a perfect score and shared the floor title with Olivia Trautman as the pair earned matching 9.95s. On night two, Trautman earned a perfect score of her own on vault.

IN GOOD COMPANY
OU is one of only three teams in the nation to advance to the NCAA Championship every season since 2004, joining LSU and Utah. The Sooners will compete against both the Tigers and Red Rocks in the second semifinal.

INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS
In addition to determining the squads competing in the Four on the Floor, Friday's semifinals will serve to crown individual national champions. Scores will be combined from both sessions to determine the winners. OU has had five gymnasts combine for 14 individual NCAA titles. Kelly Garrison (1987, 1988) won all-around honors twice an claimed bars and beam titles as OU's first ever individual national champion. Taylor Spears broke a 26-year drought to claim the balance beam title in 2014 while Nicole Lehrmann earned her first championship on bars in 2017. Brenna Dowell earned a pair of titles winning vault in 2018 and floor in 2019. Maggie Nichols ended her career as the all-time leader with six titles. Nichols was a back-to-back all-around winner (2018, 2019), back-to-back uneven bars champion (2017, 2018) and earned titles on floor (2018) and vault (2019).

TUMBLING TRAUTMAN
On April 2, Olivia Trautman competed floor for the first time in 712 days. After dealing with a foot injury in back-to-back seasons, Trautman was kept off the floor during her sophomore year and most of her junior season. Trautman had last competed floor at the 2019 NCAA Championship, earning a 9.95. In her return at the Tuscaloosa Regional, she picked up right where she left off with a 9.95 to earn the regional title.

Trautman has competed floor 17 times in her career and has never scored lower than a 9.925. She has a perfect 10 on the event and boasts 12 scores of 9.95 or better.

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).

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 winner 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).

LONE STAR SOONERS
With the Sooners vying for a title in Fort Worth, Texas, a handful of Sooners will find themselves back at home for the national championship. Of the six Texas natives on the roster, five hail from the DFW Metroplex with Jordan Draper growing up just 19 minutes away from Dickies Arena.

Audrey Davis (Plano), Draper (Bedford), Erin Hutchison (Plano), Emma LaPinta (Frisco), Katherine LeVasseur (San Antonio) and Ragan Smith (Lewisville) all hail from the state of Texas. Draper trained at Empire Gymnastics, Davis and Hutchison at WOGA, LaPinta at Kurt Thomas, LeVassuer at Mavericks Gymnastics and Smith at Texas Dreams.

UP NEXT
The top two placing teams from each semifinal will advance to the National Championship on Saturday. The championship meet will air on ABC at 2:30 p.m. CT from Dickies Arena.