NCAA Championship Hunt Begins Thursday

Oklahoma

Alabama

Minnesota

Utah

Thursday, April 14 / Noon CT / Fort Worth, Texas / Dickies Arena

ESPN2 / Live Stats / Meet Notes

NOTES AND NUMBERS FOR NCAA SEMIFINAL II

THE BIG STAGE
When the No. 1 Oklahoma women's gymnastics team takes the competition floor weekend at the NCAA Championship in Fort Worth, Texas, it will begin its quest for a fifth national title. The No. 1 overall seed will compete in Semifinal I with No. 4 Utah, No. 5 Alabama and No. 8 Minnesota 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. 2 Florida, No. 3 Michigan, No. 7 Auburn and No. 11 Missouri. Thursday's semifinal will air on ESPN2 at noon CT from Dickies Arena.

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

POSTSEASON SUCCESS
Postseason has become a strength of the Sooners under head coach K.J. Kindler. Since 2010, OU owns 10 seasons in which it has captured a conference and regional championship in the same season, accomplishing the feat in 2022, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2010. The Sooners claimed the 2022 Big 12 Championship with the highest score in championship history before claiming its 12th straight regional crown in Norman.

The Sooners have advanced to the NCAA Championship 21 times in program history including every season dating back to 2004. OU has never missed NCAA Competition under Kindler's leadership. Since 2016, the Sooners have placed in the top two every year with national titles in 2016, 2017 and 2019.

DEFENDED OUR HOUSE
The Sooners secured their spot at nationals in dominating fashion as they won their 12th straight regional title, earning a first-place finish at the NCAA Norman Regional. The Sooners posted an incredible 198.250 in the regional final, the second-highest score in regional competition in the nation. Jordan Bowers and Danae Fletcher shared the vault title with Minnesota's Lexy Ramler and Ona Loper. Bowers also won the uneven bars title with a career-best 9.975 and floor with a 9.95, sharing with Minnesota's Mya Hooten.

IN GOOD COMPANY
OU is one of only two teams in the nation to advance to the NCAA Championship every season since 2004, joining Utah. For the second year in a row, the Sooners will face the Red Rocks in semifinal action.

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 six gymnasts combine for 17 individual NCAA titles. Kelly Garrison (1987, 1988) won all-around honors twice and 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). Anastasia Webb earned three titles in 2021, bringing home the all-around, vault and floor titles in her senior season.

BIG SCREEN BROADCAST
ESPN continues to raise the bar in its coverage of collegiate gymnastics across ESPN networks, with the NCAA National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships returning to ABC in 2022. Semifinal I is set for Thursday, April 14 at noon CT on ESPN2 with Semifinal II airing live at 5 p.m. Thursday also on ESPN2. The Championship Final will be live on Saturday, April 16 at noon on ABC.

ALL-AMERICAN GIRLS
Five members of the No. 1 Oklahoma women's gymnastics team combined to secure eight regular season All-America honors from the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA). Senior Carly Woodard (BB), junior Ragan Smith (BB, FX), sophomores Audrey Davis (UB, AA) and Katherine LeVasseur (VT) and freshman Jordan Bowers (VT, UB) all received recognition from the association.

Regular season All-America honors are based on an individual's final national qualifying score (NQS) prior to regional competition. First team honorees are ranked 1-8 nationally, and second team designees are ranked 9-16. The Sooners had at least one gymnast recognized on every event and in the all-around and two gymnasts honored on three events.

QUEENS OF THE HILL
After starting the season ranked No. 3 in the nation, the Sooners fought back to claim the No. 1 ranking for the final three weeks of the season. This marked the 11th straight year the Sooners have finished in the top two of the regular season national rankings. OU has been the No. 1 overall seed for the national championship in six of the last seven seasons and has earned a No. 1 seed for regional competition in each of the last 12 years.

THE ROAD TO FORT WORTH
Though the road to Fort Worth is a quick trip down I-35, the journey to the national championship is much more difficult. The top two finishing teams from each regional advanced to one of the two NCAA Semifinals at Dickies Arena. The Sooners will have a tough semifinal with familiar faces from the 2022 season. OU opened the season against Alabama and earned the win, before traveling to Utah the very next week. The Red Rocks topped the Sooners in that meet in Salt Lake City. OU also faced two of the four teams on the opposite side of the bracket, falling to Florida in Gainesville and defeating Michigan at home inside Lloyd Noble Center.

QUICK FLIPS

The Sooners have hit 321 of 336 routines this season for a hit percentage of .955. Eight gymnasts are perfect on the season, hitting every routine they have performed. Of those eight, five have competed in all 14 meets.
The Sooners have had 10 of 15 athletes who have competed at least once this season earn an event title. Nine of the 10 have earned at least two event titles this season.
Jordan Bowers and Audrey Davis lead the squad with 20 and 13 event titles, respectively. Bowers owns at least one event title on three of four events and the all-around, while Davis has at least one title on two events and the all-around.
Vault, beam and floor have seen eight athletes complete at least one routine in 2022. Bars has seen seven athletes compete at least once this year.

UP NEXT

The top two placing teams from each semifinal will advance to the championship on Saturday, April 16, at noon CT on ABC.