No. 1 Oklahoma Heads to Baton Rouge for Top-10 Matchup

Monday, January 16

Baton Rouge, La.

2 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

LSU

Photo by: Matthew Smith

No. 1 Oklahoma Heads to Baton Rouge for Top-10 Matchup

January 13, 2023 | Women's Gymnastics

Meet Notes Live Stats Watch ESPN2

NORMAN – Top-ranked Oklahoma women's gymnastics will travel to Baton Rouge, La., for a showdown against No. 10 LSU on Monday, Jan. 16, at 2 p.m. CT inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (PMAC). The two teams will take the floor inside the PMAC for the first time since Jan. 9, 2016, which is the only trip to Baton Rouge under head coach K.J. Kindler.

"LSU is a driven team and have obviously prepared well and made big strides already this season," head coach K.J. Kindler said. "Their home environment is electric and we look forward to the energy and the challenge."

The highly anticipated top-10 matchup will be nationally televised on ESPN2 with Bart Conner calling the play-by-play and Kathy Johnson Clarke serving as the analyst. Samantha Peszek will join the team as the reporter on the floor. The meet marks the first of five showings this season for OU on an ESPN Network. Live stats and streaming will also be available for fans to follow the action.

Live stats will also be available through LSU's StatBroadcast page and streaming will also be available here for fans to follow the action.

ALL IN FOR THE WIN

The reigning NCAA champion and No. 1-ranked Sooners scored a 197.925 to claim a season-opening victory at the inaugural Super 16 last Saturday night inside Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. It was the second-best season-opening score in program history, behind only the 198.050 recorded by the 2019 team at Arkansas. OU topped No. 4 Michigan (197.400), No. 5 Auburn (197.350) and then-No. 10 UCLA (197.275) in the first of three podium meets this season. The Sooners posted the highest score in the nation on opening weekend.

Eleven Sooners competed in the meet with freshmen Faith Torrez and Ava Siegfeldt making their collegiate debuts. Headlining a vault lineup with six 10.0 start values, sophomore Jordan Bowers took home the event title with an incredible 9.975. Torrez took home her first career event title with a 9.950 on floor. Bowers posted a career-high 39.650 in the all-around to finish second while junior Audrey Davis was close behind with a 39.500 to finish fifth overall. Bowers (career-high) and Siegfeldt tied for second with a pair of 9.925s, while Davis tied for third with a 9.950 on bars.

SWEEPIN' START

A trio of Oklahoma underclassmen swept the weekly Big 12 Conference honors for opening weekend. Jordan Bowers was named Gymnast of the Week, Ava Siegfeldt was Event Specialist of the Week and Faith Torrez was named Newcomer of the Week. Freshmen Siegfeldt and Torrez earned their first career conference honors, while Bowers notched her eighth weekly league honor and her third Big 12 Gymnast of the Week accolade.

Bowers set two career highs last Saturday to help OU pick up a trio of top-10 team victories with a 197.925 at the Super 16. She surpassed her career-high mark in the all-around with a 39.650, good for second nationally, while boasting a career-best 9.925 tied for 10th nationally. Bowers also secured the No. 1 vault score in the nation during opening weekend after a near-perfect 9.975 on the event.

Siegfeldt and Torrez both had strong introductions to collegiate gymnastics, earning top-10 finishes nationally on at least one event after the first week. Siegfeldt ranked 10th nationally on beam with a 9.925, while Torrez tied for the nation's best floor score with a 9.950. She is the first OU freshman since Olivia Trautman in 2019 to post the best score nationally in a season-opening meet.

BATTLE IN THE BAYOU

This marks the first trip OU will make to the PMAC since Jan. 9, 2016, the only meeting in Baton Rouge under head coach K.J. Kindler. The last two times the Sooners won at LSU was in 2006, both during the regular season (Feb. 24) and postseason (NCAA Central Regional on April 7). In the LSU-hosted Super Six Challenge on Jan. 6, 2006, K.J. Kindler led the Cyclones to a third-place finish (194.050) ahead of LSU (193.900) in her final season as the Iowa State head coach.

The two teams have combined for 22 conference championships (with 18 earned by OU) and 33 regional titles and 15 top-three NCAA finishes (including five national championships from the Sooners). Oklahoma and LSU have met 31 times in program history with OU winning the most recent meeting during Semifinal II at the 2021 NCAA Championships.

OU has won the last seven meetings, with five coming in the postseason at the NCAA Championships. The teams have met 13 times in the regular season with the last meeting coming in 2016. The Sooners are 8-5 against the Tigers in regular season competition.

OU has won five of the last eight national championships and finished in the top three in each of the last eight years. The Sooners have claimed 18 conference titles and 14 regional championships, while making 21 NCAA Championship appearances. OU also boasts 17 national champions and 192 All-Americans.

A member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), LSU boasts one of the strongest gymnastics
traditions and fan bases with four top-three NCAA finishes, four conference championships, eight NCAA Finals appearances, 16 individual national titles and 286 All-America honors.

KINDLER VS. THE SEC

Head coach K.J. Kindler has proven the Sooners are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to battling their foes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). In 17 seasons, Kindler is 63-9 against the SEC, including 35-1 since Jan. 26, 2018.

Soon, these teams will be yearly competition as Oklahoma is set to join the SEC for the 2025-26 competition season. For a total of five SEC teams during the regular season, OU earned one victory over SEC opponent No. 5 Auburn last Saturday during the season opener at the Super 16 and will face four more during the season, including No. 10 LSU on Monday, Jan. 16.

THERE'S ONLY ONE

The Sooners registered the best opening weekend score in the nation and season opener victory with their 197.925 at the Super 16 meet in Las Vegas to retain its No. 1 ranking this week.

Oklahoma, which was one of seven teams nationally to reach the 197-mark on opening weekend, is followed in the top five of the rankings by Florida (197.750), California (197.475), Michigan (197.400) and Auburn (197.350). Fellow Big 12 member Denver (196.925) is ranked ninth, while OU's next opponent, LSU, sits at No. 10 with a 196.775.

On the events, the Sooners put up top scores on beam (49.525; tied) and floor (49.525; tied), notched the second-best score on vault (49.425) and the fourth-best on bars (49.450). This was Oklahoma's highest opening-meet score since posting a 198.050 in 2019 and second-highest ever.

THE NATION'S BEST

Seven Sooners earned a total of 12 individual top-25 rankings, with at least one gymnast ranked in the top five on vault, bars, floor and in the all-around. Four out of six OU gymnasts that competed on beam and floor are ranked in the top 25 nationally.

Jordan Bowers notched the nation's best score on vault (9.975) and is ranked second in the all-around (39.650) and 10th in beam (9.925; tied). Audrey Davis ranks fourth on bars (9.950), seventh in the all-around (39.500) and 17th on floor after posting a career-high score of 9.900 last Saturday.

In their collegiate debuts, Ava Siegfeldt and Faith Torrez registered top-20 scores on beam. Siegfeldt is ranked 10th after scoring 9.925 and Torrez posted a 9.900 to rank 14th. Torrez is also tied for the top floor score in the nation with a 9.950.

Junior Katherine LeVasseur is ranked 11th on vault (9.900) and sophomore Danae Fletcher is ranked 16th on bars (9.900). Senior Jenna Dunn is also ranked 14th on beam after scoring 9.900 last Saturday. Fletcher is ranked ninth (9.925) while Bowers and Davis posted 9.900 scores to rank 17th nationally on floor.

DREAMS TO REALITY

Both stories of perseverance, Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy products Jenna Dunn and junior Bell Johnson started off as walk-on athletes for the Sooners and have earned full-ride scholarships to compete for the OU squad this season. Both local products were part of OU's fifth national championship (2022) and a runner-up finish (2021).

Dunn has probably been one of the biggest surprises for the Sooners since her very first start at the Collegiate Challenge in Anaheim, Calif., in 2020, when she was only slated to be the alternate but jumped into the leadoff position on beam and never looked back. As the leadoff, Dunn sets the tone for OU's beam squad with a solid and confident routine highlighted by her triple series (back handspring, back handspring, layout stepout). Competing in all 16 meets in 2022 on beam, Dunn matched a career-high 9.925 and hit 100% of her beam routines.

For the starting floor position, Johnson is a easy pick. She competed in every meet in 2022 as a floor specialist and posted a career-high-tying 9.925 against Texas Woman's. She's the definition of "Sooner born, Sooner bred," as many members of her family graduated from OU, including her parents, Kim and Derrick. This season, she performs an entertaining and upbeat floor routine to music from her favorite artist, Harry Styles.

ROAD WARRIORS

The Sooners will be tested early and often away from home in 2023. On the road, OU will face eight preseason top-20 teams, including five in the top 10. On top of picking up victories against top-10 teams Auburn, Michigan, UCLA at last Saturday's Super 16, OU will travel to Baton Rouge, La., for another big road test against No. 10 LSU on Monday, Jan. 16, inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (PMAC). It will be the first time since 2016 that OU will meet LSU in Baton Rouge.

OU will conclude the month of January with its conference opener at Denver on Sunday, Jan. 29. The Pioneers won their first Big 12 Conference championship in 2021.

The Sooners look to defend their title at the Metroplex Challenge inside the Fort Worth Convention Center on Saturday, Feb. 11. OU will return to the Dallas-Fort Worth area the following weekend for a matchup up against Texas Woman's on Sunday, Feb. 19.

Another tough and last road challenge of the regular season awaits the Sooners in Ann Arbor, Mich. OU will face the No. 4 Wolverines for the second time Monday, March 6. It will be the first time since 2019 for the Sooners to face Michigan inside Crisler Center.

The Big 12 Championship will also be held on podium at West Virginia on Saturday, March 18. The Sooners will be vying for their 14th Big 12 title.

CHALK TALK

The 2023 Oklahoma's roster returns 21 routines from the 2022 squad including eight gymnasts who combined for 20 All-America honors in seniors Olivia Trautman, Ragan Smith and Allie Stern; junior duo Audrey Davis and Katherine LeVasseur; and sophomores Jordan Bowers, Danae Fletcher and Danielle Sievers.
With COVID-19 derailing the end of their sophomore seasons and being granted an extra year of eligibility, Stern and Trautman return for a final season in 2023. A full-scholarship athlete each of the last four years, Stern came back as a walk-on for the 2023 season in her last year of eligibility.
The Sooners will be featured on ESPN networks five times during the season: at LSU (Jan. 16), vs. Utah (Jan. 22), vs. Florida (March 6), at Michigan (March 6) and at Big 12 Championship (March 18).
11 of OU's regular season opponents are ranked in the top 25 of the RoadToNationals standings during opening weekend, including three squads in the top five and eight in the top 10.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS: NO. 10 LSU

The six-time SEC champions (four championships and two regular season) and three-time NCAA runners-up, LSU, enter Monday's competition as one of 11 teams to score a 49.000 or higher on all four events to opening weekend. The Tigers are sixth-ranked on floor (49.375), seventh on vault (49.300) and tied for 10th as a team (196.775).

The program returns experienced routines to the lineup this season with senior duo Kiya Johnson and Alyona Shchennikova, and junior Haleigh Bryant combined for 18 career All-America accolades. Johnson, Bryant and sophomore Aleah Finnegan all competed in the all-around last Friday at then-No. 3 Utah. Bryant and Finnegan are tied for 11th nationally in the all-around and Johnson ranks at No. 18. Finnegan is one of eight gymnasts ranked No. 1 on floor for week one. Known for her dynamic vault (front handspring-front pike half), Bryant is ranked 11th in the nation on that event.

The LSU Gymnastics program made history during the 2022 season as No. 1 in the country in average attendance for the first time in school history. The program averaged 11,691 fans per meet and ended Utah's streak of top-ranked average attendance for every season since 2004. LSU is 302-61-5 all-time at home, which including five-straight years of being undefeated at home from 2014-18.

LOOKING AHEAD

OU opens their home slate Sunday, Jan. 22, at 6:45 p.m. CT against No. 6 Utah inside Lloyd Noble Center. The meet will broadcast nationally on ESPN and season tickets start at just $25 and individual meet tickets are as low as $5, and can be purchased at SoonerSports.com/tickets.