No. 1 Sooners to Open Season in Nashville

NORMAN – The 2025 season officially begins Friday at the American Gold Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Classic in Nashville, Tenn. The meet will feature the top-ranked Oklahoma women's gymnastics team against No. 17 Auburn, No. 23 Nebraska and BYU in a podium quad meet on Jan. 4, at 5:15 p.m. CT.

This is the third year in a row that the Sooners will begin their season with a podium quad meet away from home. The Sooners last opened their season in Norman in 2022 against Alabama.

Date: Saturday, Jan. 4
Time: 5:15 p.m. CT
Opponent: No. 17 Auburn, No. 23 Nebraska, BYU

THE MORE YOU KNOW

GET THIS PARTY STARTED
The 2025 Oklahoma squad returns 17 routines and welcomes six incredible newcomers for the season. Under head coach K.J. Kindler, OU is 25-3 all-time in season openers. The Sooners have not lost their season opening meet since 2016.

A LEAGUE OF HER OWN
Head coach K.J. Kindler is in a league of her own as the only coach in NCAA history to take two different programs to the NCAA Finals. In 2006, Kindler's Iowa State team advanced to the Super Six and she has guided 12 OU teams to the finals in her 19 years in Norman.

Kindler is one of just three active head coaches to win an NCAA team title. Bev Plocki (Michigan, 2021) and Jay Clark (LSU, 2024) are the other two, but neither has more than one title.

S-E-C YOU SOON
The 2025 season will be a monumental one for the Sooners as they compete in a new league: the Southeastern Conference. OU is no stranger to SEC competition, competing against four league squads in the 2024 regular season.

2024 marked a bittersweet end to OU's time in the Big 12 conference. Oklahoma won 15 conference titles, including 14 under head coach K.J. Kindler. With Kindler at the helm, the Sooners are 136-26-1 against SEC opponents.

LOOK BACK AT IT
The Sooners enter 2025 after a heartbreaking end to the 2024 season that resulted in a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. The Sooners were undefeated through regional competition and ended the year with a 36-2 overall record.

Audrey Davis and Faith Torrez earned a trio of individual national championships. Davis was crowned the champion on the uneven bars and the duo shared the top spot on balance beam.

OU won it's third-straight Big 12 Championship with an NCAA scoring record 198.950 as the Sooners swept the event titles. Jordan Bowers claimed four (AA, VT, UB, FX), with a Big 12 record 39.925 in the all-around and perfect 10s on vault, bars and floor. Torrez claimed a share of the floor title with her first career perfect score and Ragan Smith won beam with a 10.0. Bowers claimed Big 12 Gymnast of the Year and Regional Athlete of the Year honors, while Davis was a finalist for the prestigious AAI Award.

TO 198…AND BEYOND
Oklahoma has totaled 75 scores of 198 or better in program history, including 67 since 2016. Of those 75 scores, only 29 have been earned at home, with 46 coming at road or neutral site competitions. Of the road scores, only 22 have occurred in regional or national competitions, including a 198.3875 at the 2024 NCAA Championship, which tied for the highest NCAA Finals score in history. In 2024, the Sooners earned a program and NCAA best 198.950 at the Big 12 Championships.

The Sooners tallied 12 scores of 198-plus in 2024, setting the national record for most scores of 198 in a season. OU held the previous record of 10, achieving the feat in 2018, 2022 and 2023. OU posted 11-straight marks of 198-plus last season, becoming the first program to ever do so. No school has ever posted more than four straight in history. Oklahoma's streak also included nine-straight scores of 198.300+. No other school in NCAA history has posted more than two consecutive scores that high.

CLUB 197
The Sooners have posted a score of 197 or higher in 58 of their last 60 meets. The program record of 45-consecutive meets with a 1987-plus was snapped at last year's NCAA Semifinals. During the streak, 32 of the 45 meet scores were a 198 or higher.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
AUBURN: Auburn opens the season at No. 17 in the WCGA Preseason Coaches Poll. The Tigers advanced to the NCAA Championships, where their season ended with a third-place finish in the second round of the Berkeley Regional. This will be the first of two meetings between the Sooners and Tigers as the two will face off in conference action in February.

NEBRASKA: Nebraska opens the 2025 season at No. 23 in the preseason poll. The Huskers are coming off a trip to the NCAA Championships, where their season concluded with a third-place finish in the second round. Nebraska brings back 16 returnees, led by First-Team All-Big Ten recipient Emma Spence and Second-Team All-Big Ten member Sophia McClelland.

BYU: BYU enters the 2025 season ranked No. 27 in the preseason poll. A trio of Cougars were named to the All-Big 12 Preseason Team Sophomore Brynlee Andersen was named to the Preseason Beam Team, while fifth-year senior Anna Bramblett-Wilde earned a spot on the Preseason Bars Team and senior Sophie Dudley secured a position on the Preseason Floor Team.

LOOKING AHEAD
Up next for the Sooners is a top-five battle against No. 2 LSU, No. 4 California and No. 5 Utah at the Sprouts Farmer's Market Collegiate Quad. The meet will air on ABC on Saturday, Jan. 11, at 2:45 p.m. from the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.