NCAA Title Hunt Begins Thursday in Fort Worth

NORMAN – When the No. 2 Oklahoma women's gymnastics team takes the competition floor this weekend at the NCAA Championship in Fort Worth, Texas, it will begin the quest for a seventh national title. The Sooners will compete in Semifinal I with No. 3 Florida, No. 7 Missouri and No. 11 Alabama with the top two teams advancing to 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 LSU, No. 4 Utah, No. 5 UCLA and No. 8 Michigan State. Thursday's semifinal will air on ESPN2 at 3:30 p.m. CT from Dickies Arena. John Roethlisberger, Sam Peszek and Aly Raisman will be on the call, with Taylor Davis on the floor. New this year is individual team streams on ESPN+ where fans can follow their team throughout the entire meet. Kennedy Baker, Bridget Sloan, Trinity Thomas, Anastasia Webb will be on the call for the individual streams.

THE MORE YOU KNOW

ROTATION ORDER
In semifinal action, the Sooners will begin on bars before rotating beam, floor, vault. If the Sooners and LSU advance out of their respective semifinals, OU will begin on bars in the championship meet. Should OU advance and LSU not advance, OU would begin on beam on day two.

POSTSEASON SUCCESS
Postseason has become a strength of the Sooners under 19-year head coach K.J. Kindler. Since 2010, OU owns 13 seasons in which it has captured a conference (regular season or tournament) and regional championship in the same season, accomplishing the feat in 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2010. The Sooners claimed the 2025 SEC Regular Season Championship before going on to win its 15^th straight regional crown in Seattle, Wash.

The Sooners have advanced to the NCAA Championship 24 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 in eight of nine seasons and won national titles in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023.

WINNING IN WASHINGTON
The Sooners secured their spot at nationals in dominating fashion as they won their 15^th straight regional title, earning a first-place finish at the Seattle Regional. OU posted an incredible 198.450 in the regional final, the highest score in regional competition in the nation.

Faith Torrez won four individual regional titles, taking home the all-around, bars, beam and floor crowns. Jordan Bowers and Audrey Davis shared the bars title with Torrez. In the regional final, Bowers earned three perfect 10s, the second time in her career that she has accomplished the feat. Torrez earned a pair of perfect marks on the weekend with one on beam in the second round and one on floor in the finals.

INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS
In addition to determining the squads competing in Four on the Floor, Thursday's semifinals will serve to crown individual national champions. Scores will be combined from both sessions to determine the winners. OU has had nine gymnasts combine for 21 individual NCAA titles, with 17 coming since 2014. The Sooners boast a pair of individual champions as Audrey Davis (beam, bars) and Faith Torrez (beam) combined for three titles at the 2024 NCAA Championships.

Kelly Garrison (1987, 1988) won a pair of all-around titles and 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 the national title on bars in 2017. Brenna Dowell won a pair of titles on vault (2018) and floor (2019). Maggie Nichols ended her illustrious 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. Olivia Trautman claimed the vault title in 2023.

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 semifinals at Dickies Arena. The Sooners will have a tough semifinal with an all-SEC cast. OU opened SEC competition against Mizzou and is 3-0 against the Tigers this season. The Sooners are 2-0 against both Florida and Alabama, defeating both teams in the regular season and at the SEC Championships. OU faced just one team on the other side of the bracket in 2025, going 1-2 against LSU during the regular season.

ROAD WARRIORS
In the last decade, the Sooners have shown they are a force to be reckoned with away from the friendly confines of Lloyd Noble Center. Since 2015, the Sooners boast a 238-15 record on the road, a 93.9 percent win rate. This includes a 61-6 record at true away competition sites and a 179-9 mark at neutral sites. In 2025, the Sooners are 24-2 in road meets.

CLUB 197
The Sooners have posted a score of 197 or higher in 72 of their last 74 meets. OU is the only team in 2025 to have earned a 197-plus in every meet of the season. 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.

TO 198…AND BEYOND
Oklahoma has totaled 81 scores of 198 or better in program history, including 73 since 2016. Of those 81 scores, only 31 have been earned at home, with 50 coming at road or neutral site competitions. Of the road scores, only 24 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.

CLOUD 9.9
Through the regular season, the Sooners have posted 189 scores of 9.9 or higher. With 360 routines competed, 52.5 percent of routines have scored a 9.9 or higher. OU has put up double-digit marks of 9.9 or higher in 14 of 15 meets, including a season best 18 at Georgia on March 14. On seven occasions, at least 50 percent of OU's routines earned a 9.9 or higher.

AAI AWARD FINALISTS
Jordan Bowers and Audrey Davis have been named two 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. Davis, a fifth-year senior, was named a finalist for the second straight season. Bowers joins Davis in a group of Sooner legends who were finalists including Megan Ferguson (2012), Brie Olson (2013), Taylor Spears (2014), Erica Brewer (2015), Haley Scaman (2016), Chayse Capps (2017), AJ Jackson (2018), Brenna Dowell (2019), Maggie Nichols (2020 – Winner) and Anastasia Webb (2021).
The duo are joined by four additional finalists including Jade Carey (Oregon State), Aleah Finnegan (LSU), Grace McCallum (Utah) and Leanne Wong (Florida).

SOUTH CENTRAL'S BEST
Faith Torrez was named the South Central Region Gymnast of the Year as announced by the WCGA. Torrez has had a breakout junior season, competing the all-around in every meet at a 100 percent hit rate. She earned WCGA All-America honors on all four events and in the all-around, one of just four athletes to achieve the feat this season. Torrez has earned four perfect 10s to bring her career total to five. She has earned three perfect 10s on floor this season and added her first career 10.0 on beam.

The junior leads the Sooners with 33 event titles on the season, including 10 on floor, nine on beam, six on vault, five in the all-around and three on bars. She has received an impressive 42 marks of 9.9 or higher across all events. Torrez ended the regular season as the No. 1 ranked gymnast in the nation on floor, No. 2 in the all-around, No. 3 on beam and vault and No. 16 on bars.

QUICK FLIPS

The Sooners have hit 357 of 360 routines this season for a hit percentage of .991. Six athletes are perfect on the season and of those eight, four have competed in every meet in 2025.
Of the nine athletes who have competed this season, six have won at least one event title and five have won at least two.
Faith Torrez and Jordan Bowers lead the squad with 33 and 23 event titles, respectively. Both athletes own event titles on all four events and in the all-around.
Bars has seen eight different athletes compete at least one routine in 2025. Vault, beam and floor have all had seven athletes compete at least once.

LOOKING AHEAD
The top two placing teams from each semifinal will advance to the championship on Saturday, April 19 at 3 p.m. CT on ABC.