Sooners Open 2026 Season at Sprouts Collegiate Quad

NORMAN — The 2026 Oklahoma women's gymnastics season officially begins Saturday at the third annual Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad in West Valley City, Utah. The meet features the top-ranked Sooners against No. 2 LSU, No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Utah in a podium meet at 3 p.m. CT. Saturday's meet will air on ABC for the third year in a row.

This is the fourth consecutive season where the Sooners will begin with a road meet. The Sooners last opened their season in Norman in 2022 against Alabama.

THE BIG 2-0
The 2026 season marks a milestone for the coaching staff at Oklahoma. Head coach K.J Kindler, associate head coaches Lou Ball and Tom Haley and athletic trainer Jenn Richardson will be celebrating 20 seasons with the Sooners. No coaching staff in the nation has the longevity that this crew has had, or quite the success.

Since the arrival of the quartet for the 2007 season, they have amassed seven NCAA Championships (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2025), 13 top three national finishes, 15 straight regional titles, 15 conference championships and more than 200 All-America honors. The staff is 544-54-2 at OU with a remarkable .911 winning percentage and coached the team that holds the NCAA Team Scoring Record.

Eighteen individual national championships have been won by Kindler's athletes and 32 athletes have won conference of the year awards. Three gymnasts have won the Honda Sport Award for Gymnastics and Maggie Nichols claimed the only AAI Award in program history in 2020.

KINDLER NAMED TO OKLAHOMA SPORTS HALL OF FAME
Head coach K.J. Kindler was announced as part of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame 2026 class on January 6. Kindler's official induction into the Hall of Fame will take place in August.

In two decades at the helm of Oklahoma women's gymnastics, Kindler has elevated the Sooners into one of the sport's true dynasties. Since her arrival in Norman in 2006, Kindler's visionary leadership has produced seven NCAA Championships (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2025), 13 top three national finishes, 15 straight regional titles, 15 conference championships and more than 200 All-America honors.

A four-time National Coach of the Year, Kindler has guided Oklahoma to heights once thought unattainable. Her teams have redefined consistency and excellence, spending entire seasons ranked No. 1, breaking NCAA scoring records and producing individual national champions.

Entering her 20th season at Oklahoma, with 25 seasons as a head coach to her name, Kindler has a collegiate coaching record of 638-105-3 (.857) and holds a record of 544-52-2 (.911) at OU.

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 244-15 record on the road, a 94.2 percent win rate. This includes a 61-6 record at true away competition sites and a 185-9 mark at neutral sites.

The Sooners will be tested early and often away from the friendly confines of Lloyd Noble Center, facing six top ten teams in the month of January. One of the biggest tests of the season will come in the season opener as the Sooners face No. 2 LSU, No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Utah. In conference action, OU will head to No. 3 Florida in February for a tough top-three battle.

LOOK BACK AT IT
The 2025 season was a year of redemption for the Sooners as they claimed the program's seventh national title after a 33-2 season.

Jordan Bowers earned the NCAA All-Around title, the fourth Sooner in program history to do so, while also being named the SEC Gymnast of the Year and Honda Sport Award Winner for Gymnastics. Faith Torrez was the South Central Region Gymnast of the Year and a two-time individual SEC Champion. Bowers and Audrey Davis were AAI Award Finalists.

OU claimed a share of its first regular season SEC title with a 7-1 record before finishing second at the 2025 SEC Championships. OU claimed its 15th consecutive regional title in Seattle, Wash., before taking home the national championship.

THE ROAD TO NATIONALS
The squad will face some of the toughest competition in the nation with a schedule that rivals anyone in the country. The competitive slate has 12 of OU's regular season opponents ranked in the preseason poll, including eight in the top 10.

The Sooners will face three of the top five teams in the first meet of the season at the annual Sprouts Farmer's Market Collegiate Quad. This year's quad meet features the Sooners alongside No. 2 LSU, No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Utah. This marks the third season in a row that OU will face three top five teams within the first two weeks of the season.

OU welcomes four top 25 teams to Lloyd Noble Center in 2026 with one of the most anticipated dual meets of the season slated for Feb. 20 against No. 2 LSU. Also traveling to Norman are No. 8 Alabama, No. 11 Auburn and No. 12 Georgia.

On the road, the Sooners face six ranked teams including four preseason top 10 SEC foes. OU travels to No. 3 Florida, No. 7 Missouri, No. 9 Kentucky, No. 10 Arkansas and No. 14 Michigan and faces No. 18 Arizona at the Metroplex Challenge in Fort Worth Texas.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
LSU: The 2025 SEC regular season and tournament champions, LSU will also be tasked with replacing some big names for 2026 with the departure of Haleigh Bryant, Aleah Finnegan and Sierra Ballard, to name a few. The Tigers will begin the season ranked No. 2 nationally and haven't placed lower than No. 6 in the preseason coaches poll over the last 14 years, also being amongst the top five teams in the nation in 13 of their last 14 seasons, dating back to 2014.

UCLA: The Bruins are coming off a victory at the Best of the West quad meet on January 3. UCLA posted the top score on the weekend with a 196.975 as Jordan Chiles tallied a 39.725 in the all-around to win the all-around title and all four event titles. Alongside Chiles, UCLA returned All-American Ciena Alipio, all-conference performers Katelyn Rosen and Macy McGowan, and Big Ten All-Championships team member Mika Webster-Longin while welcoming U.S. National Team members in freshmen Nola Matthews, Ashlee Sullivan and Tiana Sumanasekera.

Utah: Hosting a tri-meet with Iowa and Minnesota, Utah earned a pair of victories as the Red Rocks posted a 196.625 in their season opener. A Utah gymnast won every event title, while Ella Zirbes won the all-around with a 39.350. Utah returned 18 of 24 routines from last year's team, which finished in fourth place at the NCAA Championships. Utah's roster contains three All-Americans: Makenna Smith, Avery Neff, and Zirbes.

QUICK FLIPS

The 2026 squad returns 15 routines from the 2025 national championship team, including nine from sophomores Addison Fatta, Elle Mueller and Lily Pederson.
Under head coach K.J. Kindler, OU is 28-3 all-time in season openers. OU has not lost a season opening meet since 2016.
Faith Torrez is the No. 1 returning athlete in the all-around and on both beam and floor.
The Sooners are replacing 50 percent of their routines on both bars and floor with the departures of Jordan Bowers, Audrey Davis and Dani Sievers. On vault, the Sooners replace just one routine in Bowers.

LOOKING AHEAD
Conference action gets underway Friday, Jan. 16, as the Sooners head to Columbia, Mo., for a national championship rematch with No. 7 Missouri. This will be the Sooners first trip to Mizzou since 2012 when the squads were members of the Big 12 Conference.

FOLLOW THE OKLAHOMA SOONERS

For updates, follow @OU_WGymnastics on Twitter and Instagram, or like Oklahoma Women's Gymnastics on Facebook.

Sooners Open 2026 Season at Sprouts Collegiate Quad

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Jordan Bowers

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Elle Mueller

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Faith Torrez

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Sooners Open 2026 Season at Sprouts Collegiate Quad

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Elle Mueller

Lily Pederson

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