Oklahoma cruises to sixth NCAA women's gymnastics team title
The Sooners led from start to finish en route to defending their 2022 title while Florida standout Trinity Thomas earned a record-tying 28th perfect 10.0 score.
Artistic Gymnastics
The University of Oklahoma women's gymnastics team captured a sixth national title Saturday (15 April) at the 2023 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships in Ft. Worth, Texas. The win is the squad's second-straight victory.
The Sooners earned a 198.3875, followed by the University of Florida at 198.2375. Utah (197.9375) and LSU (197.525) finished third and fourth, respectively.
"I don't know what I can possibly say to do justice to the performance that they just had, but I will try," said OU head coach K.J. Kindler. "I'm just really proud of the way that they finished off this meet. I couldn't be prouder. As coach, I know our whole staff feels the same way, and these are pretty amazing women."
Trinity Thomas, competing in her fifth season at Florida, earned a perfect 10.0 score on vault. It was the 28th perfect mark of her career, tying the all-time record with UCLA's Jamie Dantzscher and Kentucky's Jenny Hansen.
Rotating in Olympic order, Oklahoma wasted no time - earning a massive 49.5625 score on the vault where all six competitors performed the Yurchenko one-and-a-half. On the uneven bars, five of the six Sooner stuck the landing of their dismounts. Olivia Trautman's 9.950 led the way as they earned a 49.6375 team total on the event.
Oklahoma moved to the pressure-packed balance beam in the third rotation where its two first competitors - Jenna Dunn and Trautman - showed some nerves. But sophomore Jordan Bowers delivered a smooth effort to score 9.9125 in the third spot. Faith Torrez, Audrey Davis and Ragan Smith closed out the rotation in style earning 9.900, 9.950, and 9.900 respectively. Their team total was 49.5125.
Going into the final event, the Sooners led Florida by .188. Ultimately, it proved to be too much to overcome as Oklahoma cemented its grasp on the title with a 49.6750.
"Going to floor, we knew it was tight. Florida's an incredible bar team," said Kindler "We knew they could blow it out of the water and that we really couldn't make an error."
Oklahoma: Building gymnastics dynasty
With their win Saturday, Oklahoma has now claimed six of the last nine NCAA team titles. It's the second time they've won back-to-back crowns, having been national champions in 2016 and 2017.
"I think it's so hard to do back-to-back. So hard," said Kindler. "It was the hardest thing we did that year [2017] because the expectation is there, because you're the favourite and people are expecting [so much.] You put yourself in that position, and you got to be able to handle that."
The athletes, says sophomore Danielle Sievers, tried to keep defending their title out of the minds - but they know the legacy of the program they represent.
"I would say every year is different. We don't come here trying to defend our title," said Sievers. "It's a new team, new year.
"It's not like we're trying to defend," she continued. "We are defending the legacy because this program is just amazing. So we're really grateful just to be a part of this team. But every year is new. Every team is new. So we all just work together to win another national championship."