All that Tumbles is Gold

BY: CHRIS PLANK

After claiming their 5th National Championship, the Sooners are ranked number one in the preseason and return a loaded roster injected with talented newcomers. As the Sooners position themselves for the move to the SEC, the challenges will continue to grow in preparation for the toughest conference for Women’s Gymnastics in college athletics, but the expectation now is the same today as it has always been under 17-year head coach KJ Kindlerto compete for the sport’s biggest prize.

The Sooners are the favorites to repeat and they are poised to do just that.

COMPLETING THE DRIVE FOR 5

Going into the 2023 season, it’s hard not to look back on the impressive finish to last season. A year after finishing second to Michigan by less than a tenth in 2021, Oklahoma rallied to register a score of 198.2 which was just enough to slip by the Gators and claim the title.

The Sooners found themselves in last place after the floor exercise in the first round. It would have been easy for the Sooners to hang their collective heads and feel that maybe it was just not meant to be. But OU rallied in a big way and never looked back en route to winning the title.

“We caught fire on vault, and I felt like we kept momentum in our favor from that point forward,” Kindler said. “So proud of the way they just kept feeding off each other. I still get chills to this day thinking about how we finished.”

Now that OU has had the chance to celebrate another championship, the goal is straightforward - do it again. Kindler is not worried about focus or desire.

“The summer helps you refocus… since we’re a winter sport, you’re done in April, and you have that time to revel in the moment. When it was time to get back to business in August, everyone was on board,” Kindler said. “We have a good group of women, a lot of leaders on our team, and I don’t think it was difficult for them to refocus on the next step.”

A DOMINATING SENIOR CLASS

As the Sooners prepare for the next step, they do so with a more experienced group than the squad that took home the title last year. It’s a team that has incredible depth and a talented and accomplished senior class.

The Sooners return eight gymnasts who combined for 20 All-American honors, highlighted by seniors Ragan Smith, Olivia Trautman, Allie Stern and Oklahoma native Jenna Dunn.

Smith has been a star since the moment she stepped on campus at the University of Oklahoma. Smith, a Rio Olympic alternate in her first year at the senior elite level, began this Olympic cycle in 2017 by winning the U.S. all-around title. Smith’s margin of victory — 3.4 points — was greater than Simone Biles’ average margin for her four national titles from 2013-16. But an ankle injury led Smith to decide that she was ready to move to college.

“I felt like my time was done in elite,” said Smith. “I really just wanted to move on with my life and everything.”

Smith enrolled at Oklahoma and has been a constant for the Sooners since.

“I didn’t want to let go of elite because it’s been my whole life and my dream,” Smith said at the time. “But at the same time, my mind was telling me to come to college and have fun. I’m glad I made that decision because I love it here.”

Smith was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year during her freshman campaign and has been nothing short of elite for the Sooners during her time in the Crimson and Cream. In fact, she clinched the 2022 National Title for the Sooners, scoring a 9.962 on beam during the final rotation to pull .112 points ahead of the Florida Gators.

Trautman and Stearns are taking advantage of an extra COVID season. When the coronavirus shut down the 2020 sports season, the NCAA allowed an extra year of eligibility for every student athlete. While the shutting down of the post season potentially cost the Sooners a National Championship, it did allow for Trautman and Stearns to return for another year.

Trautman has been a battler, an overcomer. She has been a resilient force for the Oklahoma Sooners during her career.

“Every day you get the same demeanor with her,” Kindler said. “There are no ups, there are no downs. If you’ve got one or the other, you probably know something is going on. She’s very calm, very collected for someone her age.”

Trautman has battled setback after setback but has found a way to still step up in the biggest moments. She has earned All-American honors in three of her four seasons and was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in 2019. The one year she did not earn an All-American honor she scored a perfect ten in the vault. Incredibly, Trautman has achieved this unparalleled success while missing half of the season in three of her four years as a Sooners.

But being on the sidelines only made Trautman better and her focus and passion served as an inspiration to her teammates.

“I think that it does inspire them to take a positive spin on what’s going on, because a lot of times it’s easy to give up,” Kindler said. “With Olivia, she never does that. She’s a great example for the rest of our team.”

Stern has established herself as one of the best vaulters in the country and a leader for the Sooners.

“She does everything right,” Kindler said of Stern. “She is focus and determined and is someone that sets an incredible tone for this team.”

Oklahoma native Jenna Dunn brings the Sooner passion and pride. A graduate of Westmoore High School, Dunn has been a powerhouse on the beam for the Sooners.

“She is all Oklahoma,” Kindler said. “Sooner born, sooner bred… she is all about being a Sooner and is primed for a big season.”

THE NEXT GENERATION

Beyond the talented senior class, the Sooners return a versatile group that has done everything it takes to reach the highest level of college gymnastics.

Jordan Bowers returns after an All-American season on the floor and should factor in all around.

“She grew the most during the season last year,” Kindler said of Bowers. “From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, she was a completely different person - a little more tentative at the beginning of the year and had to talk herself into confidence, at the end of the year she had an abundance of confidence. That elevated her game.”

Returners Danny Sievers, Kat Levasseur, Danae Fletcher and Audrey Davis could all find themselves as competitors in the all-around, a magnification of the depth the Sooners have heading into the season.

“There are so many stars on this team, and they are all really vocal,” Kindler said of her roster. “They all want it their way which is good. We must learn how to calibrate and bring it all together.”

Freshmen Faith Torrez and Ava Siegfeldt could play major roles for the Sooners as well.

“Faith is someone you will hear a lot about, and she will be an all arounder,” Kindler said. “She trained in Chicago and was a USA National Team member. She is incredibly powerful. She does the most difficult skills on beam in our whole lineup.”

Siegfeldt has already proven herself as a gamer with the way she performed in the preseason intrasquad.

“She kicked it up a notch,” Kindler said of Siegfeldt. “What we saw in practice was good. What we saw in the meet was better.”

PRESEASON NUMBER ONE

When the preseason polls were released in December, the rest of the country saw the Sooners lineup and ranked them as the top team in the country heading into the season.

It’s the fifth time in program history that OU has been picked as the No. 1 team, the 13th straight season ranked in the top five nationally to begin the year and the 9th straight season in which the Sooners have been ranked in the preseason top three.

“In all of our history, we’ve only been atop the preseason poll five times,” Kindler said. “In seven out of the last 10 years, we’ve either met or exceeded our preseason rankings. It’s a compliment and it’s still a big deal… but it’s all in your hands.”

MOTIVATION

The Sooners are loaded, so competition will be fierce to even make the lineup. For Kindler, that is incredibly exciting, yet challenging to balance.

“You want a competitive environment in the gym, but you want people to trust one another and understand why choices are made,” Kindler said of her deep roster. “No one wants to be on the sideline, but it elevates them every single day to get better.”

The talent is in place, and concerns over motivation are minimized by one simple message from the fivetime national championship coach… there is still room for more.

“Unless your hands are full. You don’t have enough. Our freshmen only have two rings... there’s plenty of fingers left,” Kindler said.– BSM