S P O RT S
BY: CHRIS PLANK
National Champions
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Sooner Women win 4th Title in Last 6 Years
he Oklahoma Sooners women’s gymnastics team had just won the national championship, as head coach K.J. Kindler entered the press conference room with three athletes who took seats marked with their name. The rest of the Sooners filed in after them, 13 other student athletes. “They asked me who should come in here, and I said everybody,” she said. “And the reason I said that is because it has been quite a journey this year, and there’s not one person who was not working their butt off contributing in every single way.” Team effort helped the Sooners overcome injury and life changing tragedy to win its fourth national championship in women’s gymnastics. “We were faced with adversity from beginning to end, and I know it looks like it might’ve looked easy from the outside—we were undefeated, we were ranked No. 1—but we were bat-
30 | May 2019
tling the entire time and every week was a gigantic challenge,” Sooners coach K.J. Kindler said. The Sooners posted a 198.3375 in the Four on the Floor to claim the national title in Fort Worth. The Sooners set a solid tone on Friday night during the national semi-finals. With the new post season format, only four teams advance to compete for the national championship. Oklahoma was able to advance as a team, but also garnered some incredible individual accomplishments. Despite having not competed in the all-around since on Jan. 11, junior Maggie Nichols won the all-around title for the second straight season. “It was kind of disappointing not to do all-around every meet this year,” Nichols said. “I was really confident in myself and I knew I could hit my routines. I just wanted to go out there and help my team advance tonight, too.”
Six Sooners placed in the top-eight in their events to claim All-American status. Brenna Dowell clinched her second career NCAA title by scoring 9.950 on floor, tying Alicia Boren (Florida), Lynnzee Brown (Denver) and Kyla Ross (UCLA). As a team, OU totaled 197.8500 to beat second-place Denver (197.0375). The Sooners’ score was the highest among teams that advanced to the finals. But the Sooners knew they could be better and they were. OU took a lead in the first rotation with a 49.450 on bars and never looked back, recording three straight scores of 49.600 or better with a 49.6125 on beam, a 49.6500 on floor and a 49.625 on vault to cap the victory. The Sooners’ 198.3375 is the second-highest total in NCAA history. The Sooners now hold the top two scores with a 198.3875 set in 2017. “At regionals, we were lights out both nights. It’s what we do every single
