Apr 19, 2025, 08:27 PM ET
FORT WORTH, Texas — The Oklahoma Sooners had three hundred and sixty six days to stew on their early exit from the 2024 NCAA gymnastics championships and the denial of their quest for a three-peat.
After being inundated with a seemingly unending replay of what went improper and, in line with head coach Ok.J. Kindler, frequent criticism and hate, Oklahoma formally reclaimed its place atop the school gymnastics world by profitable the NCAA ladies’s title Saturday with a 198.0125 closing rating, 0.4 higher than runner-up UCLA.
It marked the Sooners’ third NCAA workforce title in 4 years and their seventh since 2014.
Whereas the frustration from the 2024 season made the victory even sweeter, Kindler insisted the workforce wasn’t eager about redemption coming into Saturday’s closing at Dickies Area — even when everybody else was.
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“Our theme wasn’t redemption this year at all,” Kindler advised reporters simply moments after the workforce hoisted the trophy. “We did our greatest to place it behind us. It simply was following us in all places and so it was virtually not possible. Each time you look within the rearview mirror, it was simply there.
“And so does it make it sweet? Yes, but this team was capable of this last year. We just failed. And people fail all the time. They fail every day. And we talk about [it] all the time that the glory is in getting back up again.”
Oklahoma opened the meet on stability beam and set the tone for a formidable afternoon. Freshman Lily Pederson, who fell on the occasion throughout the semifinals Thursday, had top-of-the-line performances of her faculty profession with a 9.9375 within the third place. With six gymnasts competing on every occasion and the highest 5 scores counting towards the whole, the Sooners didn’t have to incorporate a rating beneath 9.90. Their 49.6125 put them in a tie with UCLA, which opened on flooring, for the early lead.
After that, the Sooners took management, grabbing a .300 lead over the Bruins on the midway mark, and by no means regarded again.
“We did exactly what we do at the gym every single day,” fifth-year senior Audrey Davis mentioned. “We didn’t change it, we didn’t try and be different. We went out there and we did our gymnastics. We left it all out on the floor, we really did. We ended on empty. And that was a big thing for our team, to really go out there and just do our normal, not to be any different, not to put too much pressure on ourselves [and] to really just enjoy it. And it started on beam. We fricking did that and then we went on and on and on and it was just amazing.”
Oklahoma reclaimed its place atop the school gymnastics world, profitable its third NCAA title in 4 years following final season’s gorgeous early exit. Jerome Miron-Imagn Pictures
By the point Oklahoma had completed its third rotation on vault and additional prolonged its lead, the workforce appeared jovial and was seen dancing whereas ready to rotate to its closing occasion.
The ultimate rotation on uneven bars felt extra like a victory lap. The Sooners waited to formally cheer and react to what that they had achieved after the ultimate scores had been posted on the jumbotron, however their pleasure was palpable and it was clear they knew properly earlier than it was official. Regardless of some sturdy performances by UCLA on beam throughout the fourth rotation, together with a pair of 9.9375 scores by junior Jordan Chiles and senior Emma Malabuyo, the deficit was an excessive amount of for the Bruins to beat.
Whereas not the end result it had needed, UCLA in the end had its finest end result since 2019 with its second-place end. Chiles had the most effective all-around rating within the competitors with a 39.7750 on the day.
Utah initially appeared to complete in third place earlier than a last-minute rating inquiry elevated Missouri’s closing whole. Finally the Tigers completed in third place — this system’s best-ever lead to its first closing look — and Utah resulted in fourth place. Lots of the Purple Rocks, together with star senior Grace McCallum, gave the impression to be crying throughout the trophy presentation.
Utah’s response was a stark distinction to that of Oklahoma, simply a number of ft away. The Sooners led a “Boomer Sooner” chant whereas ready to simply accept their trophy after which danced to DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win” whereas confetti rained down.
Nevertheless it was the 2024 end result that helped propel the workforce to victory.
Oklahoma used it as motivation all through the preseason and all through the common season. Regardless of being ranked No. 1 for a lot of the common season, Kindler and the Sooners referred to themselves as “underdogs” and believed that they had one thing to show. Having fallen within the semifinals final season after recording three uncharacteristic touchdown errors on vault, the workforce’s first occasion of the meet, Oklahoma admitted there was some aid Thursday after advancing, and Kindler mentioned she was grateful “the dragon had been slayed.” She added she by no means once more needed “to see TV footage of Oklahoma falling over and over again on vault.”
With that weight lifted, and maybe with the stunning semifinal elimination of LSU — the defending nationwide champions and maybe Oklahoma’s fiercest rival and menace for the title — the Sooners had been in a position to merely give attention to their performances Saturday afternoon. It was one thing Kindler had mentioned they wanted to determine Thursday after their semifinal.
“After advancing, and we got to today, we were free,” Davis mentioned. “We had no weight on our shoulders. We were free to do our best gymnastics.”
Added senior Jordan Bowers, who gained the person all-around title Thursday, “We were all very present, too. I would say that’s something our coaches have really talked to us about, especially this weekend, [just] being present and not thinking too far ahead or in the past.”
So whereas Kindler and the Sooners may not have been centered on redemption, they achieved it — after which some — with their staggering turnaround from one 12 months in the past.
With its seven workforce championships, Oklahoma strikes right into a tie with UCLA for third all time, trailing solely Georgia (10) and Utah (9). Whereas the Sooners are shedding Davis, Bowers and Danielle Sievers, the workforce ought to stay among the many front-runners to win the title in 2026. They return a number of star underclassmen, together with junior Religion Torrez and Pederson. And Danae Fletcher, a senior who has been unable to compete for the reason that first meet of the 2024 season because of two ACL tears, introduced Saturday she could be coming again for a fifth 12 months.
