Sooners begin hunt for third straight title in Las Vegas
Jan. 4—Since the NCAA introduced women's gymnastics in 1982, just seven programs have been able to reach the mountain top.
Still, the six-time national champion Sooners have an opportunity to accomplish something that's only happened three other times. Oklahoma enters the season ranked No. 1 and is poised to make a run for its third straight national title.
Florida last completed a three-peat from 2013-15. Before that, Georgia won five straight titles from 2005-09 and Utah dominated the early years of the sports' history winning each of the first five national titles.
The Sooners went back-to-back in 2016 and 2017, but finished as the runner-ups in the 2018 national championship in St. Louis.
They return 13 gymnasts from last year's team and a quartet of key seniors in Ragan Smith, Audrey Davis, Katherine LeVasseur and Bell Johnson, when they open their season on Friday in Las Vegas.
The Sooners will compete in the second session of the Mean Girls Super 16 Gymnastics Championship against No. 6 Michigan, No. 9 Kentucky and No. 11 Michigan State on Friday at 9 p.m. The meet will be televised on the Mean Girls Super 16 YouTube page.
It's just the beginning of a tough 2023 schedule in the Sooners' final season in the Big 12. The only team in the preseason top-10 that the Sooners won't face at some point this season is No. 2 Florida.
The Sooners will compete in four nationally televised meets this season, starting with the Inaugural Sprouts Farmer's Market Collegiate Quad on Jan. 13.
They'll host BYU, Utah State and Texas Woman's University in their first home meet on Feb. 9.
In addition to the team's returning talent, the Sooners have added three high school recruits and a transfer during the offseason. Soraya Hawthorne spent four seasons at Georgia competing on vault, beam and floor.
The Sooners already had a stacked vault lineup with LeVasseur earning four perfect 10's in the event last season and her second all-american honor.
Smith was allowed a fifth season due to the COVID-shortened 2020 season and is returning to add to her prolific college career. She's a nine-time all-american with five perfect 10's all on the balance beam.
The Sooners have been ranked in the top-10 nationally heading into every season since head coach K.J. Kindler arrived in 2007. They've made it to the NCAA Finals in 12 of her 18 years.
Tarik Masri is the sports editor for The Transcript covering OU athletics and area sports. You can reach him by emailing tarik@normantranscript.com
