Women's Gymnastics: Sooners to host final home meets this weekend

The No. 2 Oklahoma women’s gymnastics team will host its final two home meets of the season this weekend at Lloyd Noble Center when it takes on No. 16 Arizona on Friday and North Carolina and No. 9 Stanford on Sunday.

The Sooners (16-0) are coming off of a 197.275-195.300 road win over Texas Women’s University last Friday with a sweep of event and all-around titles.

Senior Brie Olson claimed two event titles and tied for first on floor with teammate Lara Albright, while junior Taylor Spears claimed first on beam, and sophomore Erica Brewer earned her second all-around title of the season.

Although the Sooners added another win to their record, OU head coach K.J. Kindler felt it was less than their best. “Even though we had some really wonderful performances, the whole team was never on the same page.” Kindler said.

Oklahoma hopes to pick back up against the Wildcats on Friday and set the tone for a successful weekend.

“Arizona has been much improved this year, and I think from watching their gymnastics that they have some very clean and exciting gymnastics,” Kindler said.

While North Carolina should be an easy victory for Oklahoma, Stanford will present one of the toughest challenges for the Sooners so far this season because they are ranked in the top 10 nationally on three of the four events.

“I think Stanford is phenomenal,” Kindler said. “I think they are definitely starting to peak right now, and you can see that they are a team to watch out for.”

The Sooners are expecting one of the greatest challenges of Sunday’s meet to be on beam. Although Oklahoma is currently No. 1 in the country on the apparatus, Stanford is not far behind at the No. 6 spot and has the capability to make high-scoring performances.

“Beam can set us ahead of a lot of teams because we can potentially score so high on that event,“ Olson said. “If we can go out there and hit our beam, then we have a great chance.”

Sunday’s meet against the Tar Heels and Cardinals will be senior night for the Sooners as they honor three seniors: Olson, Kayla Nowak and Lauren Smith.

“It’s not hard to get inspired for senior night,” Kindler said. “It’s traditionally the highest-scoring night of the team’s year, and I know the seniors are excited.”

Friday’s meet is set for 7:00 p.m., and Sunday’s meet is set for 2:30 p.m.

Cecily Tawney

Cecily is a former staff member of The Oklahoma Daily who worked as Sports Reporter.