After Securing First Spot, Oklahoma NCAA Gymnasts Share Their Winning Tactics

This season the Oklahoma Women’s Gymnastics camp thoroughly displayed the highest form so far. Just two weeks back, the University of Oklahoma squad went to Magness Arena to face the no. 10 Denver pack. The host couldn’t sign in perfectly as the top-seeded gymnastics team withered them away with a score of 198.325- the unrivaled national score till now. Eventually, with Denver, both UCLA and Stanford had to do nothing but accept defeat in that quad meet. This time, another tri-meet is on the calendar for OU gymnastics. 

But the cheered-up pack did one thing in the vicinity- that was releasing a video of their glories this season. At the onset of the tussle, the video gave certain insights into their mindset. 

A jubilant urge is the key factor

On January 31, Oklahoma Women’s Gym’s X-handle dropped a video taking statements from the gymnastics’ stakeholders. The post went ahead with the caption, “The fight never stops”. The video started in the same tone, with HC K. J. Kindler’s voice explaining the reason for the dreamy run. “There’s no wasted day. There’s no day where you shouldn’t be enjoying it. Happy and striving for more”, she could add. Soon after that, the top ranker for the Sooners, Jordan Bowers, explained a little deep. “Just amazing to see all of our Sooner fans cheering us on,… and just seeing everyone in red, it feels amazing to see the support that’s behind us is incredible”, she conceded. 

Eventually, those elements helped the gymnastics team to beat the bunch of Utah, Missouri, Alabama, and LSU in mid-January. However, as per the standing on January 12, 2024, the Sooners had to slip to the no. 2 on the vault as LSU championed there with a narrow margin. But the Sooners camp felt emphatic after the home match against the Denver last Friday. They registered again a top score of 197.775 in front of the guests. Jordan Bowers scored the triple-9 that evening, riding with the home support she mentioned on the video. On that note, the coming days would be important for the No. 1 ranked team right now. 

The unknown challenges for Oklahoma camp

In the home match against Denver, the Oklahoma gymnastics camp trailed in the first half. The vault performance wasn’t in place as the Denver camp thoroughly challenged them on that front. Soon after the match, HC K.J. Kindler opined the same to the media. “I think it was the first time that we were behind this season and they didn’t give up. They kept pushing their way forward and it wasn’t easy,” she said. But eventually, Kindler didn’t miss out on taking a lesson from that stumble. 

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From that perspective, she added, “For us the lesson was, we fight back, you keep fighting, you don’t give up no matter what.” It seemed to be almost on par with the statements she made in the posted video. As of now, Oklahoma Gymnastics’ next endeavor is set for February 2 in Tempe, Arizona. But in that tri-meet, they will have to face the second-ranked team, California, and no. 23 Arizona State University, the host. Till then, the Sooners’ camp would be busy introspecting things. 

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