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The postseason is in full swing for the OU gymnastics teams.
The Sooner women travel to Kentucky for NCAA regionals, which begin Friday with the semifinals and conclude Sunday with the finals. Meanwhile, the Sooner men will be at Cal on Saturday for the Mountain Pacific Sport Federation Championship.
Here’s what you need to know heading into this weekend’s competitions.
More: Go inside OU gymnastics' expanded facility where every detail is 'very intentional'
To make nationals, the Sooners will need to finish as one of the top two teams in their five-team semifinal on Friday, then score another top-two finish in the four-team finals on Sunday. That will send them to nationals on Fort Worth, April 16-18.
Top-ranked OU will face No. 16 Kentucky among others in the regional semis while No. 8 Missouri and No. 9 Arkansas likely await in the regional finals.
The MPSF Championship this weekend is not an automatic qualifier for nationals, but the Sooners’ score will be factored into their national qualifying average, or NQA. The teams with the top 12 NQA rankings make the field for nationals.
The regular-season rankings use other averages, but they are only a slight deviation from NQA; OU is currently No. 1 in those rankings.
Sooner coach KJ Kindler believes it could be on vault.
For the first time, the top seed at regionals gets to determine on what apparatus it begins the meet. The Sooners are going with vault, where they not only start all of their home meets but also have a chance to jumpstart their regionals.
“Vault is one of our strongest events,” Kindler said. “We feel like we can start out hot there and kind of sail from that point forward. Momentum is going to be very important in this meet. We feel like we can gain some momentum on that event.
“It's definitely been our strongest event all year, and the only event we're ranked No. 1.”
Nathan Roman on parallel bars and Kelton Christiansen on high bar. Both Sooners are ranked No. 1 on those events, and both have already earned regular-season All-America honors on them.
OU was no doubt disappointed in its slimmest-of-margin runner-up finish to Florida at SEC Championships.
But the Sooners are hopeful heading into regionals for a couple of reasons.
First, they are as healthy as they’ve been in almost a month, and we’re not talking about the aches and pains that come with gymnastics. OU had a nasty bout with viruses and sickness.
“We were really battling illness that last home or that last away meet of the year at Michigan, not even knowing if we would be able to travel to that meet, then going into SECs probably a little depleted physically,” Kindler said. “Everyone is feeling a lot better. I think obviously that that's going to be very helpful in us strategically peaking at the right time.”
Second, finishing second at SECs was a learning experience for a team leaning heavily on freshmen and sophomores. The Sooners started on vault, and Kindler believes they let the adrenaline of the competition get the better of them.
“You do have to control yourself a little bit, and it's very difficult because vault is a full-throttle event,” she said. “You're you're going as hard as you can to do the best executed vault that you can … but we needed to catch a couple landings. That's really what it comes down to.
“If you can get a stick or two with the way that our athletes execute their vaults, it's hard to compare them to anyone else in the country. They're their execution is exceptional, above and beyond, so if they catch a landing, you can be looking at a 9.95 or a 10 every time they do it. Catching a landing can be difficult, but it's also contagious. So if we can get someone in the beginning of that lineup to do that, that will definitely be important.”
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at [email protected]. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU gymnastics vaults into postseason competition, eyes NCAA Championships
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The Sooner women travel to Kentucky for NCAA regionals, which begin Friday with the semifinals and conclude Sunday with the finals. Meanwhile, the Sooner men will be at Cal on Saturday for the Mountain Pacific Sport Federation Championship.
Here’s what you need to know heading into this weekend’s competitions.
More: Go inside OU gymnastics' expanded facility where every detail is 'very intentional'
How does OU women’s gymnastics qualify for nationals?
To make nationals, the Sooners will need to finish as one of the top two teams in their five-team semifinal on Friday, then score another top-two finish in the four-team finals on Sunday. That will send them to nationals on Fort Worth, April 16-18.
Top-ranked OU will face No. 16 Kentucky among others in the regional semis while No. 8 Missouri and No. 9 Arkansas likely await in the regional finals.
How does OU men’s gymnastics qualify for nationals?
The MPSF Championship this weekend is not an automatic qualifier for nationals, but the Sooners’ score will be factored into their national qualifying average, or NQA. The teams with the top 12 NQA rankings make the field for nationals.
The regular-season rankings use other averages, but they are only a slight deviation from NQA; OU is currently No. 1 in those rankings.
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Where will OU women's gymnastics have its biggest advantage?
Sooner coach KJ Kindler believes it could be on vault.
For the first time, the top seed at regionals gets to determine on what apparatus it begins the meet. The Sooners are going with vault, where they not only start all of their home meets but also have a chance to jumpstart their regionals.
“Vault is one of our strongest events,” Kindler said. “We feel like we can start out hot there and kind of sail from that point forward. Momentum is going to be very important in this meet. We feel like we can gain some momentum on that event.
“It's definitely been our strongest event all year, and the only event we're ranked No. 1.”
What OU men's gymnasts should fans keep an eye on?
Nathan Roman on parallel bars and Kelton Christiansen on high bar. Both Sooners are ranked No. 1 on those events, and both have already earned regular-season All-America honors on them.
You must be registered for see images attach
How will OU women's gymnastics bounce back from SECs?
OU was no doubt disappointed in its slimmest-of-margin runner-up finish to Florida at SEC Championships.
But the Sooners are hopeful heading into regionals for a couple of reasons.
First, they are as healthy as they’ve been in almost a month, and we’re not talking about the aches and pains that come with gymnastics. OU had a nasty bout with viruses and sickness.
“We were really battling illness that last home or that last away meet of the year at Michigan, not even knowing if we would be able to travel to that meet, then going into SECs probably a little depleted physically,” Kindler said. “Everyone is feeling a lot better. I think obviously that that's going to be very helpful in us strategically peaking at the right time.”
Second, finishing second at SECs was a learning experience for a team leaning heavily on freshmen and sophomores. The Sooners started on vault, and Kindler believes they let the adrenaline of the competition get the better of them.
“You do have to control yourself a little bit, and it's very difficult because vault is a full-throttle event,” she said. “You're you're going as hard as you can to do the best executed vault that you can … but we needed to catch a couple landings. That's really what it comes down to.
“If you can get a stick or two with the way that our athletes execute their vaults, it's hard to compare them to anyone else in the country. They're their execution is exceptional, above and beyond, so if they catch a landing, you can be looking at a 9.95 or a 10 every time they do it. Catching a landing can be difficult, but it's also contagious. So if we can get someone in the beginning of that lineup to do that, that will definitely be important.”
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at [email protected]. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU gymnastics vaults into postseason competition, eyes NCAA Championships
Continue reading...
