Oklahoma Ranked No. 1 in the Nation

Oklahoma Ranked No. 1 in the Nation

Feb 25, 2013 by Jennifer Teitell
Oklahoma Ranked No. 1 in the Nation
 


Undefeated and coming off the highest team score in NCAA women's gymnastics since 2004, the University of Oklahoma is the No. 1 team in the nation in the GymInfo rankings released Monday.

The ranking marks the third week in program history the Sooners have been No. 1. OU also held the top spot for two separate weeks during the 2010 season.

The Sooners' all-time program high team score of 198.375 on Friday against No. 5 UCLA propelled OU to the top spot in the rankings with a team Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 197.322, leaping over Florida's 197.256 average.

Teams were previously ranked according to straight average scores. Monday marks the first week of rankings according to a team's RQS score, calculated by taking a team's six best regular-season-meet scores, of which three must be away, eliminating the highest score, then averaging the remaining five scores. Qualification for NCAA postseason competition is based off of RQS scores.

Oklahoma, the lone undefeated team left in the country with a record of 15-0, maintained its No. 1 beam ranking with a 49.395 average, well ahead of second-place Florida at 49.185. The Sooners are also ranked No. 3 on floor (49.340), No. 3 on bars (49.360) and No. 6 on vault (49.320).

Four Sooners are in the top 20 in the NCAA individual all-around rankings, including three gymnasts in the top 10. Junior Taylor Spears is ranked No. 2 in the nation with an RQS of 39.495 while senior Brie Olson's 39.445 ranks her No. 4 and sophomore Erica Brewer's score of 39.345 comes in at No. 9 overall. Freshman Keeley Kmieciak is also ranked No. 18 with a 39.200 score. No other school has more than two all-arounders ranked in the top 25.

Oklahoma is also the only team in the country to have five different gymnasts ranked in the top 25 in any event, with five ranked on both bars and beam. In the beam rankings, four Sooners occupy the top eight spots, including Spears at No. 1, Olson at No. 3, Brewer at No. 4 and sophomore Lauren Alexander at No. 8 while junior Madison Mooring also ranks No. 17.

On bars, Spears again leads the way ranked No. 7 in the country, followed by Brewer at No. 13, Kmieciak at No. 15, Olson at No. 19 and sophomore Rebecca Clark at No. 24.

Freshman Haley Scaman continued her streak near the top of the floor rankings, coming in at No. 4 this week with a 9.915 RQS. She was joined by Olson, ranked No. 13 at 9.885.

On vault, the freshman duo of Kmieciak and Scaman are the top-ranked Sooners at No. 22 in the nation.

Oklahoma will look to continue its winning streak this Friday, March 1, at 7 p.m. CT when the Sooners will take on TWU in Denton, Texas.