Oklahoma had an absolute dynamite season last year, finishing with the highest Team RQS at 197.895 and remaining undefeated for the entirety of the regular season. After tying with Florida for the NCAA Championship title the prior year, the Sooners were looking to take the title again, this time as the sole winner.

Unfortunately, things didnÂ’t quite work out that way, and a few minor mistakes in Finals set the team back to third place, behind first place Florida and second place Utah. Some claimed that the Sooners peaked too early in the season, while others chalked it down to the pressure of being the undefeated team, and letting this pressure get the best of them.

IÂ’d argue that perhaps it was a little bit of both. The Sooners were arguably at their peak for the entire regular season, as is evidenced by their undefeated status. But they did have a period where they were really on fire - the end of February through the month of March. During this period, the teamÂ’s scores were high on every event - so high that they even ended up dropping a few 9.9s as their low scores. During a meet against Florida on March 6th, the lowest score of the entire meet was a 9.825 on floor.

Regionals

Things started to change at Regionals. The team was still logging great scores, but they werenÂ’t as high as they had been during the regular season. In fact, their team score at Regionals was the same score they got at their first meet of the season against Arkansas - a 197.625. Unfortunately, their team score went down further at Semifinals, mainly due to falls on beam, and they were forced to count a 9.325. Still, they made it through to Super Six.

Super Six

 
So what happened at Super Six? This time, the team performed beautifully on beam. Instead, they had some uncharacteristic errors on bars and floor. While their scores were decent on bars (they dropped a 9.0 from Haley Scaman after a fall), they werenÂ’t your typical Sooner bar scores. The team were used to counting at least two 9.9s or higher on bars, and usually more, but this meet they didnÂ’t get any scores above a 9.875. In a normal meet, this may not be an issue, but in Super Six, when the best teams in the country are competing, every tenth counts. The team also had to count some low scores on floor due to a few tumbling passes that went out of control.

Third place, while an incredibly impressive feat, must have been somewhat devastating for the Sooners, who had performed so brilliantly all season. ThereÂ’s no doubt that the team will come back with incredible determination this year. This determination will be exactly what they need to stay strong all the way through to Super Six. The pressure that they may have felt last year from being the undefeated team, this year will hopefully transform into an intense drive to win.

The Sooners have lost a few of their top performers this season - graduates Erica Brewer, Rebecca Clark, and Haley Sorenson, as well as Brenna Dowell, who is taking the year off to pursue a bid to the Olympics. Clark, Sorenson and Brewer were all important for the beam lineup, with Brewer being the only gymnast in the country to post a perfect 10 on the event in 2015. Brewer also contributed huge scores on bars and floor for the Sooners, and Clark contributed on bars. Dowell, in her freshman season, contributed on three events - vault, bars and floor, and was one the highest scorers for the team on all three.

Filling the gaps

With four of their top competitors gone from the team this season, the Sooners will need to strategize about how to best strengthen their lineups. The biggest areas of concern are bars and beam, where the team has lost three top performers on each event.

On bars, the team previously relied on Dowell, Brewer and Clark for big scores. Sophomore Ali Jackson may be able to fill a gap here. Last season, she primarily competed on the power events, vault and floor, but she did compete bars a couple times and scored well. She also performed bars at the recent Intrasquad and did well apart from falling over on a handstand, which you could tell she was trying hard to hit in a perfect handstand position. Junior Reagan Hemry, who did not compete for the Sooners last year and was a bars alternate in her freshman season, was also seen performing bars at the Intrasquad. ItÂ’s possible that she could be competing for a spot in the lineup this season - her bars are very clean, with pointed toes, perfect handstands, and a nearly stuck dismount at the Intrasquad, scoring a 9.85. Freshman Nicole Lehrmann also performed bars for the Sooners and reportedly scored an impressive 9.825.

On beam, the team will need to replace Brewer, Clark and Sorenson. Scaman, who has previously stuck to three events, performed beam at the Intrasquad. While she had a few wobbles, her performance was quite impressive for her first meet, and it will be exciting if we can potentially see Scaman in the all-around for her senior season. Another potential for the beam lineup is Jackson, who performed a solid routine at the Intrasquad and scored a 9.8. Sophomore Natalie Brown turned out the best performance at the Intrasquad, scoring a 9.95. Brown only competed beam once in her freshman year when she stepped in for an injured Brewer, and she scored a 9.85. Brown may also show up in the floor lineup. She performed a beautiful routine at the Intrasquad to Game of Thrones music, scoring a 9.8. Check out Brown's beautiful beam routine below:

And what about vault?

The Sooners have always scored highly on vault, but that was in the days of 10.0 full twisting Yurchenkos. New rules dictate that the full twisting Yurchenko and the 1 ½ twisting Yurchenko now have start values of 9.95. Scaman, who has scored multiple 10.0s on vault in the past for her full twisting Yurchenko, performed a 1 ½ at the Intrasquad, which is scored out of a 10.0. Jackson also performed a 1 ½, and both gymnasts scored a 9.9 for their vaults. Hunter Price performs a unique vault - front handspring on, front pike with a ½ twist off, a vault that is also out of 10.0. Price only performed twice last season, but she’ll certainly try to make the lineup this season. The Sooners will be solid if they have three vaults starting at 10.0 in their lineup.

This season, it seems that Oklahoma will be looking to use some of their best performers on new events, in addition to welcoming in a few new performers. The team as a whole looked solid at the Intrasquad. Assuming they can keep the momentum up throughout the whole season, and keep their cool under pressure during the important post-season, they will have a great shot at another title.

Related:
Oklahoma Intrasquad Videos
2015-2016 Incoming Freshmen: Oklahoma
Ragan Smith Commits to Oklahoma