2017 Big 12 Championship

Oklahoma Looks To Clinch 6th Conference Title At The Big 12 Championship

Oklahoma Looks To Clinch 6th Conference Title At The Big 12 Championship

The No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners are aiming to capture their sixth straight Big 12 Championship title as they take on No. 7 Denver, No. 22 West Virginia, and No. 28 Iowa State on Saturday at Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas.

Mar 15, 2017 by Justine Kelly
Oklahoma Looks To Clinch 6th Conference Title At The Big 12 Championship
The No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners are aiming to capture their sixth straight Big 12 Championship title as they take on No. 7 Denver, No. 22 West Virginia, and No. 28 Iowa State on Saturday, March 18, at Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas.

This weekend marks the start of the postseason around the country as well as the last chance for teams to improve their regional qualifying scores (RQS) before NCAA regional placements.

FloGymnastics will be bringing you LIVE coverage of the Big 12 Championship from Frisco: Be sure to tune in here on Saturday at 4 PM CST to catch all the action. In the meantime, check out our preview below of the top storylines heading into this competition.


CAN OKLAHOMA BREAK 198 AGAIN?


Oklahoma is undoubtedly the favorite to win the Big 12 title. The Sooners have not lost a single meet all season, and they currently stand in first place in the national rankings with a huge 198.000 RQS -- 0.215 points ahead of the second-place team. High difficulty and flawless execution have been the norm across all of their lineups, and OU's lowest score all season (a 197.425) is one that many other teams can't come close to achieving.

As the postseason begins, the Sooners are looking to continue their streak and break the 198-point barrier once more. Oklahoma will face tough competition in the weeks to come, and other teams have broken the 198 mark this season (LSU, UCLA) as well. The Sooners will need to continue to strive for perfection to stay on top. 

Oklahoma is hoping to soon see the return of freshman Maggie Nichols, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the all-around and on floor and is tied for the national lead (with teammate Chayse Capps) on beam. Nichols has been nursing a sore knee and was kept out of competition on February 26 against Texas Woman's, only competed bars on March 4 against Michigan (where she scored a 10.0), and competed bars and beam last weekend against California. See Nichols' beautiful routine from the recent GymQuarters Invite below:




DENVER CONTINUES ITS TREND UP


Denver has had a fantastic season this year, finishing the regular season in the No. 7 spot with an RQS of 197.040, a huge improvement over previous seasons. In 2014, DU was ranked No. 20. 

The Pioneers have had some of their best competitions in the past few weeks, hitting 197.150 against both Ohio State and Boise State. Freshman Maddie Karr has been huge for the team on all four events. She was named Big 12 Conference Gymnast of the Week on Monday, after she tied the sixth-highest all-around score in program history with a 39.625 in the meet against Boise State last Friday. One of Karr's best events is vault, where she is ranked No. 6 in the country.  She competes a big Yurchenko 1 1/2 -- check out her vault below from a meet against Southern Utah last month:





WEST VIRGINIA AND IOWA STATE GETTING SET FOR REGIONALS


Having already qualified for regionals, West Virginia and Iowa State will be looking to fine-tune their postseason preparations at the Big 12 meet against some of the top teams in the country. 

Last weekend, the WVU competed against Florida in Gainesville and put up a solid performance, posting its second-highest score all season -- a 196.100. Junior Zaakira Muhammad is West Virginia's top all-around competitor, and she missed the event title last weekend by just less than a tenth, scoring an impressive 39.200.

Iowa State had its best meet of the season last weekend against Alabama, where it scored a huge 196.600. The Cyclones rely heavily on juniors Kelsey Paz and Haylee Young, who have both competed all-around for ISU all year. Sophomore Meaghan Sievers has also competed all-around for the team in a few competitions recently. Young and Sievers tallied an impressive 1-2 finish in the all-around last weekend.


Related:
FloSports To Live-Stream Big 12 Championships In Four Winter Sports In 2017


How To Watch

ON TV: Now available on Roku and Apple TV 4
STREAMING: Available only on FloSlam for $20 monthly or $150 yearly. A yearly FloPRO subscription provides access to ALL FloSports sites. SIGN UP HERE.


Join The Conversation On Social

• Follow us on Twitter
• Follow us on Instagram
• Follow us on Facebook

Archived Competition Footage

During the weekend, archived footage of all competitive routines will be stored in a video library for FloPRO subscribers to watch for the duration of their subscription.


Stay up-to-date in the gymnastics world!

Sign up below for the FloGymnastics Newsletter and get updates on news, videos, results, rankings, live events, and more.