April 5, 2013

	Maile'ana Kanewa

 

 

No. 2 Oklahoma (21-1) at NCAA Regional
Date & Time	Saturday, April 6 at 4 p.m. CT
Location	Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla.
TV	FOX Sports Southwest+
Friday Presser	SoonerSports.tv
Live Webcast	SoonerSports.tv
Live Results	SoonerSports.com
Game Info	Game Notes (PDF)

NCAA NORMAN REGIONAL
The No. 2 Oklahoma women's gymnastics team earned a No. 1 seed and will host Stanford, Penn State, Washington, Iowa and Southern Utah on Saturday, April 6, at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman at 4 p.m CT. The meet will be televised live on FOX Sports Southwest+ and via live webcast at SoonerSports.tv. The top two teams from the Norman Regional and each of the other five regionals around the country will compete in the NCAA Championships, April 19-21, at UCLA. Oklahoma has advanced to the final weekend of the postseason each of the past nine seasons, including all six under head coach K.J. Kindler.

OKLAHOMA NCAA REGIONAL HISTORY
The Norman Regional is the 16th-straight NCAA postseason appearance in OU program history and the 30th overall. The Sooners have taken the top spot in their Regional each of the past three seasons, including the last time an NCAA Regional was held in Norman in 2011. This is the fourth Regional to be held in Norman, with OU finishing sixth in 1988, second in 2008 and first in 2011 in the previous three meets. Last season in the Champaign Regional, OU scored a 197.025, joining Stanford (196.675) in advancing to the NCAA Championship where the Sooners finished seventh overall.

 

 

 

2013 NCAA Norman Regional Rankings
	Oklahoma	Stanford	Penn St.	Washington	Iowa	SUU
OVERALL
National Rank	2nd	11th	14th	22nd	27th	34th
RQS	197.570	196.710	196.500	195.965	195.600	195.145
Season High	198.375	197.275	197.325	196.625	196.375	196.200
VAULT
National Rank	6th	13th	17th	31st	27th	35th
RQS	49.420	49.255	49.180	48.950	49.020	48.885
Season High	49.525	49.425	49.475	49.125	49.375	49.125
BARS
National Rank	2nd	9th	13th	18th	16th	30th
RQS	49.495	49.280	49.155	49.090	49.115	48.870
Season High	49.575	49.400	49.350	49.200	49.325	49.175
BEAM
National Rank	1st	8th	19th	16th	42nd	34th
RQS	49.430	49.185	49.020	49.070	48.620	48.760
Season High	49.600	49.475	49.300	49.175	48.775	49.125
FLOOR
National Rank	1st	19th	15th	33rd	21st	44th
RQS	49.470	49.190	49.220	49.045	49.140	48.865
Season High	49.675	49.500	49.525	49.250	49.275	49.175

OKLAHOMA WINS 2013 BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
AMES, Iowa - The No. 2 Oklahoma women's gymnastics team won its fifth Big 12 Championship in the last six years Saturday with a score of 197.200, besting No. 25 West Virginia and Iowa State for the title.

OU junior Taylor Spears won the Big 12 all-around title with a score of 39.600 and tied for the individual titles on both bars and beam. Following the meet, Spears was also named the Big 12 Gymnast of the Year.

Oklahoma swept every individual event title and the all-around title outright, becoming the first school in Big 12 history to do so. Freshman Maile'ana Kanewa took the vault title, senior Brie Olson and Spears took bars, sophomore Rebecca Clark and Spears took beam and freshman Haley Scaman won the floor title.

OLSON NAMED AAI AWARD FINALIST
University of Oklahoma gymnast Brie Olson was named one of six finalists for the AAI Award which recognizes the most outstanding senior female gymnast in the country. A native of St. Cloud, Minn., Olson is a three-time All-American for the Sooners who currently ranks in the top 25 nationally in the all-around and three events. The senior currently sits at No. 7 in the country in the all-around in addition to being ranked No. 6 on bars, No. 14 on beam, No. 12 on floor and No. 37 on vault. Olson has tied or set new career highs in every event this season, helping Oklahoma to the No. 1 national ranking multiple weeks this season. Olson tied an OU record and recorded the highest all-around score by any senior in the country this season against No. 5 UCLA, recording a 39.700 in OU's win over the Bruins.

WIN, WIN, WIN
- Oklahoma is 21-1 in 13 meets this season, giving the Sooners the best win percentage and most wins of any team in the country. 
- OU's 19 wins are the most in a regular season in program history.
- The Sooners have defeated numerous ranked teams this season, including currently ranked No. 4 Georgia (twice), No. 7 LSU, No. 6 UCLA, No. 10 Oregon State, No. 11 Stanford, No. 15 Denver, No. 18 Arizona, No. 21 Boise State and No. 22 Washington.
- OU has defeated 13 of the 35 other teams that qualified for an NCAA Regional, including the above mentioned teams and Arizona State, Iowa State, North Carolina and BYU.
- OU won its first 19 contests before falling in its season finale at No. 4 Alabama.
- Under Kindler, Oklahoma is 99-10 (.908) overall against regular season opponents.

FANTASTIC FRESHMEN
- Oklahoma's freshmen have been put into key spots in the lineup on big stages and have risen to the 
occasion this season. 
- Haley Scaman is the Big 12 floor champion, a five-time Big 12 weekly award winner and the top-ranked freshman in the country on floor (No. 3 overall). Scaman has scored a 9.8 or better on 33 of 35 events this season. 
- Keeley Kmieciak has competed in the all-around and is a three-time Big 12 weekly award winner. She has six individual titles this year, including two on bars, three on vault and one on floor. Against UCLA, Kmieciak recorded a 39.650 all-around score, the best score of any freshman in the country.
- Maile'ana Kanewa, the Big 12 vault champion, returned from preseason wrist surgery to compete for the first time this season against UCLA. On her first-career vault, Kanewa scored a 9.925, tying for the event title. She has since won two Big 12 Specialist of the Week awards and three vault titles. 

ALL-AROUND AWESOME 
Three gymnasts have cracked the OU top 10 all-around scores this season and the highest for the Sooners in five years. In addition, Taylor Spears scored 39.600 in two other meets, including the Big 12 Championship where she claimed the Big 12 all-around title. Three gymnasts rank nationally in the all-around, including Spears (No. 6), Brie Olson (No. 12) and Erica Brewer (No. 21). An OU gymnast has won the all-around in 12 of the Sooners' 13 meets this season, with Spears finishing on top seven times, Olson three times and Brewer twice.

Via SoonerSports.com