The No. 8 Sooners finished sixth of six teams in the first of two qualifying sessions Thursday at the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships in Lincoln, Neb.

Freshman Megan Ferguson was the team’s bright spot, qualifying to the balance beam finals on Saturday.

The Sooners, who needed to place in the top three teams to advance for the first time to the Super Six team final, scored 195.825. Four-time NCAA champion Georgia finished first (197.450), followed by Florida (196.375) and LSU (196.300).

Stanford (196.225) and Penn State (196.100) also failed to advance to Friday’s final.

OU had a rough start on uneven bars, scoring its lowest team total of the day (48.675). The Sooners were forced to count senior Haley DeProspero’s 9.675 when junior Hollie Vise, the 2003 world champion on the event, fell (9.200).

“From the start you could tell we were just a little bit off today,” head coach K.J. Kindler said. “We didn’t warm-up the way we needed to after an outstanding practice session yesterday. I thought that we weren’t quite with it mentally or physically today which is disappointing.”

In the next rotation, OU rebounded on balance beam with 49.125 team total. Ferguson led the Sooners with a 9.900, becoming the school’s first first-team All-American on the event since 2004.

“Our beam squad as a whole was much improved over recent showings,” Kindler said. “They tried to dig us out of a hole after our bad start on bars. I’m very proud of the way Megan Ferguson performed today. For a freshman to make event finals shows a lot about her ability and we’re excited to watch her perform on Saturday.”

OU finished with 48.975 on floor and 49.050 on vault, but were unable to make up enough ground to crack the top three. The competition marked the sixth consecutive championship appearance for OU.