ST. LOUIS — On this magical night for the Sooners, one number rose above the rest. It wasn't three (program national titles), (super) six, or (perfect) 10. When the confetti fell on Chaifetz Arena late Saturday night, it was the number eight that stood tall in coach K.J. Kindler's mind.
Oklahoma, an eight-letter noun, inspired the coach and team for their final meet of the season, their shot at being back-to-back national champions.
“Honestly, I know it sounds crazy,” Kindler said. “You flip an eight on its side and it’s an infinity. Boundless potential. Limitless.”
The Sooners proved their coach right, scoring 198.3875, the highest score ever for any Super Six team.
“I almost felt like I wasn’t here,” Kindler said. “To have that kind of performance from a coaching standpoint, wow. As an athlete, to be in that state of mind and to get your body to do what they got their bodies to do tonight, over and over and over, performance after performance, I don’t think you see that very often. I don’t know that we’ve done it at a national championship before the way we did it tonight.”
One Sooner in particular that pushed her body was freshman Maggie Nichols, who claimed high score on vault (9.9625), and shared the top spot on balance beam (10) and floor (9.9500).
But, according to Kindler, it was senior Chayse Capps who set the tone with a firm dismount on bars and a 9.8875 start. From there, the Sooners only went up.
“Just being able to do that and stick that landing, I kind of just sat there for a second and soaked it in and knew I had done it,’” Capps said. “Seeing all the stuck landings, seeing all the hit release moves and hit handstands, I knew that we just needed to carry that momentum and we had it tonight — we were definitely on and ready to show this world what we had.”
According to junior AJ Jackson, Kindler told the squad they already had it all the morning of the meet.
“(She said) we just had to make sure we did what we normally do in the gym and if we did what we normally do in the gym, (the national title) was the outcome,” Jackson said.
For all her confidence, Kindler said she didn’t know the team had the title until Jackson landed her dismount on vault in the sixth and final rotation of the night.
“To me you cannot count on it until it’s over,” Kindler said. “Anything can happen in those moments in sports. You just hang on and have faith.”
The Sooners proved Kindler's faith wasn't misplaced. OU unknowingly needing a combined 47.6875 on vault to match Utah, who was then in first place. All six gymnasts, one after the other, performed well. Oklahoma blew the Utes — and everyone else — out of the water with a 49.4875 on vault, sealing the National Championship.
“It’s an incredible feeling knowing that it can come down to the last landing, the last vault in this case,” Jackson said.
None of the athletes competing were certain if they had won it until they were told. Some said, though, they had an idea it may be true.
“I knew we were doing so amazing and I had a feeling we were going to take it the whole time,” Nichols said.
After Nichols’ 10 on beam, two other athletes reached perfection: UCLA's Peng-Peng Lee received one on beam and Florida's Alex McMurtry earned hers on bars. Once McMurtry received hers, though, it was already too late — the Sooners had won the National Championship.
"I think we got every drop out of this team that we could have got,” said Capps, who is now a three-time National Champion. “To win again is humbling and we are just so excited to do it again. We had a feeling it was going to be a special night.”
