The No. 1 Sooners will take on No. 19 California on March 12 in their last regular-season meet before the Big 12 Championship.
The team is coming off of a 197.575 to 197.525 win over Michigan, the smallest margin of victory OU has had this season.
“If we had stuck one less dismount off beam or bars, we would have lost the meet,” head coach KJ Kindler said. “And if Michigan had stuck one more dismount or vault, they would have won the meet.”
The tight match pushed the Sooners but freshman Maggie Nichols responded by recording a perfect 10 on bars, her fifth this season. Nichols now has a 10 on every event this season, making her the ninth collegiate competitor to complete a GymSlam, according to SoonerSports.
“I got the 10 for the mock-meet, so I thought that would be one of the first 10s I would get, but it was the last one, so it was great to finally get that,” Nichols said.
Nichols has been on rest this week and only competed on bars against Michigan. She said she's unsure whether or not she will do the all-around against California, but is still working in the gym.
“I feel like I really helped my team out the best I could,” Nichols said. “Resting really helped my body, I feel really good and not hurting as much. I feel more energized, so that break really helped me a lot.”
Senior Chayse Capps also scored a perfect 10 on the balance beam, the Sooners’ last event for the meet. It was her first this season and second of her career.
“It’s probably the most calm I’ve been on the beam, which is surprising for the situation,” Capps said. “My entire team came over and high-fived me because it was one of the best routines I had done the entire season. ... Everybody had high-fived me, it had all kind of dissipated and then it was back right there with me again (when we knew we could win), it was cool.”
Kindler said the close win was good for the team.
“It was good that they had to fight for it, knowing that if they got into a cat-fight that was that close to not freak out, to not panic,” Kindler said. “In all honesty, sometimes it can be considered a loss in their minds because it was that close.”
The team will be live on the Pac-12 Networks at 4 p.m. CT.
After facing the Bears, the Sooners will head to Frisco, Texas, March 18 to take on No. 8 Denver, No. 22 West Virginia and Iowa State in the Big 12 Championships.
To Kindler, the biggest challenge will be starting the meet on beam.
"It’s kind of nice, it’s two-fold,” she said. “Starting on beam you have to be in control of your emotions because you have all of this pent-up adrenaline and energy that you have to channel. At the same time, it’s ‘beam off my back,’ so I think there’s good and bad to everything.”
