The Sooners picked up another Big 12 Conference victory with a 198.025-195.750 win over West Virginia.
The Sooners came out with a strong start on vault, executing three scores of 9.95 from freshman Anastasia Webb, sophomore Maggie Nichols and junior Brenna Dowell. At the end of the first rotation, Oklahoma led 49.550-47.700 hitting just below their season high on vault (49.575).
Dowell showed she was off to a hot start with a 9.925 on bars to answer her 9.95 on vault. Junior Nicole Lehrmann returned with a 9.9 and Nichols finished off bars with a 9.95 to take home the event title on bars for the meet. The Sooners held a narrow lead of 99.025-97.625 after the second rotation.
Oklahoma then moved to beam, an event that required some slight improvement after last week’s meet. Senior Stefani Catour went from falling last week to a 9.825 this week. Lehrmann, who also struggled last week, hit a 9.9 Friday night. Senior Natalie Brown also received a score of 9.9 to match Lehrmann.
“Not competing due to injury was something really hard for me," Brown said of returning from her injury. "I’ve never been through it, and it’s amazing to be back with my teammates doing what I love in my senior season."
Webb, last week’s big 12 newcomer of the week for the fifth time, hit a 9.95 on beam followed by a 9.975 by anchor Nichols.
“Anastasia came in as a freshman and has been performing exceptionally, she’s a great gym partner and we click really well together as teammates," Nichols said. "We have each other’s backs.”
The Sooners tied their second-best score on beam for the season with a 49.600 and led 148.625-146.725 heading to the end of the night, floor.
“I feel like last week was a mental fluke on beam for us," coach KJ Kindler said. "We didn’t perform to our standards last week and being able to rebound off of that successfully is good to see."
In her fourth and final event, Nichols showed out on floor to notch a 9.950 leading the Sooners to another home victory.
Brenna Dowell took home the gymnast of the meet award after putting up strong scores throughout the meet of 9.875 (floor), 9.925 (bars) and 9.950 (vault).
The Sooners will now have their sights set to March 3 when they host Michigan in the Lloyd Noble Center. The Wolverines will pose as another tough competitor against the No. 1 Sooners.
