Senior gymnasts Maggie Nichols, Jade Degouveia and Bre Showers stood with friends and family on the floor of the Lloyd Noble Center on Friday night as OU head coach K.J. Kindler delivered a tribute to all they have accomplished during their time at Oklahoma.
Between them are 111 team victories, a 27-0 record at home, 17 All-American honors, six academic All-American honors, three Big 12 championships, three NCAA regional championships and two NCAA national championships.
No. 1 Oklahoma (16-0, 3-0 Big 12) was its usual dominant self from the start in its 198.100-197.425 win over No. 5 Michigan (12-1, 9-0 Big 10).
Nichols asserted herself early on vault, notching her fourth perfect 10 of the season on the event and setting the tone for OU's night once again.
"Going into vault, my warmup wasn't great," Nichols said. "But I knew that I was feeling good today, and I just wanted to hit my best vault, and I wanted to do a big vault."
OU's star rocked the season-best crowd of over 5,500 in her home arena and proceeded to deliver a consistent all-around effort, earning a 9.95 on the other three events.
Degouveia also impressed on vault with a 9.950, then racked up a 9.875 on bars right after that, and she rode that momentum to a 9.925 on floor, an event she said has dramatically improved in recent weeks.
"Tonight I had a lot of fun," Degouveia said. "It felt good to hit two consecutive routines in a row — hit them and just show that I've built that momentum."
While Nichols and Degouveia made an impact on the scoreboard, Showers made her mark on the sideline, spraying down the uneven bars, distributing heat packs and cheering her heart out as always.
However, she had one last wish on senior night.
"When I met with Bre ... she said, 'I just wish I could compete,'" Kindler said.
While physically unable to perform due to an ACL injury sustained before the start of the season, Showers made her return to the OU lineup on Friday night via the scoreboard, which played a video of one of her signature floor routines at the meet's conclusion.
She was then presented with the Kelly Garrison-Funderburk Gymnast of the Meet Award for her contributions as a teammate.
It was a fitting transition to Kindler's speeches, which wrapped up a night that the trio of seniors will not soon forget.
"It was beautiful," Showers said. "Just the gymnastics, how people competed, how we all came together, really an amazing thing."
But Kindler wasn't just proud of the seniors' final regular season home meet. She also reveled in how they've changed since their first regular season home meet as Sooners.
As Kindler articulated in her speech, they've all had different journeys, and they came to Oklahoma as very different people than they are now, but they've grown to demonstrate the power of togetherness.
"They arrived at OU as three individuals, and through their journey have become one amazing family," Kindler said. "I'm so proud to have been their coach and to have had the opportunity to spend four years with them."
The Sooners are poised to finish the regular season on a high note against No. 11 Minnesota at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 14 in Minneapolis.
