The Oklahoma women’s gymnastics team will open its 2015 season against no. 13 Arkansas in Norman Friday night.
The second ranked Sooners are coming off of the most successful season in program history as they tied Florida to become the sixth school ever to win a national title in women’s gymnastics. As they begin their title defense on Friday though, they will be thinking about anything but their recent championship.
“Our mentality is we’re leaving last year in the past and starting anew, because every year we start new,” senior Erica Brewer said. “We have a new team and new goals. So (there is) definitely more pressure, but we’re trying to keep that in the past.”
The road will not be easy for the Sooners. Their opening meet against thirteenth ranked Arkansas kicks off a season that features competitions against three of the top four teams in the country. Friday night will also present its own challenges as the team’s first meet in eight months.
“It is a little different because you’re getting your feet wet,” coach K.J. Kindler said. “When you’re really out there and it’s really going on you’ve kind of got to get back into the groove of it a little bit.”
Brewer agreed that the first meet is unique.
“There are always those special nerves, because it is the first one and you want to come out pretty hot. I think that we’re ready to show what we’ve been working on,” she said.
Gymnastics may not be one of the bigger sports on campus, but it has been one of the most successful in recent years. As the season gets underway the team is hoping that people recognize that and come out to watch.
“I think our program has grown tremendously in the last seven years,” junior Haley Scaman said, “and I think it would be cool for the students to come out and see a national championship winning team and just get the experience of watching gymnastics and just learn something new.”
As excited as they are to get the season going, the Sooners are aware that this is just the beginning.
“Looking even at last year’s first meet of the year, it’s a very different cast of characters than it was at the end of the year because people develop as the year goes on,” Kindler said. “New people come in, some people come out. So this is just kind of a starting point for us. We need to get out there and kind of make it all click, make it all happen, and then make adjustments from there.”
The meet will start at 6:45 in the Lloyd Noble Center and will air on Fox Sports Oklahoma.
