No. 1 Oklahoma will host the NCAA Norman regional at the Lloyd Noble Center starting Thursday for the second consecutive season.
OU will first compete at 7 p.m. Thursday against No. 16 Ohio State, Arkansas and the winner of Wednesday’s play-in round featuring Ball State and NC State.
Sooners coach K.J. Kindler said the opportunity to host a regional is an honor as there is a long process in submitting a bid to host one.
“We’ve known this was coming for a long time,” Kindler said. “We also know we won’t be hosting for at least four more years, so it’s an unusual moment. It’s special, special not only for these women here and the student-athletes, but for all our fans who have the opportunity to come and see this kind of an event with this level of talent.
“Seven teams in the top 25, … nine great teams, some really, really great gymnastics.”
Teams must go through a lengthy bid process years in advance to prove they have the facilities and resources to host a regional and can’t rebid for four more years. Oklahoma wasn’t supposed to host last year but stepped in at the last minute when Illinois was unable to host.
The meet will also be the last time injury-riddled fifth-year senior Olivia Trautman competes in the Lloyd Noble Center. Trautman has suffered two left heel fractures and has undergone two knee surgeries on the same leg throughout her collegiate career, but her last was her worst, as doctors recommended her not to return for this season.
“Well this is actually my first injury where they told me I should be done,” Trautman said. “In the past, that never crossed my mind, I always knew that I wanted to come back and so when they first told me this year I was honestly shocked. I was like, ‘What is this? What is happening?’”
Fifth year Olivia Trautman during the meet against Florida on Mar. 3.
However, the Champlin, Minnesota, product made a full comeback and says her body is feeling great. She has thrived in her fifth season, either matching or scoring new career-highs on the three events she has competed in.
“It means so much,” Trautman said. “It’s super special competing in front of the Sooner fans so just that one more time to put an exclamation point on my whole entire career, I’m just super excited and super blessed that we get to host.”
Trautman had a stellar performance at the Big 12 Championship, scoring a 9.950 on her three events and winning the Big 12 title on vault and bars. She also contributed to the 49.800 beam program record. Davis too was part of the beam rotation and wants her team to continue its momentum on Thursday.
“Being able to show everybody what we’re made of is something really special to us,” Davis said. “So having that many people in the crowd just makes it even better and it makes us even better.”
After Big 12s, Kindler said she “couldn’t have been more pleased as a coach” with her team’s performance and she believes her gymnasts are ready for the back-to-back competition days both regionals and nationals employ. With that in mind, training plans have been slightly changed.
“We’ve done a lot with tapering down this week and not putting too many numbers in this week so that we can be ready for back-to-back weeks,” Kindler said. “Something we put a lot of importance on is how we handle that day in the middle and then of course how we prepare for the first (day) and then the second … one day at a time.”
Oklahoma must finish in the top two on Thursday to advance to Saturday’s final where the top two will move on to the national championships' semifinals, held in Fort Worth.
This story was edited by Austin Curtright and Colton Sulley. Ansley Chambers copy edited this story.
