Coming off two straight road meets, the No. 1 Sooners (5-1) came back home and recorded another win against North Carolina 198.150-195.750 Sunday.
The Sooners started the meet on vault scoring a 49.475 with the help of junior Brenna Dowell securing a 9.9 and junior Nicole Lehrmann notching a 9.875. This was just below the team's average on vault, 49.494.
North Carolina started on bars, and while it was able to put together a a steady performance, scoring no lower than a 8.250, it was that exact score that led to the wide gap between the final scores.
Moving to bars, the Sooners were able to beat their team average of 49.475 with exceptional performances from Lehrmann and sophomore Maggie Nichols who both scored a 9.95. Senior Stefani Catour took the event with a 9.9 though, elevating the score to 49.575. This score is now the highest on bars in the NCAA.
Beam showcased what is arguably the Sooners' strongest event with back-to-back 9.9 scores from sophomore Brehanna Showers and Carly Woodard. This was all topped off by Nichols anchored the team and recorded her second straight perfect 10 on beam, raising the crowd to its feet.
The Sooners topped their average on beam as well, scoring a 49.600, before heading to the final event of the evening, floor.
To open up floor, Showers put a 9.9 on the board for the Sooners. Freshman Anastasia Webb and Dowell managed to top that performance, both scoring a 9.95.
"The fact that we beat our average on all but one of our events after last week is a real showing of how much our team wants to win national championships and showcase that they're the best," coach KJ Kindler said.
North Carolina put up high scores as well, hitting 9 and over for every gymnast except for the 8.250 on bars. The Sooners were able to execute on every event slightly better, and the Tar Heels weren't able to keep up with some of the complex routines that the Sooners performed on beam and floor.
Showers took home gymnast of the meet with her performances on vault (9.850), beam (9.900) and floor (9.900).
The Sooners now look forward to Friday when they head to OKC to compete in the Perfect 10 Challenge against Nebraska at 6:45 p.m. CT in the Cox Convention Center.
