Beam is often the event in gymnastics that will make or break the outcome of a meet given its slow, but intense nature. Recent American Athletic Award nominee Oklahoma senior Ragan Smith knows this best.
Last season, Smith was the final gymnast to compete for the Sooners in the last rotation of the national championship and she knew the chance to win the program’s fifth title was on the line. The rotation at hand? Beam, the event Smith ended the season ranked first nationally last season. OU was in last after the first rotation and after two strong rotations to battle back, the outcome of Smith’s routine mattered.
With her No. 1-ranked 9.980 National Qualifying Score beam score behind her, she stuck her dismount, saluted the judges and ran toward Oklahoma coach K.J. Kindler in celebration after clinching the 2022 national championship for the Sooners.
Senior Ragan Smith during the meet against Florida, Utah, and Auburn in the 2022 NCAA women's gymnastics championship final on April 16.
“Well, obviously I didn’t know she was going to do that, but we usually have a pretty strong embrace after a great routine.” Kindler said Thursday. “I was lucky I didn’t fall over, honestly, but I was feeling the same thing she was feeling. It was just a magical moment and one I will never forget as a coach.”
Smith, who's used to the spotlight, is again in a large role for the Sooners in 2023. She's ranked No. 9 in the nation on beam and No. 2 in the Big 12 behind teammate Jordan Bowers. She hopes to continue her success against West Virginia at 6:45 p.m. on Friday in Norman.
Longtime gymnastics fans are familiar with Smith’s consistent beam work as the 2020 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year had a successful elite career before arriving at OU. Her accolades include winning the all-around at the 2017 U.S. National Championships and being named an alternate for the 2016 Rio Olympic team.
Smith’s collegiate success thus far has been mostly due to her solid beam work as she’s tied for fifth in program history in perfect 10.0 scores with three. Smith says although it was a transition when moving from her longtime elite career to college, she attributes the coaching staff and her teammates in helping her adjust to life as a student-athlete.
“When I first got here, the whole team experience was different to me,” Smith said. “In elite, I just trained by myself and here I have a whole group of girls to train and be best friends with. It’s like a family. I love having teammates supporting me and vice versa.”
Kindler says it has been a joy watching Smith grow as not only an athlete, but as a person as she has watched Smith learn how to handle relationships and trust other people. As for the athlete part, Kindler says Smith’s work ethic, expectations of herself and standards she sets for herself are “unwavering” and she “gives it her all every day.”
At Texas Woman’s University last week, Kindler’s statement proved to be true, as Smith scored a 9.925 or higher on the three events she competed. Smith also got to compete in front of her family as TWU’s campus is about a 20-minute drive from her hometown of Lewisville, Texas. On beam, Smith tied for second on the event and was once again the final Sooner to compete in the meet.
Besides beam, Smith also competes bars and a cell-phone themed floor routine, but hasn’t competed vault since her sophomore year. Smith also said she plans on using her extra year of eligibility granted from COVID-19 for next season, and hasn’t ruled out competing all-around again.
“I didn’t really get a summer to train (vault) because I was hurt,” Smith said. “I do train vault but I don’t compete it so we’ll see maybe next year.”
“She knows what her position is on that event and it’s to be ready if for some reason our depth depletes,” Kindler said. “I don’t see her in the all-around if we stay healthy, but that is always an unknown and she knows that. What I love about Ragan is she never stops preparing on vault. Even though we haven’t seen her vault (in competition) since sophomore year, she works on vault every week like she is going into the lineup the next week.”
For now, Smith will stick to the three events she does compete and will hope to lead the Sooners to another national championship.
“Just kinda taking each meet by meet,” Smith said. “And progressing and working on those small details, and when we get to nationals, everything will come together.”
This story was edited by Austin Curtright and Colton Sulley.
