No. 1 OU women’s gymnastics (32-1-1) won the NCAA women’s gymnastics semifinals on Thursday, defeating No. 13 Minnesota (27-9), No. 4 UCLA (19-4) and No. 9 Arkansas (12-17-1) by a score of 198.300-197.4625-197.2750-196.9375.
The Sooners led from start to finish, taking the lead during their first rotation on vault and maintaining it for the rest of the meet. OU posted the highest scores of the meet on vault, bars, and beam, and took second behind UCLA on floor.
Here are key takeaways:
Vault dominance
The Sooners opened their national semifinals with their highest vault score of the season.
OU, ranked No. 1 on vault during the regular season, began nationals with a 49.750, tying its highest score in any event this season. Junior Keira Wells led the Sooners both as their first gymnast and their highest scorer, with a career high of 9.9750. Junior Hannah Scheible and sophomore Lily Pederson each followed with 9.95.
IT'S A 9.9750 FOR KEI ‼️🎥 | ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/F2Akp0AScA
— Oklahoma Women's Gym (@OU_WGymnastics) April 17, 2026
Individual champions
OU had two gymnasts win individual national championships during the meet.
Wells won the vault national championship with her 9.975 to lead off the meet. Senior Faith Torrez won the all-around title in her first all-around performance of the season, clinching it with a 9.95 on her first floor routine of the season. She replaced sophomore and regular all-arounder Addison Fatta on vault and floor, who had a hand injury and only competed on beam during the meet.
WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE!!!Faith earns a 9.9500 to anchor floor ‼️ pic.twitter.com/md6oMdHcUl
— Oklahoma Women's Gym (@OU_WGymnastics) April 17, 2026
Championship preview
The Sooners, along with second-place finishers Minnesota, will advance to face No. 2 Louisiana State University and No. 3 Florida in the national championship.
Against stiff competition, OU will look to win its fourth national championship in the last five years. The only blemishes on OU’s record come from a Southeastern Conference Championship loss to Florida and a tie to open the season against LSU.
While the Sooners are familiar with conference rivals LSU and Florida, they’re less familiar with Minnesota, which will be making its first-ever championship appearance after upsetting Utah, UCLA, and Arkansas.
The championship meet will take place at 3 p.m. Saturday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on ABC.
This story was edited by Laurie Jones.
