National championships are commonplace at The University of Oklahoma. The success, particularly on the football field, has bred an expectation for all athletics at OU. Fans expect championships. Women’s gymnastics is the most recent squad to deliver one.
2014 was a season to remember for the Sooners gymnasts, ending with the crowning of two national champions — Florida and Oklahoma tied for the title with a record setting score of 198.175, making OU just the sixth program ever to win a national title in women’s gymnastics.
The beginning of 2015 looks eerily similar to the end of last season. Two meets into the schedule, the Sooners are tied with Florida for the No. 1 spot in the country. Inside the gym of the only reigning national champions on campus however, the similarities carry no weight.
“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.”
Coach K.J. Kindler, who has been named Big 12 Coach of the Year in six of her eight seasons at Oklahoma, said this season is about moving forward.
“That’s a done deal,” Kindler said. “No one can take that away from you, you know. You’ve just got to move on and try to get another one under your belt and do everything you can to do that.”
So far the Sooners have not shown signs of a championship hangover, taking down No. 13 Arkansas and No. 11 Minnesota to start the season. The schedule does not get any easier from here either. OU has 10 more meets scheduled against teams currently in the top 25, including dates with three of the top four teams in the country.
Kindler said the tough competition helps the team maintain a competitive mindset.
“We’ve got a lot of toughness on our schedule, and I like that. Because week in and week out there’s no rest,” the coach said. “We’ve got to push forward every single meet, we’ve got to get the best out of ourselves every meet. And when they do that, they certainly earn a sense of confidence, win or lose. They learn a lot. So as they’re learning, they’re getting better. And by the end of the year all that experience comes in handy, let me tell you.”
They may be trying to forget last season as they focus on the roadblocks ahead, but one goal remains the same no matter the circumstances.
“It’s always to make it to the national championship,” junior Haley Scaman said.
And while some champions find it hard to match the same motivation that got them to their title Brewer made it clear that the Sooners’ won’t have that issue. Their motivation is built right into last season’s result.
“We definitely want another national championship,” Scaman said. “But we’re striving to get that one alone.”
