The victory made history in the gymnastics world as Oklahoma became the first school in history to win both the women’s and men’s national titles in the same season.
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Last year’s NCAA championship didn’t start so well for UCLA gymnastics. “That’s about coming in and growing as a team and individual beyond gymnastics, every day”, Draghi said.
The Super Six will feature four SEC teams in Florida, LSU, Georgia and Alabama. Florida, the No. 2 seed and last year’s national champion, came in fourth.
Senior leader Bridget Sloan posted a 39.650 over her four performances, a score that topped all performers on the night and would have also won the all-around crown she captured on Friday, and sophomore Alex McMurtry wasn’t far behind with a 39.5625 that was third among all competitors. She had the top all-around score of team finals, 39.65, compared to her 39.70 from Friday. A year ago, the Tigers didn’t qualify for the Super Six.
“We had two weeks to prepare for our next goal”, said Kendig.
The Sooners didn’t even need Haley Scaman’s event-leading 9.95 on floor because she performed the final routine of the night – after Oklahoma had surged to the top of the leaderboard and a large contingent of fans celebrated.
Julianna Cannamela, Sydney Ewing and Sarah Finnegan opened LSU’s finishing vault routine with three straight 9.9 scores. Five OREGON STATE gymnasts have combined to win seven individual national titles in Beaver history.
The entire NCAA Championships will be streamed live through ESPN. Nebraska is the only team qualifier without at least one gymnast from Texas, which has produced Olympic all-around champions Carly Patterson and Nastia Liukin and could have a third this year in Simone Biles.
“I am so excited and so proud of our team”, Gnat said. Price is the only individual title victor from 2015 returning to this year’s championship. The Super Six appearance was OU’s sixth in the last seven seasons and in each of those, OU has now finished within the top three nationally.
Regardless of the teams, though, Sloan said Florida’s biggest competition is itself.
LSU tallied a 49.1250 on bars, 49.3375 on beam, 49.4625 on floor and 49.5250 on vault to end with a 197.450. The team championship will be the final event.
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It was a bitter disappointment for a Utah team that had outperformed “rebuilding” expectations this year – and more bitter still for its senior all-around star Breanna Hughes, who suffered a break in uneven bars and lost her footing on her beam dismount.
