Arkansas gymnasts take show to Fort Worth

FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks gymnastics crew will take a one-week hiatus from their SEC dual-meet schedule to compete towards a tricky subject within the Metroplex Problem in Fort Price at 7:30 tonight.

The College of Arkansas will enter the quad meet working sizzling following the primary back-to-back scores of 197.4 or higher in program historical past.

The No. 16 Razorbacks (2-3) notched a 197.475 to beat LSU earlier than a sellout crowd at Barnhill Enviornment two weeks in the past, then adopted with a 197.4 in a loss to No. 2 Florida in entrance of a school-record crowd of 11,031 at Walton Enviornment.

The competitors on the rostrum on the Fort Price Conference Middle might be robust, because the Razorbacks will face No. 1 Oklahoma (7-0), No. 11 Alabama (3-1) and No. 24 Stanford (6-1). The afternoon session on the venue will characteristic Georgia, Utah and Illinois State.

Fourth-year Arkansas Coach Jordyn Wieber mentioned the crew is rounding right into a degree of consistency after slip-ups on the uneven bars after which the steadiness beam in back-to-back meets price the Razorbacks towards Alabama and Auburn.

“Within the years previous, we’ve scored 197 right here and there on a extremely, actually nice night time however in the present day I might say was a superb night time and never a extremely nice night time,” Wieber mentioned after final week’s efficiency towards Florida. “They usually nonetheless have been 197.4. So I feel it’s actually constructive for the athletes.

“They’re fired up. They’re able to proceed to get higher. … I feel this provides the crew extra confidence now that they’ve confirmed they’ll do it greater than as soon as.”

Arkansas has simply 19 scores of 197 or higher in its historical past, all within the final 14 years, and eight of them have come below Wieber’s steerage.

The Arkansas roster is an fascinating mix of veteran and kids.

Among the many upperclassmen, Kennedy Hambrick, Bailey Lovett, Kiara Gianfagna and Jensen Scalzo are contributing largely as occasion specialists, whereas switch all-around gymnast Norah Flatley has been an enormous addition.

A swath of proficient kids of their first couple of years in this system have been stout the final couple of weeks, led by sophomores Kalyxta Gamaio, Maddie Jones and Leah Smith, redshirt freshmen Cami Weaver and Frankie Worth, and true freshmen like Cally Swaney and Lauren Williams of Rogers.

The defending NCAA champion Sooners have received 4 of the final six titles and present no indicators of slowing down. They’ve scored no decrease than 197.6 in 5 competitions and have surpassed 198 every of the final two weeks.

Oklahoma ranks second within the nation on each occasion, led by all-arounder Jordan Bowers, whose common of 39.625 is sixth within the nation.

Alabama escaped Barnhill with a win on Jan. 13 regardless of scoring simply 196.525 because the Razorbacks had three main errors on the uneven bars. The Crimson Tide are led by all-around gymnasts Makarri Doggette and Luisa Blanco.

Stanford has scored higher than 196.2 solely twice however its solely loss got here towards No. 7 California in a 197.525 to 196.075 setback on Jan. 28.