FORT WORTH, Tex. — Oklahoma, the most dominant NCAA women’s gymnastics team this season and perhaps one of the best in the sport’s history, did not advance out of the national semifinals after a stunning series of errors Thursday night.
Oklahoma
In stunning collapse, Oklahoma gymnastics fails to advance to NCAA final
“This was character-building for this team,” Oklahoma Coach K.J. Kindler said afterward on the ESPN broadcast. “They fought back hard. It was emotional. I give them all the credit for gutting it out through the whole end of it. It was tough.”
The Sooners’ unraveling began at the start. On vault, the Sooners’ first apparatus of the evening, three Oklahoma gymnasts had major mistakes. Faith Torrez, the first gymnast to compete, fell on her 1½-twisting vault, then Jordan Bowers and Katherine LeVasseur barely stayed on their feet with multiple deep steps backward on the same skill. Teams can only drop one score per apparatus so two of those low marks (9.45 and 9.375) factored into the Sooners’ total.
From then on, Oklahoma’s chances of a comeback were slim and probably would have required major mistakes from other teams. Alabama had a meltdown on beam with four falls, but Utah (197.9375 final score) and Florida (197.875) held steady. The Sooners’ hopes evaporated in the third rotation when LeVasseur and Ava Siegfeldt fell during their beam routines.
“They were trying to put everything into it, but at the same time, the emotions, I think, were taking over a little bit,” Kindler said of her team’s response to the early mistakes on vault.
Oklahoma may have been able to weather its errors on the beam, especially with the other four gymnasts scoring a 9.9375 or higher, if not for the disastrous start on vault.
In that first rotation, Oklahoma tallied a 48.325, more than a point lower than the majority of the team’s showings on that apparatus this season. The Sooners hadn’t scored that low on any apparatus since January 2021, and since 2012 Oklahoma had previously struggled that much on only two occasions.
The hallmark of this Oklahoma team had been its consistency, which makes Thursday’s disappointing showing all the more jarring. Before this competition, Oklahoma hadn’t scored lower than a 197.775 all season. Several hours before the Sooners’ session began, LSU Coach Jay Clark called Oklahoma the “prohibitive favorite” to win the final.
The Sooners have notched 11 of the top 20 scores in the country this season, according to Road to Nationals, the website that maintains all NCAA gymnastics scores. That’s the most scores in the top 20 for any team since 1998, when Road to Nationals began recording data.
The Sooners’ extraordinary dominance made them appear unstoppable. With a successful showing here en route to another national title, this Oklahoma squad may have been considered the greatest NCAA gymnastics team ever. But now, despite their accomplishments before this weekend, the Sooners will be remembered as the juggernaut that finished with a shocking collapse.
PUTNAM CITY, Okla. –
Putnam City West High School will shift to virtual learning on Tuesday after an incident involving two students prompted an investigation by the district and Oklahoma City police, according to Putnam City Schools.
District officials said administrators were alerted near the end of the school day Monday to an altercation involving two students in the school’s arena area.
Officials said the students left campus, and the case was turned over to Putnam City Campus Police and the Oklahoma City Police Department for investigation.
District officials said no students or staff were harmed and there is no ongoing safety threat related to the incident.
What we know
Putnam City West sent the following email to all families and staff at the school:
All PCW students and staff will transition to virtual learning for Tuesday, April 21st.
Today, an isolated serious incident involving two students occurred on school grounds. Near the end of the school day, administrators were alerted to an altercation between two students in the arena area. The individuals involved quickly left campus, prompting an initial fact-finding response by school administrators before the matter was turned over to Putnam City Campus Police and the Oklahoma City Police Department for further investigation. Because this is an active investigation involving students, no further information will be released at this time.
We understand this information may be concerning to students, staff, and families. Please know we are committed to maintaining a safe, secure, and positive learning environment for all students. At Putnam City Schools, student and staff safety remains our highest priority. Therefore, out of an abundance of caution and to allow for a thorough investigation, all PCW students and staff will transition to virtual learning for Tuesday, April 21st. Students will need to check Google Classroom for updates from teachers.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support of PC West.
Putnam City Schools
All students and staff at Putnam City West will transition to virtual learning on Tuesday, April 21, while investigators continue their work, according to the district.
Students were told to check Google Classroom for instructions from teachers.
The district said it is withholding additional details because the case involves students and remains under investigation.
School officials have not said what triggered the incident or whether any arrests have been made.
This is a developing story. Updates will be added as more information becomes available.
TULSA, OKLA (KTUL) — A new program in Oklahoma is giving adults another way to finish high school by allowing them to use past credits and test scores to earn a diploma, an option officials say could help thousands of people and strengthen the state’s workforce.
For years, adults in Oklahoma who did not finish high school largely had one main option: earning a GED. Now, Oklahoma CareerTech is rolling out the Career Readiness Diploma, a pathway designed to build on what students have already completed rather than requiring them to start over.
“So in Oklahoma right now, if you look at the demographics, we have about 279,000 people in our state without a high school diploma. So it’s almost 10% of our population doesn’t have a high school diploma,” said Lance Allee, an adult education and family literacy specialist with Oklahoma CareerTech.
Allee said the program allows adults to apply previously earned high school credit and combine different assessment scores into a single record to qualify for a diploma.
“It allows the student to use previously earned high school credit. So, it’s kind of like a portfolio where you can take multiple assessment scores and put them into one portfolio to get your high school diploma,” Allee said.
The program is open to adults 21 and older. In some cases, officials said, participants can finish in just weeks, depending on how many credits they already have.
CareerTech officials say the program is also aimed at improving job prospects for individuals while helping Oklahoma remain competitive when attracting employers.
“When you’re a company and you’re looking at moving into Oklahoma, you look at the demographics and say, is there a workforce there that we can employ? And you say, well, about 10% of the population doesn’t have a diploma, they may start looking at states that surround us. So, we definitely want to get as many diplomas out there as we can,” Allee said.
The program started issuing diplomas in recent weeks, and officials said dozens more people are already in the process. For more information or to sign up click here.
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NORMAN — Cord Rager’s return comes at a pivotal time for Skip Johnson’s Oklahoma Sooners. Not only do they get their day three starter back in time for big road matchups against Auburn and Arkansas on the horizon, but the Sooners pitching strength, their rotational depth, is primed and ready for the test.
The freshman lefty finished with eight strikeouts and only gave up one hit in only 65 pitches before his day ended in the sixth.
No. 14 Oklahoma earn its first conference sweep of the season, defeating Missouri 8-4. It was OU’s fourth conference series win.
Oklahoma (27-12, 10-8) put their best foot forward as they turn the page to the meat of their schedule where they will do battle against No. 13, No. 20 and No. 16 over the next three weeks — two of those series’ on the road.
Four runs in five hits in the second got things rolling for the Sooners.
Camden Johnson continued his brilliant play of late with a triple in the second. This came after a Brenden Brock solo home run to put OU up 1-0. Deiten LaChance grounded out to short but scored Johnson. Dasan Harris and and Nolan Stevens each found home before the inning ended.
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OU found fortune from the plate again in the fourth. Four runs off of four hits highlighted by a three-run home run by Johnson put Oklahoma up 8-0. It was Johnson’s seventh home run of the season, second on the team behind Brock’s nine.
Trent Collier got the nod in the sixth to relieve Rager.
In the seventh, Missouri finally got on the board for the first time since the ninth inning of Friday night’s Sooner victory. Cam Durnin hit a solo shot — his fourht of the season — to make the score 8-1 in favor of the home team.
The Tigers got their third hit of the game shortly after. From there, Collier’s short day was done. Gavyn Jones came on to relieve
LaChance missed a home run by inches when Tiger center fielder Kaden Peer made a leaping catch, jumping into the fence.
In the eighth, the Tigers continued to chip away. With bases loaded, Blaze Ward hit a basehit to score two Missouri base runners. OU led 8-3 heading into the final inning.
Harris led the Sooners with three hits. His day was accented by an RBI, stolen base and a run.
Oklahoma will travel to Auburn to take on the No. 13 Tigers for a three game series starting on Friday. Before that, they will host Oral Roberts for a midweek game at Kimrey Family Stadium in Norman. The Sooners won 4-0 against ORU earlier this season.
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