Women’s Gym Semifinal

By Charlie Gaasch

Never would have it crossed my mind that I would have to write this article. The Sooners women’s gym team fell in the national title semifinals on Thursday night after a historic fall. The tumble that OU took was not the one fans and experts alike expected from this team as they had been near-perfect all year. The team that dominated with an NCAA all-time scoring record less than four weeks ago got eliminated in embarrassing fashion after having their worst night in years.

The Sooners started on the vault as the number one ranked team in the country and that is where they found themselves facing adversity that they had not confronted all year long. The vault saw Faith Torrez, a mostly consistent gymnast throughout the year, leadoff the tragedy of the night with a 9.325 score. Keira Wells, who has been somewhat inconsistent, followed with a nice performance giving the Sooners a boost of 9.900 points. What followed was perhaps the most stunning score of the night and though it came from Jordan Bowers, a rock for the squad, it was abysmal. She landed, or rather tumbled into a 9.450. Katherine LeVasseur has had one of the most impressive seasons out of the team but unfortunately the night would be disappointing for her as well. She began on vault with a 9.325 score. Hannah Scheible was forced to try and make the most of a shockingly poor vault routine from her teammates and she mustered up a 9.875 with only an anchor to go. Ava Siegfeldt was initially listed to be the anchor but by coaches’ decision after the first five, Audrey Davis would replace. The hope was that Davis, who has been fantastic all around during the season, would deliver hope to the Sooners heading to the bars. Davis did not. She wound up with a score of 9.725 and though it is considerably higher than the other scores, it was nothing near what has become the standard for this team. The vault left the Sooners at the bottom of the leaderboard, a place they had not been all season by more than a whole point.

Oklahoma was tasked with bouncing back from a program worst vault performance dating back to January 4th, 2008, and they did just that. The uneven bars routine that followed ties the Sooners program best for a semifinal in the event. Danielle Sievers stuck her landing, seeing the mat for the first time on the night and received a 9.900 from the judges. Many fans were left wondering why she did not make an appearance on the vault to begin with as she has delivered all year. Next, LeVasseur looked to have returned to form with a 9.950 and Torrez responded to her poor leadoff with a 9.850. Sooner legend, Ragan Smith saw the bars and nailed a twist to get a solid score of a 9.900. Davis returned to the floor and delivered a 9.9625 on her final bars routine for Oklahoma. Bowers also bounced back in her traditional anchor spot on the bars with a score of a 9.950. This remarkable effort left the Sooners in the third-place spot, jumping Alabama and leaving them less than a point away from a final’s qualifying second place spot.

The beam proved to be the end of the line for this team, who have been simply outstanding all year long. A great leadoff by Davis inspired hope for fans with another 9.9625 score. Worries pressed on as Ava Siegfeldt finally saw the spotlight and crumbled off the beam that gave her a 9.2875. Bowers left the beam with a stellar score of a 9.9375 keeping some hope alive despite the Siegfeldt score. Torrez then gave the Sooners a 9.9625 on her beam routine with a good dismount. The hope for a chance at a third straight national championship would meet the end of the road there. While a sixth gymnast allows for one score to be replaced, the final nail in the coffin on the 2024 season was delivered uncharacteristically by LeVasseur with a stunningly terrible score of a 9.1375. Ragan Smith, who has often been perfect on the beam, ended her Sooner career with a 9.950 as she tried to deliver one last time. After the third event, the Sooners would head to the floor 1.300 points shy of the second-place spot, occupied by Florida. This would prove to be a near impossible feat to pull off. If anyone was ever capable of doing so, it should have been the 2024 Oklahoma team.

The floor routines were decent, yet still unlike any event the Sooners had put on display all year long. Audrey Davis took the lead and finished her night on a 9.8875 which was followed by Danielle Sievers who posted an identical score. Ragan Smith ended her legendary career on the floor Thursday with a score of 9.875. She finishes her time in Norman as one of the most accomplished gymnasts to come through the program. Smith had six perfect tens in her senior year and will forever be remembered for the indelible mark she left on the LNC and Sooners fans alike. After Smith, LeVasseur returned to the mats and finished her night with a 9.900, leaving her with two of the best scores on the night for Oklahoma, but also the two worst. Torrez and Bowers finished a saddening night for OU with the same fantastic score of a 9.950. 

Despite a solid final event, Oklahoma fell to both Utah and Florida who will compete for a title on Saturday. The Sooners wound up 1.2125 points short of being able to qualify and though that seems narrow, it simply is and was not. The seemingly inevitable team will not have a chance to defend their back-to-back titles and will have to wait another year to chase their seventh total ring. It has been a magical season, one that did not see a single loss until the final meet. Though it is devastating, I will not forget this year and the memories it provided, and neither should any fans. Missing out on a title in a year of utter dominance is not acceptable at the University of Oklahoma and the standard remains the same. However, each phone call I made home to tell my family about a perfect ten, every chant in the LNC, and every person I got to introduce to the 2024 Sooners women’s gymnastics team is Sooner Magic to me.