The 2025 season is set to kick off with a bang for the Oklahoma Sooners women’s gymnastics team. Ranked No. 1 in the nation, the Sooners will open their season at the American Gold Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Classic in Nashville, Tennessee. This meet will see them facing off against No. 17 Auburn, No. 23 Nebraska, and BYU in a highly anticipated podium quad meet.
The event is scheduled for January 4 at 5:15 p.m. CT. This marks the third consecutive year that the Sooners will begin their season with an away podium quad meet, having last opened their season at home in 2022 against Alabama.
Get This Party Started
The 2025 Oklahoma squad is returning with 17 routines and welcoming six incredible newcomers. Under the expert guidance of head coach K.J. Kindler, the Sooners have a stellar record of 25-3 in season openers. The team has not lost their season opening meet since 2016, which speaks volumes about their consistency and preparation.
A League of Her Own
Head coach K.J. Kindler has cemented her place in NCAA history as the only coach to take two different programs to the NCAA Finals. In 2006, Kindler led Iowa State to the Super Six. She has also guided 12 OU teams to the finals in her 19 years in Norman. Kindler is one of just three active head coaches to win an NCAA team title. The other two are Bev Plocki (Michigan, 2021) and Jay Clark (LSU, 2024), but neither has more than one title to their name.
S-E-C You Soon
The 2025 season will be monumental for the Sooners as they transition to a new league: the Southeastern Conference (SEC). OU is no stranger to SEC competition, having faced four league squads in the 2024 regular season. The 2024 season marked a bittersweet end to OU’s time in the Big 12 conference, where they won 15 conference titles, including 14 under Kindler’s leadership.
With Kindler at the helm, the Sooners boast an impressive record of 136-26-1 against SEC opponents.
Look Back At It
The Sooners enter the 2025 season after a heartbreaking end to the 2024 season, finishing sixth at the NCAA Championships. Despite the setback, the team had an outstanding year, going undefeated through regional competition and ending with a 36-2 overall record.
Audrey Davis and Faith Torrez earned individual national championships, with Davis winning on the uneven bars and both sharing the top spot on the balance beam. The Sooners also clinched their third-straight Big 12 Championship with an NCAA scoring record of 198.950, sweeping the event titles.
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To 198…And Beyond
Oklahoma has achieved 75 scores of 198 or better in their program history, with 67 of those since 2016. Remarkably, only 29 of these scores were earned at home, with the remaining 46 achieved at road or neutral site competitions.
Of the road scores, 22 occurred in regional or national competitions, including a 198.3875 at the 2024 NCAA Championship, which tied for the highest NCAA Finals score in history.
In 2024, the Sooners set a national record with 12 scores of 198-plus in a season. They also became the first program to post 11-straight marks of 198-plus, a feat no other school has accomplished.
Club 197
The Sooners have posted a score of 197 or higher in 58 of their last 60 meets. The program’s record of 45-consecutive meets with a 197-plus score was snapped at last year’s NCAA Semifinals.
During this streak, 32 of the 45 meet scores were 198 or higher, showcasing the team’s remarkable consistency and high performance levels.
Scouting the Opposition
The upcoming meet in Nashville will not be a walk in the park for the Sooners, as they face formidable opponents.
Auburn
Auburn opens the season at No. 17 in the WCGA Preseason Coaches Poll. The Tigers advanced to the NCAA Championships last season, where they finished third in the second round of the Berkeley Regional.
This meet will be the first of two encounters between the Sooners and Tigers, with the next one scheduled for conference action in February.
Nebraska
Nebraska begins the 2025 season ranked No. 23 in the preseason poll. The Huskers are coming off a trip to the NCAA Championships, where they also finished third in the second round.
Nebraska brings back 16 returnees, led by First-Team All-Big Ten recipient Emma Spence and Second-Team All-Big Ten member Sophia McClelland.
BYU
BYU enters the 2025 season ranked No. 27 in the preseason poll. A trio of Cougars were named to the All-Big 12 Preseason Team.
Sophomore Brynlee Andersen was named to the Preseason Beam Team, while fifth-year senior Anna Bramblett-Wilde earned a spot on the Preseason Bars Team, and senior Sophie Dudley secured a position on the Preseason Floor Team.
Looking Ahead
After the season opener in Nashville, the Sooners will gear up for a top-five battle against No. 2 LSU, No. 4 California, and No. 5 Utah at the Sprouts Farmer’s Market Collegiate Quad.
This highly anticipated meet will air on ABC on Saturday, January 11, at 2:45 p.m. from the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
For more updates, follow @OU_WGymnastics on Twitter and Instagram, or like Oklahoma Women’s Gymnastics on Facebook.
To stay updated on the Sooners’ journey this season, check out the [official news](https://soonersports.com/news/2025/1/3/womens-gymnastics-no-1-sooners-to-open-season-in-nashville) on their website.
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