Defending champions, favourites Oklahoma collapse, miss NCAA finals

If one thing during the 2024 NCAA women’s gymnastics season has seemed certain, it’s been the greatness of top-ranked University of Oklahoma Sooners.

The squad, which has won six NCAA team titles in the last decade including back-to-back wins in 2022 and 2023, has been dominant, scoring no lower than 197.7750 all season. They’ve been over 198.000 points for 11 straight competitions coming into competition this week at the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, a run that includes the highest score the sport’s ever seen: 198.950.

But Thursday night (18 April) a stunned silence fell over the Dickie’s Arena crowd as three of the Sooner vaulters fell or nearly did in the opening rotation of the second national semi-final. The squad finished with just a 48.325 total, more than a point off their season average.

Oklahoma rallied, rocking out on the uneven bars to a massive 49.6625 total, but in the third rotation, it all came crashing down.

First, sophomore Ava Siegfeldt came off the balance beam second up on her acrobatic series, putting the pressure on a squad with no room left for error. Then, senior Katherine LeVasseur, competing in the fifth spot, slipped off on a front aerial, ending any chance of a comeback.

In the end, it was Utah (197.9375) and Florida (197.875) finishing first and second to advance to Saturday’s (20 April) national final. OU finished third with a 196.6625, while Alabama, which counted three falls on the balance beam, was fourth at 195.4125.

“I mean, the Sooners are human, absolutely. We have lived in the luxury of success for over a decade, and we have certainly worked for it. But, on any given day, anything can happen, and this is just a testament to that,” OU head coach KJ Kindler said afterward. “This team is one of the most consistent I have ever coached. We haven’t counted a fall the entire year. We counted three today.”

Earlier in the day, Louisiana State University posted a 198.1125 for the top score of the first semi-final. The University of California at Berkeley was second with a 197.7125, completing the four-team finals field. Stanford University (197.075) and the University of Arkansas (196.475) rounded out the results.

In the individual competition, LSU’s Haleigh Bryant captured the all-around title.