Sooners Open 2026 Season at Sprouts Collegiate Quad

NORMAN — The 2026 Oklahoma girls’s gymnastics season formally begins Saturday on the third annual Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad in West Valley City, Utah. The meet options the top-ranked Sooners towards No. 2 LSU, No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Utah in a podium meet at 3 p.m. CT. Saturday’s meet will air on ABC for the third 12 months in a row.  

This is the fourth consecutive season the place the Sooners will start with a highway meet. The Sooners final opened their season in Norman in 2022 towards Alabama. 

THE BIG 2-0  

The 2026 season marks a milestone for the teaching employees at Oklahoma. Head coach Okay.J Kindler, affiliate head coaches Lou Ball and Tom Haley and athletic coach Jenn Richardson can be celebrating 20 seasons with the Sooners. No teaching employees within the nation has the longevity that this crew has had, or fairly the success.  

Since the arrival of the quartet for the 2007 season, they’ve amassed seven NCAA Championships (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2025), 13 prime three nationwide finishes, 15 straight regional titles, 15 convention championships and greater than 200 All-America honors. The employees is 544-54-2 at OU with a outstanding .911 profitable proportion and coached the staff that holds the NCAA Team Scoring Record.  

Eighteen particular person nationwide championships have been received by Kindler’s athletes and 32 athletes have received convention of the 12 months awards. Three gymnasts have received the Honda Sport Award for Gymnastics and Maggie Nichols claimed the one AAI Award in program historical past in 2020.  

KINDLER NAMED TO OKLAHOMA SPORTS HALL OF FAME 

Head coach Okay.J. Kindler was introduced as a part of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame 2026 class on January 6. Kindler’s official induction into the Hall of Fame will happen in August.  

In 20 years on the helm of Oklahoma girls’s gymnastics, Kindler has elevated the Sooners into one of many sport’s true dynasties. Since her arrival in Norman in 2006, Kindler’s visionary management has produced seven NCAA Championships (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2025), 13 prime three nationwide finishes, 15 straight regional titles, 15 convention championships and greater than 200 All-America honors.  

A four-time National Coach of the Year, Kindler has guided Oklahoma to heights as soon as thought unattainable. Her groups have redefined consistency and excellence, spending whole seasons ranked No. 1, breaking NCAA scoring information and producing particular person nationwide champions.  

Entering her twentieth season at Oklahoma, with 25 seasons as a head coach to her title, Kindler has a collegiate teaching report of 638-105-3 (.857) and holds a report of 544-52-2 (.911) at OU. 

ROAD WARRIORS  

In the final decade, the Sooners have proven they’re a power to be reckoned with away from the pleasant confines of Lloyd Noble Center. Since 2015, the Sooners boast a 244-15 report on the highway, a 94.2 p.c win fee. This features a 61-6 report at true away competitors websites and a 185-9 mark at impartial websites.  

The Sooners can be examined early and sometimes away from the pleasant confines of Lloyd Noble Center, dealing with six prime ten groups in the month of January. One of the largest assessments of the season will come within the season opener because the Sooners face No. 2 LSU, No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Utah. In convention motion, OU will head to No. 3 Florida in February for a troublesome top-three battle.  

LOOK BACK AT IT 

The 2025 season was a 12 months of redemption for the Sooners as they claimed this system’s seventh nationwide title after a 33-2 season.  

Jordan Bowers earned the NCAA All-Around title, the fourth Sooner in program historical past to take action, whereas additionally being named the SEC Gymnast of the Year and Honda Sport Award Winner for Gymnastics. Faith Torrez was the South Central Region Gymnast of the Year and a two-time particular person SEC Champion. Bowers and Audrey Davis had been AAI Award Finalists.  

OU claimed a share of its first common season SEC title with a 7-1 report earlier than ending second on the 2025 SEC Championships. OU claimed its fifteenth consecutive regional title in Seattle, Wash., earlier than taking residence the nationwide championship.  

THE ROAD TO NATIONALS 

The squad will face a number of the hardest competitors within the nation with a schedule that rivals anybody within the nation. The aggressive slate has 12 of OU’s common season opponents ranked within the preseason ballot, together with eight within the prime 10.  

The Sooners will face three of the highest 5 groups within the first meet of the season on the annual Sprouts Farmer’s Market Collegiate Quad. This 12 months’s quad meet options the Sooners alongside No. 2 LSU, No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Utah. This marks the third season in a row that OU will face three prime 5 groups throughout the first two weeks of the season. 

OU welcomes 4 prime 25 groups to Lloyd Noble Center in 2026 with some of the anticipated twin meets of the season slated for Feb. 20 towards No. 2 LSU. Also touring to Norman are No. 8 Alabama, No. 11 Auburn and No. 12 Georgia. 

On the highway, the Sooners face six ranked groups together with 4 preseason prime 10 SEC foes. OU travels to No. 3 Florida, No. 7 Missouri, No. 9 Kentucky, No. 10 Arkansas and No. 14 Michigan and faces No. 18 Arizona on the Metroplex Challenge in Fort Worth Texas. 

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION  

LSU: The 2025 SEC common season and match champions, LSU may even be tasked with changing some large names for 2026 with the departure of Haleigh Bryant, Aleah Finnegan and Sierra Ballard, to call a couple of. The Tigers will start the season ranked No. 2 nationally and have not positioned decrease than No. 6 within the preseason coaches ballot over the past 14 years, additionally being amongst the highest 5 groups within the nation in 13 of their final 14 seasons, relationship again to 2014.  

UCLA: The Bruins are coming off a victory on the Best of the West quad meet on January 3. UCLA posted the highest rating on the weekend with a 196.975 as Jordan Chiles tallied a 39.725 within the all-around to win the all-around title and all 4 occasion titles. Alongside Chiles, UCLA returned All-American Ciena Alipio, all-conference performers Katelyn Rosen and Macy McGowan, and Big Ten All-Championships staff member Mika Webster-Longin whereas welcoming U.S. National Team members in freshmen Nola Matthews, Ashlee Sullivan and Tiana Sumanasekera.  

Utah: Hosting a tri-meet with Iowa and Minnesota, Utah earned a pair of victories because the Red Rocks posted a 196.625 of their season opener. A Utah gymnast received each occasion title, whereas Ella Zirbes received the all-around with a 39.350. Utah returned 18 of 24 routines from final 12 months’s staff, which completed in fourth place on the NCAA Championships. Utah’s roster incorporates three All-Americans: Makenna Smith, Avery Neff, and Zirbes.  

QUICK FLIPS 

• The 2026 squad returns 15 routines from the 2025 nationwide championship staff, together with 9 from sophomores Addison Fatta, Elle Mueller and Lily Pederson.
• Under head coach Okay.J. Kindler, OU is 28-3 all-time in season openers. OU has not misplaced a season opening meet since 2016.
• Faith Torrez is the No. 1 returning athlete within the all-around and on each beam and flooring.
• The Sooners are changing 50 p.c of their routines on each bars and flooring with the departures of Jordan Bowers, Audrey Davis and Dani Sievers. On vault, the Sooners change only one routine in Bowers.

LOOKING AHEAD 

Conference motion will get underway Friday, Jan. 16, because the Sooners head to Columbia, Mo., for a nationwide championship rematch with No. 7 Missouri. This would be the Sooners first journey to Mizzou since 2012 when the squads had been members of the Big 12 Conference.  

FOLLOW THE OKLAHOMA SOONERS  

For updates, comply with @OU_WGymnastics on Twitter and Instagram, or like Oklahoma Women’s Gymnastics on Facebook.