Sooners bounce back to beat Utes
NORMAN — OU's women's gymnastics team didn't have much time to process a major loss that happened just before the No. 2 Sooners took on No. 3 Utah on Sunday at Lloyd Noble Center.
About 10 minutes into the warmup, freshman vaulter Audrey Lynn suffered a leg injury that ended her season.
The Sooners shook it off and beat the Utes 197.025-196.550.
“I really, honestly, do think my athletes lost their focus a little bit and had some concern, obviously as they should,” OU coach K.J. Kindler said. “It kind of pulled us out of the zone we were trying to be in and from that point forward, it was just kind of a struggle from warm-up on.”
After Lynn's injury, Kindler adjusted not only the vault lineup but also the balance beam and floor exercise lineups.
Lynn, who is from Norman and trained at Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy, tied for first in the vault in last week's season-opening win over Arizona State.
“Just a really dynamic freshman,” Kindler said. “It is a major bummer. You never want that to happen to anybody.”
Lynn's injury wasn't the only one the Sooners suffered this week.
Carly Woodard was injured in Thursday's practice and will miss approximately four weeks.
Before the season, Kindler said depth would be particularly important this season due to COVID-19 protocols increasing the likelihood of needing to adjust lineups quickly.
That's been tested through two meets, not only with the injuries to Lynn and Woodard, but also the injury of Olivia Trautman.
The Sooners trailed after one rotation, but took the lead with a strong performance on t he bars, most notably by a pair of freshman — Audrey Davis and Katherine LeVasseur.
Davis had a 9.900 to win the event.
The Sooners held a 0.1 lead going into the final event and senior Jordan Draper got things going with a 9.875 on the floor exercise.
Before the event, OU assistant Tom Haley had a talk with Draper about the importance of leading off with a strong performance.
“It was definitely an improvement from last week,” Draper said. “Performancewise, energy, just getting the crowd excited and getting the energy up.”
Draper added an important
spark late for the Sooners.
“No one has more energy t han J ordan Draper, and that's not just on the gymnastics floor but in real life,” Kindler said. “We know we can count on Jordan. She just kind of gives you that feeling as a teammate.”
Draper also had a strong bars performance, with a 9.850.
With Trautman missing from that lineup, Draper's importance in the event has been magnified early in the season.
“Impressed with how aggressive she' s being ,” Kindler said. “She's really doing a phenomenal job.”
The Sooners open Big 12 competition Friday at West Virginia.