NORMAN — The Oklahoma women's gymnastics team has earned the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Championships, the NCAA announced Monday.
The Sooners will be the No. 1 seed in the Lexington Regional, facing No. 8 Missouri, No. 9 Arkansas, No. 16 Kentucky, Ohio State, NC State, Maryland, Central Michigan and Rutgers.
The top 36 teams based on the national qualifying score (NQS) were selected for regional competition. The committee named the top 16 teams and seeded them in the bracket. Seeding determined at the time of selections will be maintained throughout the championship.
Teams 17-36 were placed geographically at one of the four regional sites. Nine teams will compete at each of those four sites, with the top two at each site advancing to Fort Worth, Texas, for the April 16-18 NCAA Championships. The other three NCAA regional sites are Baton Rouge, La., Corvallis, Ore., and Tempe, Ariz.
The Lexington Regional will be held April 2-5, with OU competing in the second round on April 3 against Kentucky, Ohio State, and the winner of the first round (Central Michigan or Rutgers). The regional will have a recovery day on Saturday, April 4, between the second round and finals.
The top two teams and the top all-around competitor (who is not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships. In addition, the top event specialist on each event who is not part of an advancing team or all-around competitor advances to the national championship (in that event only).
The Sooners are currently 23-1-1 on the season and hold an NQS of 197.980. OU will look to earn its 16
th consecutive regional title and 22nd straight NCAA Championships berth. Last weekend, the Sooners finished as the runner-up at the SEC Championships.
OU is no stranger to many of the competitors headed to Lexington, boasting a 7-0 record. OU has faced Missouri and Kentucky twice, along with Arkansas three times in the regular season as fellow SEC foes.
The Sooners will be led into competition by head coach K.J. Kindler, who has guided OU to 15 NCAA regional titles, 17 conference titles and 18 NCAA Championship appearances. Under Kindler, OU has achieved 13 top-three NCAA finishes since 2010 and has won seven national championships.
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