Kentucky didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to prepare for the Norman regional final. In the pre-meet team meeting, head coach Tim Garrison told his team all he needed from them was what he’d already seen them build to all season.
“[We told them] you just need to be who you are consistently individually and collectively as a group,” he said.
That attitude certainly paid off. The Wildcats set a program record 49.575 on beam in the first rotation. During the second, the leading Sooners moved to beam, where leadoff Jenna Dunn fell, and then Olivia Trautman did as well in the second spot. It was the first time Oklahoma had counted a fall all year, and its lowest rotation score all season.
Garrison was aware of the falls but didn’t think about it much.
“I thought Oklahoma was going to be able to come back and get through anyway,” he said.
During the same rotation, Kentucky had some minor errors on floor but successfully minimized deductions. Garrison thought he saw Jillian Procasky, who was in the corner opposite the beam ready to begin her first pass when Trautman fell, see the error and get distracted for a moment.
She had an off-kilter punch into a front layout but still pulled the salto around and landed well. It was more or less the way the lineup went,…
