FORT WORTH, Texas — The Oklahoma Sooners had 366 days to stew on their early exit from the 2024 NCAA gymnastics championships and the denial of their quest for a three-peat.
After being inundated with a seemingly never-ending replay of what went wrong and, according to head coach K.J. Kindler, frequent criticism and hate, Oklahoma officially reclaimed its place atop the college gymnastics world by winning the NCAA women’s title Saturday with a 198.0125 final score, 0.4 better than runner-up UCLA.
It marked the Sooners’ third NCAA team title in four years and their seventh since 2014.
While the disappointment from the 2024 season made the victory even sweeter, Kindler insisted the team wasn’t thinking about redemption entering Saturday’s final at Dickies Arena — even if everyone else was.
“Our theme wasn’t redemption this year at all,” Kindler told reporters just moments after the team hoisted the trophy. “We did our best to put it behind us. It just was following us everywhere and so it was almost impossible. Every time you look in the rearview mirror, it was just there.
“And so does it make it sweet? Yes, but this team was capable of this last year. We just failed. And people fail all the time. They fail every day. And we talk…
