After Huge Win at LSU, Oklahoma Gymnast Earns Big 12 Honor

The Sooners took down LSU at Baton Rouge for the first time since 2006, and Katherine LeVasseur took home the league's event specialist accolade.

John E. Hoover | Jan 17, 2023

Oklahoma junior Katherine LeVasseur was named Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week on Tuesday.

LeVasseur, from San Antonio, scored a 9.925 on vault in the Sooners’ victory Monday at LSU. Her vault included a Yurchenko 1.5.

It was her third career Big 12 weekly honor.

No. 1-ranked Oklahoma outscored LSU 197.600 points to 197.450, recording the program’s first victory in Baton Rouge since 2006.

“Team energy was great, but landings and sticks were eluding us,” said OU head coach K.J. Kindler. “We were overthinking them.”

The reigning NCAA champion prevailed in Pete Maravich Assembly Center after freshman Jordan Bowers had a strong meet, earning a share of the beam title with a 9.950 and matching a career-high 39.650 in the all-around.

In her first career all-around appearance, freshman Faith Torrez posted a 39.325, which ranks third in the Big 12 behind Sooner teammates Bowers and Audrey Davis (39.500).

LeVasseur added her fourth career title on vault and first on the season with a 9.925.

Senior Ragan Smith added her fourth career bars title and 28th overall with a career-high 9.950.

OU opens its home slate Sunday at 6:45 p.m. against No. 6 Utah inside Lloyd Noble Center. The meet will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

OU Athletics Media Relations contributed to this report.

Published Jan 17, 2023

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.