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No. 1 Oklahoma Hosts No. 5 Florida Friday, Heads to Metroplex Challenge Sunday

The Sooners are coming off their first loss of the sason and have a busy weekend ahead in Norman and Fort Worth.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma gymnast Jordan Bowers
Oklahoma gymnast Jordan Bowers / SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

By OU Media Relations

NORMAN – The No. 1 Oklahoma women’s gymnastics team is set for a double weekend, hosting No. 5 Florida at Lloyd Noble Center on Friday, Feb. 21, before traveling down to Fort Worth to take on No. 24 North Carolina at the Metroplex Challenge.

Friday’s meet is slated for a 7:45 p.m. start and airs on ESPN2 with Bart Conner, Bridget Sloan and Taylor Davis on the call. Sunday’s meet in Fort Worth is set for a 2:30 p.m. start inside the Fort Worth Convention Center.

LOOK BACK AT IT

The No. 1 Oklahoma gymnastics team suffered its first loss of the season in a 198.050-197.675 defeat to No. 2 LSU last Friday night. A trio of Sooners won event titles with Faith Torrez winning vault with a near-perfect 9.975 and floor with a 9.95. Jordan Bowers shared the floor title with Torrez and Lily Pederson took home the bars title with a 9.925.

The Sooners trailed after the first rotation but had pulled ahead by the end of the third after strong vault and floor rotations. A slow start on beam led to LSU pulling away on floor to claim the victory.

SWEET HOME OKLA(HOME)A

Oklahoma is 151-4 inside Lloyd Noble Center since the arrival of head coach K.J. Kindler in 2007 and has posted 89 consecutive home victories across 58 meets dating back to 2014. The 2025 senior class is currently undefeated at home in their careers.

OU has five regular season home meets in 2025, welcoming Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Florida and Michigan to the LNC throughout the year.

ROAD WARRIORS

In the last decade, the Sooners have shown they are a force to be reckoned with away from the friendly confines of Lloyd Noble Center. Since 2015, the Sooners boast a 231-14 record on the road. This includes a 60-6 record at true away competition sites and a 171-8 mark at neutral sites. Over the last three seasons, OU boasts an average road score of 198.010. In 2025, the Sooners are 7-1 in road meets.

EYES ON 900

The Sooners currently sit at 899 wins in program history and Friday’s meet could be one for the record books if the Sooners bring home a victory. A win this week would give the Sooners 900 program victories. Since the first season in 1981, the program has a winning percentage of .733. Kindler has more than half of those wins with 521 to date.

SERIES HISTORY

OU and Florida have faced off 34 times in program history and the Gators hold a narrow 18-15-1 lead. The lone tie between the two programs came in 2014 as the teams shared the NCAA Championship. The Sooners have won 10 of the last 14 matchups between the two teams, dating back to the shared national title. The last regular season meeting was a 197.950-197.800 victory for the Sooners in Norman.

OU and North Carolina have faced each other just six times in program history with the last meeting coming in 2019. OU is undefeated all-time against the Tar Heels.

FRESHMAN IMPACT

The freshmen class has made an immediate impact to OU’s lineups in 2025. Addison Fatta, Elle Mueller, Lily Pederson and Kelsey Slade have combined for 39.88 percent of competition routines thus far. This mark leads the SEC with the next closest being LSU at 27.3 percent and Auburn at 25.7 percent. Oklahoma is the only SEC school with two freshmen in the all-around, making up 33 percent of all routines.

ALL-AROUND EXCELLENCE

Over the last two seasons, the Sooners haven’t shied away from putting up a plethora of all-around competitors. In 2025, five athletes have competed in the all-around: Jordan Bowers, Audrey Davis, Faith Torrez, Fatta and Pederson. Four of the five have competed all-around in every meet this season, with Davis doing just three events in weeks six and seven.

OU is the only school with three athletes to reach the 39.700-plus mark as Bowers, Davis and Torrez have all reached the mark. Torrez currently sits at No. 2 in the nation in the all-around, followed Bowers at No. 3. Pederson is No. 7, the highest ranked freshman in the nation, as the Sooners boast the most athletes in the top 10.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION

No. 5 Florida: Currently No. 5 in the nation, Florida comes into the meet with reigning SEC Co-Gymnasts of the Week Leanne Wong and Selena Harris-Miranda leading the way. Wong secured her first 10.0 of the season on balance beam last week against Auburn, while Harris-Miranda notched a season-best 39.750 in the all-around. The duo were joined in the weekly awards by Sloane Blakely who was named Co-Specialist of the Week after earning a perfect 10 on floor. As a team, the Gators are No. 4 on vault, No. 7 on bars, No.8 on beam and No. 11 on floor.

No. 24 North Carolina: North Carolina sits at No. 24 in the nation after their second straight week of putting up a 196-plus score. The Tar Heels are ranked in the top 25 on a pair of events, coming in at No. 18 on beam and No. 25 on vault. UNC is led by two-time ACC Newcomer of the Week, JoJo Valahovic.

LOOKING AHEAD

Up next for Oklahoma is a trip to Auburn, Ala., for a matchup with the No. 11 Tigers. The meet is set for Friday, Feb. 28, at 6:45 p.m.

Published |Modified
John E. Hoover
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.

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