Oklahoma repeats as NCAA women's gymnastics champion

The 2023 NCAA all-around champion, Maile O'Keefe, dazzled on beam for the Red Rocks with a perfect performance on the event. Her perfect score lifted Utah's score to an impressive 197.9375 on the day, taking third place. 

You can watch her perfect routine below ⬇️

Nothing left to say about Maile O'Keefe on beam 🐐

𝐌��𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝟏𝟎!!

— Utah Gymnastics (@UtahGymnastics)

The Gators came out strong on vault this afternoon headlined by Trinity Thomas’ 10, which completed the fifth gym slam of her career. They trail Oklahoma by .188. 

Utah will finish on beam and is the No. 1 team in the country on the event. LSU will compete on vault, Florida will go to bars and Oklahoma will take to the mat.

Here is the full score breakdown heading into the fourth and final rotation ⬇️

The competition in Fort Worth today is fierce. Oklahoma is proving why it is the No. 1 team as five Sooners notched 9.9+ scores on bars. Olivia Trautman scored a team-high 9.9500, while Jordan Bowers closed out the rotation with a 9.925. With that, the Sooners add to their lead and are up .250 on Florida. 

Second-best NCAA Championships bars score in program history with a 49.6375‼️

— Oklahoma Women's Gym (@OU_WGymnastics)

The Gators had a strong showing during the floor exercise with impressive 9.9’s from Rachel Baumann and Kayla Dicello. 

Utah struggled with the second event on vault as just one gymnast scored a 9.9 (Abby Brenner). They hold at No. 3 while LSU stays at No. 4. after competing on beam. 

Here is the full score breakdown at the midway point ⬇️

Oklahoma and Florida are in first and second place, respectively, following the first rotation of the NCAA gymnastics team final. Oklahoma started out on vault and had a stellar performance from Olivia Trautman with a 9.95, with three other Sooners with 9.9+ scores (Faith Torrez, Allie Stern and Jordan Bowers). Watch Trautman's performance here ⬇️
 

OUR SECRET WEAPON 💥

Super senior earns a 9.950 on vault.

📺 ABC
💻
📊

— Oklahoma Women's Gym (@OU_WGymnastics)

The Gators, whose lowest scoring event in the semifinals came on beam, are just .038 back from the top spot. Trinity Thomas did not compete on beam. Riley McCusker notched a team-high 9.9375 for the Gators.

Though LSU is currently sitting in fourth, Haleigh Bryant shined on the bars with a 9.95. Watch her bar routine here 🤩

Like clockwork. closes with a 9.950!

📺 ABC

— LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym)

 

All scores remain close. Here is a breakdown of each team's scores after 1:

Florida's Trinity Thomas has warmed up on beam, vault and bars according to krikya18.com's Michella Chester who is on-site in Fort Worth, Texas for today's championship. Thomas competed on bars and vault during Thursday's semifinal after a two week hiatus due to suffering a lower right leg injury in her floor routine in the Pittsburgh Regional on March 31. 
 

Additionally, LSU's Livvy Dunne has warmed up as well; Dunne missed much of the season due to a foot injury before making her return to the mat in February. Dunne did not compete in Thursday's semifinal. With KJ Johnson still sidelined with a broken foot injury, it is possible that Dunne will step in for the specialist.

It all comes down to this. Utah, Oklahoma, LSU and Florida compete today for the 2023 national championship from the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. 

The semifinals provided all the drama and could be a precursor to what we could see in the championship. Jordan Chiles and Malie O'Keefe traded back-to-back Perfect 10s; O'Keefe's secured the All-Around title and a spot in the national championship. 

Everything to know before today's title match

Who is competing and when?: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Florida, No. 5 Utah, and No. 6 LSU. The competition will commence at 4 p.m. ET on ABC. 

Biggest storylines: The Sooners are looking for their second straight title after claiming the 2022 trophy. Oklahoma has won four of the last five national championships. Florida is in search of its fourth title and the first since 2015. Utah, an early perennial talent in college gymnastics, hopes to secure its first title in 28 years. The Red Rocks won the first five championships and last won in 1995. Meanwhile, LSU has never tasted victory in the final match. The Tigers came in second four times in the last decade but couldn't finish on top. 

🔮: Who the experts think will win it all

One of biggest question marks of the semifinals prevails in the title meet — will Florida's Trinity Thomas compete? The Gators superstar wasn't listed to compete ahead of the semifinals after sustaining a leg injury in the regionals, but the fifth-year senior completed two events including a stunning 9.9500 on bars. Thomas said after the semifinals that she wasn't sure if she'll compete on Saturday. That's a developing story we're watching. 

One gymnast to watch in each event: 

• Vault: Haleigh Bryant (LSU)
• Bars: Trinity Thomas (Florida)
• Beam: Maile O'Keefe (Utah)
• Floor: Jordan Bowers (Oklahoma)

How to watch: The national championship will air on ABC at 4 p.m. ET. It can also be streamed on ESPN.com. ESPN+ has the option to watch each event individually or all at once with a quad box. 

• Vault — 
• Bars — 
• Beam — 
• Floor —  

MORE COVERAGE: 

Maile O'Keefe put on a show in Fort Worth on Thursday night as the Red Rock gymnast scored a perfect 10 on beam, the tenth of her career, won this year's NCAA all-around title, and led Utah to the championship.

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝟏𝟎 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐎'𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐅𝐄‼️

📺 ESPN2
📲

— Utah Gymnastics (@UtahGymnastics)

The individual competition is wrapped up after the semifinals. Here are the individual national champions on each event:

Vault — Olivia Trautman  (9.9500)
Bars — Jordan Chiles (10.000)
Beam — Maile O'Keefe (10.000)
Floor — Jordan Chiles (9.9875)
All around —Maile O'Keefe (39.7625)

UCLA's Jordan Chiles secured the semifinal round's first perfect 10 on bars. She is the national floor and bar champion, placing second in this year's all-around with her performance. The Bears were edged by Utah by just .250 for a spot in the championship.

Watch her perfect routine here: 

JORDAN CHILES IS PERFECT‼️ |

— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12)

Olympic gold medalist Jade Carey competed as an individual on beam, snagging a 9.9625. Carey has had an incredible season at Oregon State as the gymnast eclipsed the double-digit mark for perfect 10s and became the 13th gymnast to record a gym slam this year.

Watch her beam routine below ⬇️

Jade Carey in all her glory 😍

She breaks the four-way tie on beam with a 9.9625!

📺 ESPN2 |

— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12)

The queen of the mat took the floor on Thursday night, putting on a dazzling performance for the Bears with a near-perfect score of 9.9875.
 

Jordan Chiles' floor routine at Nationals hits different 🤩

📺 ESPN2 |

— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12)

Chiles leads a UCLA team that is number one in the country on the floor exercise. UCLA currently sits atop the leaderboard in Session Two midway through the third rotation.