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Oklahoma edges out LSU to earn 8th NCAA gymnastics title

· Yahoo Sports

Once again, Oklahoma has won the 2026 NCAA women’s gymnastics championship, lifting the trophy for the fourth time in the past five years. The Sooners finished Saturday’s final with a score of 198.1625, surpassing runner-up LSU by 0.0875 after a tense final rotation.

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Saturday’s competition, which featured finalists No. 1 Oklahoma, No.2 LSU, No. 3 Florida and No. 13 Minnesota, came down to the wire. After the Sooners led through the first two rotations, the Tigers took the lead after the third following some struggles from Oklahoma on beam.

LSU’s chances to hold their narrow one-tenth lead quickly narrowed after a fall from sophomore Lexi Zeiss, who finished with 9.2375 on beam despite the mistake. That raised the pressure for the rest of the Tigers: With six gymnasts per school competing in each rotation, the top five scores are counted — meaning that the rest of the LSU gymnasts had to put up strong routines in order to keep the team’s championship hopes alive.

But on the other side of the meet, Oklahoma put up one stellar performance after another on floor, ending with senior Faith Torrez — who won the All-Around competition on Thursday — in the anchor spot.

LSU chances all came down to star Kailin Chio, who anchored the Tigers on beam. Chio had already picked up a perfect 10 earlier in the day on vault — her 13th 10 of the season.

With Torrez earning a meet-high 9.9500 on floor, Chio needed a near-perfect score to give LSU the lead. Instead, she earned a 9.9000 — respectable, but not enough to dethrone the Sooners, who become back-to-back champions.

The win continues Oklahoma’s reign over women’s gymnastics, marking their eighth title in school history, with all eight championships coming since 2014. Sooner head coach K.J. Kindler, who took over the program in 2006 and built it into a dynasty, has taken the team to the finals 14 times in her tenure.

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