FAYETTEVILLE — Perhaps Arkansas was due for a clunker.
The No. 2 Razorbacks gymnastics team posted a season-low score in a 197.425-196.175 loss to No. 5 Oklahoma in front of2,442 fans Sunday at Barnhill Arena. Arkansas (9-2) had a previous low of 196.45 in its season-opening meet in Cancun in early January.
A season-best score might not have mattered against Oklahoma (12-2), which has advanced to the Super Six the past two seasons. The Sooners jumped ahead with a solid score on the uneven bars and then a dominating performance on the vault.
Entering the meet, four OU gymnasts had posted scores of 9.875 or better on vault, but on Sunday, they had four do it in the same meet. Oklahoma was so good on the vault, the score that was discarded was a 9.85, which would have tied for Arkansas’ second-best score.
Arkansas trailed by .250 of a point entering the final two events, the beam and the floor exercise, but was unable to make up any ground after some iffy routines. The Razorbacks’ had two errors on the floor, resulting in a counted score of 9.200, and their beam score of 48.900 was mediocre by Arkansas standards.
Oklahoma outscored Arkansas by one point the final two events. The Sooners’ final score was their second 197 or better on the road this year.
“Oklahoma has been at the top, so they did nothing that surprised me,” Arkansas co-Coach Rene Cook said. “For us, it’s just that experience competing with that expectation level is what we need to get better at. We’ve usually been successful competing when we have something to prove, when we’re the underdogs. We’re not really that anymore.”
Arkansas’ two all-around stars, sophomore Katherine Grable and senior Jaime Pisani, delivered Sunday. Grable won the all-around with a total of 39.550 to Pisani’s39.475, and Oklahoma did not have an all-around competitor.
Grable said she was disappointed with low team score but also pleased that Arkansas’ high standards make 196.175 a disappointment.
“We did OK but obviously not up to par,” Grable said. “We can have one bad meet. It’s not the end of the world. We want to make it the only off meet we have.”
The meet was a quick study in redemption for the Sooners after they blew a meet to No. 9 Nebraska on Friday. The Sooners had entered the floor exercise leading by nearly half a point but self-destructed with two falls and lost.
Sooners Coach K. J. Kindler said the bars and vault scores created a lot of momentum for her team.
“This is the best vault we’ve done all year,” Kindler said. “Certainly we saved a lot of tenths on that event. It was huge for us.”
Pisani said Oklahoma’s strong start didn’t affect the Razorbacks. Arkansas simply didn’t perform up to its standard.
“This is our lowest score of the year, but it’s still a 196,” Pisani said. “We still have a lot more meets. Mark [Cook] told us the best athletes have the shortest memories, so we’re going to forget about this one.”
Sunday was season’s first quick turnaround for Arkansas, after defeating Auburn on Friday. Rene Cook said that was a good experience for her team to learn how to compete against top competition since they expect to do so at nationals.
“You’re going to have meets that aren’t great,” Rene Cook said. “If this is our worst meet for the year, we’ll be pleased with that. We’re disappointed because we’re certainly capable of much more than what we did.”
Oklahoma 197.425, Arkansas 196.175
Barnhill Arena, Fayetteville
ROTATION I
ARKANSAS VAULT 49.325
Kelci Lewis 9.80, Jordan Salsberg 9.85, Scarlett Williams 9.80, Jaime Pisani 9.90, Katherine Grable 9.925, Bailee Zumwalde 9.85
OKLAHOMA BARS 49.275
Hayden Ward 9.775, Erica Brewer 9.825, Rebecca Clark 9.85, Kayla Nowak 9.85, Brie Olson 9.85, Megan Ferguson NA
ROTATION II
ARKANSAS BARS 49.225
Jordan Salsberg 9.75, Stephani Canizaro 9.80, Katherine Grable 9.85, Jaime Pisani 9.90, Shelby Salmon 9.825, Mariah Howdeshell 9.85
OKLAHOMA VAULT 49.525
Hayden Ward 9.85, Rebecca Clark 9.875, Taylor Spears 9.85, Brie Olson 9.95, Madison Mooring 9.90, Sara Stone 9.95
ROTATION III
ARKANSAS BEAM 48.90
Jordan Salsberg 9.80, Shelby Salmon 9.70, Scarlett Williams 9.775, Jaime Pisani 9.80, Kelci Lewis 9.25, Katherine Grable 9.825
OKLAHOMA FLOOR 49.25
Lara Albright 9.75, Brie Olson 9.825, Hayden Ward 9.875, Kayla Nowak 9.85, Sara Stone 9.65, Megan Ferguson 9.95
ROTATION IV
ARKANSAS FLOOR 48.725
Bailee Zumwalde 9.80, Jordan Salsberg 9.20, Kelci Lewis 9.90, Katherine Grable 9.95, Jaime Pisani 9.875, Stephani Canizaro 9.10
OKLAHOMA BEAM 49.375
Kayla Nowak 9.825, Madison Mooring 9.85, Sara Stone 9.85, Taylor Spears 9.90, Rebecca Clark 9.85, Megan Ferguson 9.925 Attendance 2442
Sports, Pages 13 on 02/06/2012