FORT WORTH, Texas — Oklahoma and Missouri advanced out of Thursday’s first NCAA gymnastics semifinal to Saturday’s championship meet, with Mizzou stunning Florida to reach its first final in program history.
Oklahoma, the No. 2 national seed, finished first in the semifinal with a 197.550, while No. 7 Mizzou edged out No. 3 Florida 197.300-197.200. No. 11 Alabama was a distant fourth at 196.825.
The Sooners and Tigers await the top two teams from Semifinal II at 8 p.m. featuring No. 1 LSU, No. 4 Utah, No. 5 UCLA and No. 8 Michigan State. The top two teams from that semifinal will also advance.
Florida fell behind Missouri after the third rotation because of a poor result on vault (49.075). Going to the final rotation, the Tigers were at 147.800 and the Gators were at 147.725.
With Oklahoma advancing in first place, the second transfer spot came down to the anchors for Missouri and Florida. The Tigers’ Helen Hu, one of the nation’s top beam performers, scored a 9.9875, while the Gators’ Riley McCusker got a 9.8625.
OU’s Jordan Bowers finished first in the semifinal in the all-around (39.7125), was in a four-way tie for first on bars (9.9375) and tied for first on floor with teammate Faith Torrez (9.95). Hu’s score was first on beam, while Florida’s Danie Ferris was the only gymnast to post a 9.90 on vault.
NCAA individual event winners will be determined after Semifinal II, which will be shown on ESPN2.