OU Sweeps Awards For 4th-Straight Week

For the fourth straight week and fifth time this season, Oklahoma swept the Big 12 weekly gymnastics awards. Taylor Spears was the Gymnast of the Week recipient, while Madison Mooring and Keeley Kmieciak were named Event Specialist of the Week and Newcomer of the Week, respectively.

Spears picked up her sixth Gymnast of the Week award and 10th career weekly recognition while Mooring nabbed her second straight specialist award and third of the season. This is the second newcomer honor for Kmieciak.

Spears won her fourth all-around title of the year at Big 12 opponent Iowa State with a career-high 39.575. The junior was spurred by a career-high 9.975 on beam, garnering the first 10.0 of her career. The score also propelled her to the No. 1 spot in the nation on beam in addition to a No. 6 ranking nationally in the all-around.

Mooring earned her second-straight Specialist of the Week award after garnering identical 9.9 scores on beam and vault in Ames, notching season highs in both events. The junior has not scored below a 9.8 all season on vault and cracked the national top 25 beam rankings this week at No. 19 overall.

Kmieciak set career highs on vault (9.925), bars (9.9) and in the all-around (39.375) at Iowa State, including an individual title on vault with a score that helped OU to a team season high in the event. The freshman's 39.375 took third at the meet behind two upperclassmen teammates and was five-tenths higher than her closest opponent competitor.

OU now has won 17 of 18 Big 12 weekly awards in six weeks this season.

Oklahoma moves on to face No. 16 Boise State, BYU and TWU in the Perfect 10 Challenge at the COX Convention Center in Oklahoma City. The meet will be held Friday, Jan. 15, at 7 p.m. CT.