Sooner Trio Sweeps Big 12 Weekly Honors

The trio of senior Chayse Capps, junior AJ Jackson and freshman Maggie Nichols of the No. 1 Oklahoma women's gymnastics team have swept the Big 12 weekly honors, the conference announced Monday. 

Capps (Big 12 Gymnast of the Week) and Nichols (Big 12 Newcomer of the Week) were recognized for the second consecutive time, while AJ Jackson earned the nod as the Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week. This marks the second straight week OU has swept the awards, with junior Stefani Catour receiving specialist accolades last Monday.

On Sunday, the Sooners became the first team to top 198 this season as they soared to a 198.025-196.825 victory over then-No. 8 UCLA. Capps, Jackson and Nichols all posted scores of at least 9.9 on each of their respective events in the meet.

Capps' honor represents the seventh time she has earned Big 12 Gymnast of the Week honors. It is her 13th overall nod from the Big 12, tying the conference record for most all-time. Against UCLA, the Plano, Texas, native recorded a 39.700 in the all-around, the second-best score of her career. Capps secured the beam title with a 9.975, the highest mark of the meet in any event, and shared the vault title with Nichols (9.925). She also scored a 9.9 as the leadoff on bars and contributed a 9.9 on floor. Nationally, Capps sit second in the all-around, tied for seventh on vault, tied for eighth on bars, tied for fifth on beam and tied for seventh on floor.

On both vault and floor, Jackson recorded a pair of 9.9s to help OU to victory. Her 9.9 on vault stood as the third-best score on the event of the meet, and her floor score was tied for second. Jackson is tied for 17th nationally on vault and holds a share of ninth in the floor rankings.

Nichols impressed yet again in her second meet as a Sooner, scoring at least a 9.925 on all four events to record a 39.750 all-around total, the highest in the nation so far this season. The freshman grabbed at least a share of four event titles, winning floor (9.95) and the all-around outright and tying for vault (9.925) and bars (9.925). She also added a 9.95 on beam, increasing her score from the first meet on that event and on vault and in the all-around. After the first two meets, Nichols is ranked first in the all-around with an average of 39.737. She is also tied for first on both bars and floor, shares second on beam and is tied for seventh on vault.

This weekend, the Sooners embark on their first road trip of 2017, taking on Big 12 foe West Virginia. The meet is slated for Saturday at 6 p.m. CT in Morgantown, W. Va., and will stream through Mountaineer TV.