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Dec. 8, 2012

NORMAN, Okla. - The Oklahoma women's gymnastics team held its annual intrasquad meet Saturday at the Viersen Center, performing their new routines for Sooner fans in preparation for the upcoming season.

"I thought it was a very good test for us," said OU head coach K.J. Kindler. "It was a good practice for what we're going to go through this season as far as endurance, practicing all the warm-ups and touches and competing and those butterflies you get competition day that they're not getting in practice. We had a great group of fans watching so I think it was a very real experience."

Seven to eight gymnasts performed their routines at reach rotation with judges critiquing their performances and a sizeable crowd cheering on.

Opening on bars, sophomore Erica Brewer, who earned second-team All-America honors in the event last season, led the team with a 9.85. Senior Brie Olson, a first-team All-American on bars in 2012, nailed her routine to earn a 9.825 while junior Taylor Spears and sophomore Becca Clark each were given a 9.8 score.

The Sooners totaled some of their best scores of the night on the vault, with junior Madison Mooring, an All-American on vault in 2011, and Olson both collecting scores of 9.9. Three other gymnasts - Spears, freshman Keeley Kmieciak and freshman Haley Scaman - were right behind, earning 9.875 scores from the judges.

"I was very impressed with everyone," Kindler said. "I think we are definitely more aggressive on bars in practice than we were tonight. They sat for a while and they need to learn how to stay warm and make sure they can capitalize off that first event. So that event could've been stronger for us, but the other three events I felt fell right into line with what we were expecting."

Spears put together her third-straight solid routine of the night, leading Oklahoma with a 9.825 score on floor. Junior Lara Albright came in with a 9.8 and Olson and Mooring each earned a 9.775.

OU finished out the night performing on the balance beam where sophomore Lauren Alexander gave one of the best routines of the night, earning a 9.9. Kmieciak and Spears each tacked on a score of 9.8, while Brewer earned a 9.775 and Kayla added a score of 9.75.

"We need to clean up some of our skills, be more precise on a lot of things like our leaps and jumps, Kindler said. "I did think our landings were quite good today; I was happy with how those were coming along, but they can always be better."

OU will continue its preseason workouts before opening the season at Georgia on Saturday, Jan. 5 in Athens, Ga.

For updates and photos of OU women's gymnastics, including photos of the intrasquad meet, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter (@ougymnastics) or Instagram (ou_wgymnastics).