Jan. 6—Jordan Bowers accomplished a lot in her first season as a collegiate gymnast.

Among her lengthy list of accomplishments, Bowers was selected as a three-time All-Big 12 selection (vault, bars, floor), a NCAA firstteam All-American on floor, the Big 12 Floor Champion and the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.

Oh, and she became a national champion. She competed in three events in the NCAA finals and played a crucial role in helping lead Oklahoma to the 2022 national title.

Expectations are high again for the Sooners entering the 2023 season. A big reason for that is Bowers, who is again expected to play a significant role entering her sophomore season.

She’s ready for the challenge and feeling confident as ever.

In fact, she’s been ready ever since it became her dream to be a Sooner.

‘This has always been my dream school’ Bowers grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, but she was never interested in being a Cornhusker.

She always knew she wanted to be a Sooner.

“The legacy, the culture here is something I’ve always wanted to be a part of,” Bowers told The Transcript in December.

She began attending summer camps and events at OU when she was eight years old. That’s when she first met OU coach K.J. Kindler.

“I’ve been coming here for a long time, and she’s just always one to put herself out there and really just get to know you on a personal level,” Bowers said. “She really just cares about you not even as a gymnast but as a person. She wants to see you succeed outside of the gym. We had phone calls and she talked to me for hours. It was just very personable. It just felt amazing.”

Bowers remained on Kindler’s radar, and that relationship continued to grow as she got into middle school.

“When I went into her gym — this has only happened to me three times, let’s say — my jaw hit the ground,” Kindler recalls. “Her talent was just in your face. I left the gym thinking, ‘We have to have her.’ That doesn’t always happen. I went in there and saw way more than I expected to see. I also saw a lot of places where she could grow, but the raw talent was unreal.

Prior to rule changes in 2019, gymnastics recruiting happened very early for prospects, and Bowers was no exception. She became a highly-coveted prospect by the time she entered fifth grade.

But for her, it wasn’t that much of a decision. She committed to the Sooners during a visit to Norman in eighth grade.

Despite it taking another few years before she arrived on campus, her commitment never wavered. and she signed her national letter of intent with the Sooners in November 2020.

“I absolutely loved it here, loved the coaches, the environment,” Bowers said. “I loved that the coaches haven’t changed and they’ve been together so long. Knowing that and having that stability is something that’s really reassuring. Knowing you’re gonna have consistency throughout makes you more confident, as well.

“This has always been my dream school.”

‘Such an amazing feeling’ Bowers was almost in disbelief when she took the floor for the Sooners’ opening meet against Alabama on Jan. 9, 2022.

“I’ve come and watched them compete, watched them on TV my whole life, that’s all I can remember,” Bowers said. “Being in Lloyd Noble is such a surreal feeling and it’s just so amazing.”

There wasn’t much time for reflecting on her journey, however. Bowers competed in the all-around in the win against the Crimson Tide, scoring a meet-high 9.925 on floor.

She competed in all four events for the Sooners’ first six meets. She then dropped beam to focus on vault, bars and floor, and she competed in all three events in every meet the rest of the way.

“For her to do all-around as a freshman, to put it into perspective, that’s a huge deal,” Kindler said. “She wasn’t all-around in every single meet, but she got a taste of it and had lots of good opportunities. It gave her incredible experience.”

Bowers particularly excelled on vault. She scored a perfect 10 on vault during the Metroplex Challenge, just her ninth meet of her career, and finished the regular season ranked No. 1 nationally in the event.

She was one of eight Sooners to compete in all 16 meets, which included the NCAA finals. She had a rare low moment to open the final meet, scoring a season- low 9.65 on floor — she scored a 9.90 or higher on floor in every other meet — but played a key role in leading the Sooners’ comeback victory with a 9.9375 on vault and a 9.95 on bars.

“When the last score went up and it was official up there [that we won], that was just a surreal moment, and being in that was incredible,” Bowers said. “I feel like it still hasn’t set in. It’s such a surreal moment and in the moment type of thing. All your hard work has paid off and it’s such an amazing feeling.”

‘Gaining more confidence’ Despite her personal achievements, and the team’s success, Bowers said she struggled at times with confidence last season.

That’s been a big focus for her coming into this season, which begins on Jan. 7 at the Super 16 meet in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“I’m really just honing in on details and gaining more confidence this year,” Bowers said. “That was the big thing for me last year. At the beginning I wasn’t super confident in myself and that kind of showed. But I just have to trust myself and trust my teammates and know that I’m out there for a reason.”

Though still an underclassmen, Bower has more experience than a typical sophomore. and given her success, the team is looking for big things from her this season.

“She’s learning with everything she does,” OU senior Allie Stern said. “If you look at her now, she looks like a veteran. [She was an] allarounder on all four events. I look at her and she has a lot of confidence, and I think the freshmen coming in look at that and see that, too, that even though she’s an underclassmen, she’s developed that confidence.

“I think part of that confidence did come from her mistakes and being able to bounce back and learn from them. Hitting those routines when they mattered most. She’s got it, all. I’m really excited for her this year.”

Bowers said the team is ready to get the season started, though they’re not letting themselves focus too heavily on the potential of winning back-to-back national championships.

“We’re such a close team this year,” Bowers said. “We all just work so well together and we’re so ready to get out there.”

After waiting years for her opportunity to be a Sooner, Bowers has accomplished so much in a short time.

But she’s not done yet. Her next goal? Winning an individual national championship.

“That’s always been a dream of mine.”