With the Summer Olympics approaching, the Olympic trials are now in full swing. The Sooners have a couple student-athletes looking to make their World debut in London for the August games.

On Thursday Junior Gymnast, Jake Dalton started his trek to London at the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Trials. Dalton was the 2012 NCAA all-around champion and 11-time All-American. He posted the top score on the floor and the vault exercise and he also had the 5th best score all around. If Dalton makes the U.S. Team, he will only be the second Sooner to compete in the Olympics while still enrolled in school.

Dalton continues on to the final day of competition on Saturday starting at 3:00 PM CST. The trials will be televised on NBC.

Also on the Olympic Trial front, members of the Track and Field Team are looking to punch their ticket to London. Shot-Putter Tia Brooks came in 4th at the shot put qualifier on Thursday. If Brooks finishes in the top 3 on Friday’s final, she will have earned her way to London.

On Friday, other Sooners competing in the trial include:  OU seniors Brittany Borman (women’s javelin throw) and Ti’Anca Mock (women’s long jump) Former Sooners include Ronnie Ash (men’s 110-meter hurdles), Amy Backel (women’s javelin throw) and Mookie Salaam (men’s 200-meter dash).

The Sooner men will be competing for their 6th National Title since 2002 this weekend as they host the 2012 NCAA Mens National Championship in Norman. The Sooners just won the  Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship and their 8th conference title in the past 10 years.

The No. 1 ranked Sooners will compete in qualifiers on Thursday,and will be joined in the 7 p.m. session by No. 4 Illinois, No. 5 Minnesota, No. 8 California, No. 9 Temple and No. 12 Air Force. The first session, set for 1 p.m., features No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Stanford, No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Ohio State, No. 10 Nebraska and No. 11 Iowa. The top three teams from each session qualify for the team finals on Friday night at 7.

Oklahoma is 18-1 going into the competition and is led by MPSF Gymnast of the Year, Jake Dalton. Under coach Mark Williams, the Sooners have won five national titles, 22 individual national titles, 42 individual conference titles, 126 All-America honors and three Nissen-Emery Awards.

The last two times the Sooners hosted the National Championship in Norman, they won both (2002, 2006). This is the first time they are competing for a title since 2008. The gymnastics team holds more National Titles than the any other sport at the University. Qualifying begins Thursday at 1:00, then again at 7:00 PM. The team Finals are scheduled for Friday at 7:00 PM with event Finals on Saturday at 7:00 PM.

You can follow the Finals coverage on SoonerSports.com here.

Boomer.

The Sooner Women’s Gymnastic team has been selected as the No. 1 seed in the Regional to be held in Champaign, Illinois on April 7th. The other No. 1 seeds include: UCLA, Nebraska, Georgia and Alabama. The Sooners finished the season 19-3 and No. 2 in the country.

They will compete in the Regional against Illinois, Denver, Stanford, Kentucky and Illinois-Chicago.  The top two from the Regional will move on to the Championship in Georgia, which will be held April 20-22.

The Sooners have won 4 Big XII Championships out of the last 5 under head coach, K.J. Kindler. Coach Kindler is the Big XII coach of the year, while Junior Brie Olson was named Big XII All-Around Champion. Senior Megan Ferguson was named Big XII Specialist of the Year.

The Regional is scheduled to start at 4:00 PM, April 7th at the University of Illinois. You can view the Regional Draw Results HERE.

*In other news, the football team is back on the field this week after Spring Break, so more football news should be coming in soon.*

The always top-ranked Oklahoma women’s gymnastics team opens the season Saturday at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Ky., for “Excite Night at the Kentucky Classic” against No. 23 Kentucky, Bowling Green and Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

The Sooner season has Oklahoma ranked at No. 4 in the coaches poll with UCLA, Alabama and Florida rounding out the first three top spots. Saturday, the Sooners will be facing the first of 10 top ranked opponents for the 2012 season with Kentucky.

Oklahoma has landed 5 new gymnasts for 2012 and return 18 from 2011.

From SoonerSports.com:

Leading the way for the Sooners are five-time All-American Megan Ferguson, two-time All-American Kayla Nowak and All-Americans Brie Olson and Sara Stone.  Ferguson, Nowak Olson and Stone provide veteran leadership and experience that will be vital for the young Sooners.

OU will be tested in 2012 with the loss of All-American Natasha Kelley and a challenging schedule. Kelley, who consistently scored in the 9.9s on vault, bars and beam, suffered a season-ending injury during preseason practice.  The loss of Kelley’s talent and experience will challenge OU’s depth throughout the 2012 schedule, which includes 10 teams ranked in the preseason top 25 and five top 10 teams.

Good luck to the Lady Sooners as their season gets underway.