DENVER - Junior Melanie Schiff (Highland Park, N.J. / Highland Park HS) won the individual all-around and four different Pioneers won the apparatus titles as the University of Denver gymnastics team held a successful Crimson & Gold Intrasquad scrimmage Friday night in Hamilton Gymnasium. While no official team scores were kept, the Pioneers posted several excellent early-season performances.

Schiff, who qualified for the NCAA Championships last year, scored 38.900 over the four events to edge senior Christina Parratt (Reno, Nev. / Reno HS) for the all-around title. Although senior co-captain Jenny Ebdon (Marietta, Ga. / Walton HS) earned All-America honors last year on the floor exercise, it was Parratt who won the floor title with a 9.850 while Ebdon posted a 9.750 to tie for third with Schiff. Although the scores were unofficial, Parratt's 38.725 in the all-around would have been more than a full point better than her career high over all four events.

In her first collegiate competition, freshman Ashley Shible (Palm Harbor, Fla. / East Lake HS) wowed the crowd with the Denver debut of a rare vault that is named after her, and won the vault title with a 9.800. Ebdon was second (9.775) with Schiff third (9.750). Denver's other freshmen also had excellent performances; Emily Bankhead (Houston, Texas / Stratford HS) finished second on the uneven bars with a 9.800, and Lindsay Fitzgerald (Spring, Texas / Klein HS) was second on the balance beam, also with a 9.800. Ebdon won the beam with a 9.850, while sophomore Michelle Kasuga (Defiance, Ohio / Defiance HS) won the bars with a 9.875.

"For this being the third week in December, and with the season still a month away, I thought the team did a tremendous job," said head coach Melissa Kutcher. "If you take the top five individual scores from each event and add them all together, we would have scored a 195.275, and that is higher than our season average from all of last year. I thought Christina Parratt did a great job tonight. She is going to be a huge role player and very important to our success."

The Pioneers open their 2001 season on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m., when they host Cal, Maryland and Washington for a quadrangular meet at Hamilton Gymnasium. Season tickets are still available at the Ritchie Center box office by calling 303.871.2336.

DENVER GYMNASTICS
Crimson & Gold Intrasquad at Denver, Colo. (Hamilton Gymnasium)
No team scores kept

Top five individual event scores:

ALL-AROUND: 1. Melanie Schiff, 38.900; 2. Christina Parratt, 38.725; 3. (tie), Michelle Kasuga and Jenny Ebdon, 38.500; 5. Ashley Shible, 38.450.

VAULT: 1. Shible, 9.800; 2. Ebdon, 9.775; 3. Schiff, 9.750; 4. (tie), Emily Bankhead and Parratt, 9.725.

UNEVEN BARS: 1. Kasuga, 9.875; 2. Bankhead, 9.800; 3. Jacquelin Young, 9.750; 4. Shible, 9.725; 5. Schiff, 9.650.

BALANCE BEAM: 1. Ebdon, 9.850; 2. Lindsay Fitzgerald, 9.800; 3. Schiff, 9.750; 4. (tie), Kasuga and Parratt, 9.725.

FLOOR EXERCISE: 1. Parratt, 9.850; 2. Shible, 9.800; 3. (tie), Ebdon and Schiff, 9.750; 5. Young, 9.700.