April 14, 2004
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PIONEERS SEND THREE GYMNASTS TO LOS ANGELES: The 14th-ranked University of Denver gymnastics team, coming off a third-place finish at the North Central Region Championships on April 3, sends three gymnasts to NCAA Nationals this week in Los Angeles. Senior Ashley Shible (Palm Harbor, Fla.) and freshmen Heather Huffaker (DeSoto, Texas) and Casey Dobyns (Woodinville, Wash.) will each be competing as individuals, with Shible and Huffaker in the all-around and Dobyns on vault. The three will be looking to become Denver's first All-Americans since Shible was named a second-team All-American on vault in 2001. All of Denver's qualifiers will compete in Session II, beginning at 8 p.m. MST. Shible will compete with Alabama and be joined by Dobyns on vault and Huffaker will compete with LSU. Fans can follow the action LIVE!!!
PIONEERS FALL SHORT IN QUEST FOR NATIONALS: Top-seeded and second-ranked Stanford and No. 20 Iowa held off No. 14 Denver in the North Central Region Championships April 3 in front of 3,406 fans in Magness Arena, advancing to NCAA Nationals. The third-seeded Pioneers finished third with a 195.500, just .200 behind the Hawkeyes (195.700) and Stanford (196.575). Southern Utah (194.375) finished fourth followed by Washington (194.225) and Minnesota (192.225). Shible and Huffaker took fifth place in the all-around competition with a score of 39.225 and advanced to Nationals as they were the top two all-arounders not from an advancing team. Dobyns' first-place finish in the vault also qualified her to compete with Shible and Huffaker at Nationals.
DENVER AT NATIONALS: Thursday's competition will mark the fifth-straight season that at least one Denver gymnast has qualified for Nationals. In 2000, three gymnasts qualified for Nationals as Sachi Ena, Jennifer Ebdon and Melanie Schiff became the first Denver gymnasts toi appear at Nationals since 1992. 2001 brought the team's first-ever qualification, where it finished 12th. In 2002, Shible was the lone gymnast for Denver to qualify and last season, Michelle Kasuga was also the lone Denver representative. Denver has had three other individual qualifiers, Karen Beer in 1984, Jeanne Hoffman in 1991, and Donna Elliott in 1992. In all, Denver has had 10 gymnasts qualify for Nationals as individuals and made one appearance as a team, in 2001.
KUTCHER-RINEHART BEHIND THE SUCCESS: All of Denver's qualifiers since 2000 have come under the watch of head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart, who took over for Dan Garcia following the 1998 season. She has coached seven individuals to Nationals and helped the team to its first-ever appearance in 2001.
PIONEERS BOAST THREE INDIVIDUALS AT NATIONALS: Denver and Iowa State are the lone teams in the Nationals field to boast three gymnasts appearing as individuals and one of only four teams to have more than one individual qualifier.
SHIBLE FIRST EVER TO APPEAR AT NATIONALS THREE TIMES: By qualifying for Nationals as an individual all-arounder April 3 at the North Central Region Championships, Shible became the first gymnast in school history to appear in three National Championships. Her first appearance came with her teammates in 2001 and she followed that with an individual qualification in 2002. She qualified a third time with a sixth-place finish in the all-around April 3.
SHIBLE COMING ON STRONG: Senior Ashley Shible has come on strong at the tail end of this season, winning at least one individual event title in each of the last five meets and posting her best all-around score since 2001 with a career-high tying 39.625 in Denver's final meet of the season against Utah State. Shible led the team in average on uneven bars this season and was third on vault and balance beam.
HUFFAKER HELPS PIONEERS VAULT UPWARDS: Freshman Heather Huffaker has had one of the most impressive freshman campaigns in Denver history and the best of any frosh since Shible's first season in 2001. She leads the team in vault average at 9.908 and has nine wins on the event this season. She also has led the team 12 times in 13 meets and had each of her 13 vaults count for the team total, the best mark on the team. Earlier this season, she became just the second gymnast in school history to record a perfect 10.0 on vault when she accomplished the feat Jan. 31 vs. Air Force.
DOBYNS MAKES HER MARK: Another stellar performance this season has been turned in by freshman Casey Dobyns, who is second on the team in average on vault at 9.838 and has posted at least a 9.825 on the event in each of the last eight meets. She posted a career-high with a 9.925 on Feb. 29 and has had her score count 12 times in 13 meets this season. She qualified for Nationals by posting a 9.9 on vault at the North Central Regionals, tying with four others for the top spot.
