April 3, 2004
Complete Results
DENVER - Top-seeded and second-ranked Stanford and No. 20 Iowa held off No. 14 Denver in the North Central Region Championships Saturday night in front of 3,406 fans in Magness Arena, advancing to NCAA Nationals in two weeks. 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). On a bright note for Denver, senior Ashley Shible (Palm Harbor, Fla.), and freshmen Heather Huffaker (DeSoto, Texas) and Casey Dobyns (Woodinville, Wash.) all qualified as individuals for NCAA Nationals.
Denver began the competition on the uneven bars, where the Pioneers turned in a team score of 48.525. Freshman Katie Andrews (Crawfordsville, Ind.) led the Pioneers, posting a score of 9.775, followed by Shible with a 9.75. Senior Emily Bankhead (Houston, Texas) and freshman Heather Huffaker (DeSoto, Texas) both finished tied third at 9.675 and sophomore Cassidy Willingham (Mountain View, Calif.) rounded out the top-five with a 9.65.
Denver's second event was the balance beam, where the Pioneers tallied a score of 48.700. Huffaker and Willingham led the Pioneers with scores of 9.825 and Shible was right behind them at 9.7. Freshman Julie Garretson (Rosemount, Minn.) was next for Denver with a 9.675 and sophomore Meredith Fricke (Midlothian, Texas) rounded out Denver's top-five with a 9.65. After two events, the Pioneers found themselves in third place with a two-event total of 97.225.
Following their first bye, the Pioneers went to the floor exercise for the third rotation and scored a 49.075. Willingham started the Pioneers off with a 9.675 and Dobyns followed her with a 9.75. Huffaker was third for the Pioneers with a 9.825, followed by Shible's team-high 9.9, which tied her for first place on the event. Bankhead and Fricke closed the event for the Pioneers, posting a 9.725 and 9.875, respectively. Fricke finished the floor exercise tied for third place.
The final event of the night for Denver was vault, where the Pioneers scored a meet-high 49.225. Both Huffaker and Dobyns tied for Denver's best score with a 9.9, putting them in a tie for first place. Shible was next for the Pioneers, finishing tied for fifth place with a 9.85, followed by Bankhead with a 9.8. Willingham finished fifth with a 9.775 and Fricke rounded out the event with a 9.750. Denver had a chance to overtake Iowa in the fifth rotation but needed some help from the Hawkeyes, but Iowa never gave it to them and scored a 49.100 on balance beam to end Denver's chance of advancing to Nationals for the first time since 2001.
"The progress and maturity this team has achieved over the season has been tremendous," head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart said. "In some ways this was a record-breaking season for us. We had team totals of over 197 four times this season. We did it with eight newcomers, including six freshmen. I'm really proud of my team."
Shible and Huffaker took fifth place in the all-around competition with a score of 39.225 and will advance 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 the NCAA Nationals, to be held April 15-17, in Los Angeles, Calif. Saturday's competition was the final home meet for Denver's three seniors, Shible, Bankhead and Rose Kiernan (Aspen, Colo.).
