No. 12 Denver Gymnastics Falls to No. 11 Iowa State

Feb. 5, 2005

DENVER - Despite a school-record crowd of 2,410 fans and a guest appearance of 2004 Olympic gold medalist Carly Patterson, the 12th-ranked University of Denver gymnastics team were upended by 11th-ranked Iowa State, 195.675 - 194.975 Saturday night in Hamilton Gymnasium. The Pioneers dropped their first home meet of the season and fall to 7-3 on the season. Iowa State improves to 7-1.

Two Denver gymnasts won event titles Saturday night, led by Sasha Sullivan's (Glen Allen, Va.) team-leading fourth floor exercise title of the season. She tied her career-high with a 9.925 and tied Iowa State's Erin Dethloff for first. Junior Cassidy Willingham (Mountain View, Calif.) won Denver's other title by tying ISU's Ashley Alden with a 9.8 on uneven bars.

Denver, ranked No. 4 in the nation on vault, posted its second-best vault score of the season Saturday night with a 49.250. Sophomore Heather Huffaker (DeSoto, Texas) finished tied for second with a 9.925 and sophomore Casey Dobyns (Woodinville, Wash.) posted her fifth consecutive score above a 9.9 as she finished fourth with a 9.9. Willingham scored a 9.825 to finish sixth and senior Stephanie Lorber (San Carlos, Calif.) and freshman Courtney Butler (Naperville, Ill.) each had scores of 9.8 for Denver.

The Pioneers were stellar on floor exercise and nearly came back from a huge deficit entering the fourth rotation with a season-high 49.425 team score. Four Pioneers set or tied personal best scores, led by Sullivan's second 9.925 of the season. Dobyns also tied her personal best score with a 9.9 to finish third, just ahead of teammates Gretchen Goerlitz (Neenah, Wis.) and Huffaker, who tied for fourth at 9.875. Sophomore Katie Andrews (Crawfordsville, Ind.) rounded out Denver's score with a career-high 9.85.

The difference in the meet came on balance beam, where Denver was forced to count two falls and scored a 47.650, while Iowa State counted one fall and posted a 48.600.

The Pioneers are next in action next Friday, Feb. 11 when they travel to take on Utah State at 6:45 p.m.

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