DENVER - The University of Denver women's gymnastics team returns to Hamilton Gymnasium on Saturday after spending the last three weeks on the road. The No. 12 Pioneers will host No. 8 Boise State at 6 p.m.

MEET #7: No. 12 Denver (10-4, 0-2 Big 12) vs. No. 8 Boise State (6-2, 2-0 MRGC)

Date and Time: Saturday, February 11, at 6 p.m. MT
Location: Hamilton Gymnasium/2,200 (Denver, Colo.)
Tickets: Buy Tickets
Live Stream: Pioneer Vision
Live Stats: Meet Info: DU meet notes | BSU meet notes
Facebook: /DenverGymnastics | /DenverPioneers
Twitter: @DU_Gymnastics | @DU_Pioneers
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RETURNING FROM THE ROAD
The Pioneers are excited to be back in Denver after a three-week road trip that took them across the country for four meets. Since DU's only home meet of the season on January 14, Denver visited two Big 12 Conference opponents in Oklahoma and West Virginia. DU bookended its four-meet road trip with two separate visits to the state of Utah, beginning at the University of Utah on January 20 and wrapping up at Southern Utah on February 6.

DU's top two scores of the season came during the last four away meets. The team's highest score (196.875) came at Utah on January 20, which is the fifth-highest road score in program history. Denver added a 196.500 on Monday night at Southern Utah for its season-highest tally this season.

During the four-meet away stretch, Denver competed against five teams currently ranked in the top 25-including No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 4 Utah.

FAMILIAR FOE
One of Denver's most common opponents in recent seasons has been Boise State. The two teams have already competed against each other in 2017 on January 20 at Utah, DU topped BSU 196.875-196.225. They are set to meet for a third time this season on March 10 in Boise, Idaho, for DU's final meet of the regular season.

Recently, the meetings between Denver and Boise State have been competitive through the final rotation and typically end within tenths of each other. Since March 22, 2014, the teams have competed against one another five times. The largest margin of victory during that span was .650 (DU over BSU on January 20 of this season). They battled to within .025 of each other at the 2014 Mountain Rim Gymnastics Championships with DU winning 196.925-196.900.

The teams spent three straight seasons in the same conference, starting in 2013 in the Western Athletics Conference before both teams joined the MRGC for 2014 and 2015. While Boise State remains a member of the MRGC, Denver became an affiliate member of the Big 12 Conference in 2016.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Vault: For the first time this season, Denver competed with a full line-up of six student-athletes on vault on Monday night. Sophomore Diana Chesnok (Charlotte, N.C.) filled that final spot with a Yurchenko layout and is expected to compete her usual Yurchenko full as soon as this weekend. Freshman Maddie Karr (Stillwater, Minn.) continues to lead the team on vault with a 9.871 season average after winning a share of the event title Monday night. Senior Julia Ross (Henderson, Nev.) holds a season average with a 9.838, second-highest on the team.

Bars: After missing one meet, freshman Sam Ogden (Allen, Texas) returned right where she left off on bars, winning a share of the top spot on Monday with a 9.875, which is equal to her season average. Every meet that she has been in the line-up, Ogden has had at least a share of Denver's highest bars score. Ross again has DU's second-best average (9.842) and is followed closely by Karr with a 9.829.

Beam: Ross leads DU on beam so far this year with the team's highest average (9.838) and highest individual score (9.925). Sophomore Kaitlyn Schou (Orlando, Fla.) is not far behind in average with a 9.833 and two career-high 9.875s. Karr has DU's second-highest beam tally with a 9.900 and three more 9.875s.

Floor: Since the first meet of the year, DU has only competed with five student-athletes on floor. Three of DU's performers have season averages above 9.800, led by Karr with a 9.867. Junior Nikole Addison (Fort Myers, Fla.) is next in line with a 9.850 and two scores of 9.900 or higher. With her career-best 9.900 on Monday, Schou has the team's third-highest floor average (9.817).

EYE ON THE RANKINGS
Denver enters the first full week of February ranked No. 12 in the nation with a 195.900 season average. The team is also ranked inside the top 25 on all four events: No. 11 on floor (49.060), No. 13 on both bars (48.970) and beam (49.045), and No. 24 on vault (48.825).

Two Pioneers are ranked in the all-around standings, led by Karr at No. 16 with a 39.330 average. Ross is up to No. 22 with a 39.295.

Karr is one of three DU student-athletes ranked on individual events as well, coming in tied for No. 20 on vault (9.870). Ogden has the team's highest individual ranking, tied for No. 11 on bars (9.875). Addison continues to be ranked on floor, tied for No. 20 (9.875).

The rankings do not include DU's 196.500 performance at Southern Utah on Monday. The scores from both the Southern Utah meet and Saturday's meet against Boise State will be factored into the rankings released on Monday, February 13.

LAST TIME OUT
In its second meet of the weekend, Denver posted it second-highest team score of the season (196.500) on Monday at Southern Utah. For the second meet in a row, Karr and Ross finished 2-3 in the all-around. Karr tied for the top spot on vault while Ogden tied for first on bars.

Schou led Denver on both beam and floor, earning the first 9.900 of her career on floor.

All six of DU's scores on bars were at least 9.800s and after a rough first routine on beam, the team followed up with five more scores of 9.800 or higher. Of Denver's 23 routines on Monday, 18 earned minimum scores of 9.800, the second most in a single meet this season behind 19 at Utah on January 20.

ABOUT BOISE STATE
Like Denver, Boise State's last meet was against Southern Utah when the Broncos hosted the Thunderbirds on February 3. BSU won the meet 197.025-194.325 and tied the fourth-highest team score in program history.

Boise State swept at least a share of all five individual titles. Shani Remme took the all-around and beam titles. Ann Stockwell tied for the vault title. Sandra Collantes and Diana Mejia shared the top spot on bars while Collantes also took home a share of the floor title along with Paige Urquhart.

Boise State holds the No. 8 national ranking this week, the highest the program has ever been ranked.

THE MATCH-UP
DU leads the all-time head-to-head record against Boise State 19-12-1, including a win against the Broncos earlier this year at Utah. Boise State last traveled to Denver on March 21, 2015, for the MRGC Championships, topping DU 196.625-196.075. The Broncos have not visited Denver in the regular season since March 15, 2014, where DU won 196.725-195.925.

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