[13] Denver |  | Big 12 Championships |
Mar. 22, 2018
DENVER ââ'¬" The No. 13-ranked University of Denver women's gymnastics team will compete at the 2018 Big 12 Championships in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday, March 24, with No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 25 West Virginia and host Iowa State.
SIX ALL-CONFERENCE NODS FOR DU
On Wednesday, the Big 12 Conference announced the All-Big 12 Team featuring two Pioneers who earned a combined six awards. Sophomore Maddie Karr (Stillwater, Minn.) was one of only two Big 12 gymnasts to win five honors this year, doing so in the all-around and on all four events. Karr now owns six All-Big 12 awards after earning one on vault last year.
Junior Kaitlyn Schou (Orlando, Fla.) joined Karr on the All-Big 12 Beam Team. This is the first all-conference honor of her career.
Denver and Oklahoma swept the all-conference spots this year, OU with nine honors and DU with six. It is the second straight year that multiple DU student-athletes earned a spot on the All-Big 12 Team, and this year's six honors are DU's most since Denver joined the conference as an affiliate member in 2016.
GLYNN ADDS BIG 12 WEEKLY AWARD
In the final weekly conference awards, freshman Emily Glynn (Longmont, Colo.) claimed the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honor, the first of her career. She set a new career high on bars (9.925) last week to help DU tie the program record on the event (49.450).
In total, Denver finished the 2018 season with eight weekly honors: three from Karr; two each from Schou and freshman Lynnzee Brown (Kansas City, Mo.); and one from Glynn.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Vault: Karr finished the regular season as DU's top vaulter by RQS and is followed by senior Nikole Addison (Fort Myers, Fla.) and junior Diana Chesnok (Charlotte, N.C.). Schou tied her career high (9.850) at Arkansas to share the team lead with Addison. Brown returned to the vault line-up for the first time in five weeks last Friday.
Bars: DU tied its program record on bars (49.450) last week with the help of career highs from Karr, Glynn and Brown, who have the team's top three RQSs on the event this year. Four of the program's top nine bars performances have come this season, all accomplished at road meets. Five DU gymnasts have earned at least a 9.900 on bars this year: Karr, Brown, Glynn, Chesnok and freshman Mia Sundstrom (Boulder, Colo.).
Beam: Schou captured her fourth beam title of the season last week and is tied for the team lead with Karr, based on RQS. The two have combined for 12 scores of at least 9.900 this year. During the regular season, DU earned the third-highest (49.425), sixth-highest (49.375) and tied the seventh-highest (49.325) beam scores in program history.
Floor: Karr and Addison have Denver's top floor RQSs, both above 9.900. They have combined to win five of DU's nine floor titles this year. Last week, the floor squad earned the team's top road score on the event this season (49.275) with five scores above 9.800 including from Schou, Glynn and Sundstrom.
EYE ON THE RANKINGS
Denver improved its RQS by a tenth and a half last week to 196.675, moving up two spots to No. 13 in this week's national rankings.
The Pioneers are again ranked inside the top 15 on all four events including in the top 10 on bars, coming in at No. 8. DU is No. 11 on vault, tied for No. 12 on floor and No. 15 on beam.
Karr sits at No. 6 in the all-around again this week. The sophomore is again ranked on all four events as well: tied for No. 7 on vault, tied for No. 10 on beam, tied for No. 13 on bars and tied for No. 15 on floor.
Schou joins Karr in the beam rankings again, tied for No. 10 as well.
Addison returned to the floor rankings this week, coming in tied for No. 24.
Glynn is nationally ranked for the first time in her career, tied for No. 25 on bars.
LAST TIME OUT
Denver wrapped up its regular season at Arkansas with Iowa State last Friday, finishing second with its highest road score of the season (196.725). The team tied the school record on bars (49.450) and earned a new season high road score on floor (49.275). Karr captured her seventh all-around title of the year while Schou took home the win on beam.
ABOUT OKLAHOMA
The Sooners are coming off a two-meet weekend, finishing first in both meets-first at Alabama (197.925-197.150) on Friday and then at Texas Woman's (198.175-193.475) on Sunday. Maggie Nichols holds the top spot in the Big 12 Conference in the all-around and on all four events. Brenna Dowell joins her in the top three on vault and floor. Nicole Lehrmann is second on bars, and Anastasia Webb is tied for second on floor.
ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA
The Mountaineers finished their regular season with a season-high 196.775 to win a five-team meet hosted by Towson, taking at least a share of all five individual titles. Kirah Koshinski is in the top six in the conference on vault and floor. Zaakira Muhammad leads WVU on bars, and Carly Galpin leads on beam.
ABOUT IOWA STATE
The Cyclones joined Denver at Arkansas on Friday, finishing third with a 196.075. Haylee Young shared the win on floor, is the No. 4-ranked all-arounder in the Big 12 Conference and is No. 8 on beam on floor. Meaghan Sievers is in the top 10 in the conference on vault, as is Hilary Green on bars and Kelsey Paz on floor.
THE MATCH-UP
DU and OU met this season in a quad meet at Oklahoma on March 9 where OU finished first (198.100) and DU was second (196.525).
WVU visited Denver on February 10 for the teams' only meeting of the season. DU won that meet (196.725) while West Virginia was third (194.925).
Denver and Iowa State met last week at Arkansas where DU finished second (196.725) and ISU was third (196.075).
Oklahoma won the 2017 Big 12 Championships with a 197.850. Denver was second (196.475), West Virginia third (195.575) and Iowa State fourth (195.500).
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