DENVER – The No. 7-ranked University of Denver women's gymnastics team travels to Fort Worth, Texas, for a meeting of four top-25 teams at the Metroplex Challenge on Saturday, January 26. The meet is set for a 7:30 p.m. CT/6:30 p.m. MT start.
 
Joining the seventh-ranked Pioneers will be No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 15 Missouri and No. 21 Arkansas.
 
POSTSEASON PREP
Saturday's Metroplex Challenge meet will be held at the Fort Worth Convention Center, which is also the site for this year's NCAA National Championships on April 19-20. It presents teams with the opportunity to compete on podium and gain experience for the postseason.
 
DU last competed on podium at the Elevate the Stage meet in Toledo, Ohio, on February 23, 2018.
 
BARS BREAK THROUGH
Denver set a new program record on bars during its last meet, tallying a 49.525, which matched the highest bars score in the nation through the first three weeks of the season. Five of the top 10 bars score in DU history have now been set in either 2018 or 2019.
 
Junior Maddie Karr (Stillwater, Minn.) and sophomore Mia Sundstrom (Boulder, Colo.) both set new career highs during the rotation. Karr's near-perfect 9.975 ties the third-best bars mark in school history.
 
KARR CLOSING IN
Karr captured the vault and bars titles in DU's last meet on January 19, bringing her career total to 55 individual titles. The Denver junior currently holds the sixth-most titles in program history. With three more titles, she will move into fourth in the record books, overtaking Ashley Shible (currently fifth with 56 titles) and Moriah Martin (currently fourth with 57 titles). DU's all-time record holder is Nina McGee with 101 career titles.
 
BIG 12 BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK
This weekend's meet is the first of three consecutive for DU against Big 12 Conference opponents. During the next two weeks, Denver will compete against all three Big 12 programs at least once beginning with Oklahoma on Saturday. The Pioneers will then travel to West Virginia along with Iowa State next Saturday before hosting Oklahoma in Denver on February 10.
 
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Vault: Karr and sophomore Lynnzee Brown (Kansas City, Mo.) have each led DU's vault squad in scoring once this season: Karr last weekend and Brown in the season opener. Sundstrom and seniors Kaitlyn Schou (Orlando, Fla.) and Diana Chesnok (Charlotte, N.C.) have been mainstays in the lineup since last season while freshman Alexandria Ruiz (Lake Mary, Fla.) has joined them this year.
 
Bars: Denver's bars workers combined for a program-record 49.525 in the team's home opener last week, highlighted by career performances from Karr and Sundstrom. Two more Pioneers — Brown and senior Claire Kern (Charlotte, N.C.) — each contributed to the final team score and just missed their career highs by .025. Sophomore Emily Glynn (Longmont, Colo.) had the fifth counted score for DU during the rotation.
 
Beam: Schou anchored Denver's beam lineup on January 19, tying her personal best with a 9.950, which also matches the fifth-highest beam score in program history. Freshman Alexis Vasquez (Arcadia, Calif.) had DU's next-best mark with a 9.875, improving by nearly a full tenth over her collegiate debut the week before. Brown led off the rotation with a 9.850, which was just .025 off of her career high.
 
Floor: DU's 49.425 on floor featured three scores of at least 9.900. Brown captured her first floor title of the season with a 9.925 while both Schou and Karr earned 9.900s – Schou's matching her career high. All six of DU's floor competitors improved their scores on the event from the season opener at Alabama.
 
EYE ON THE RANKINGS
DU improved its national ranking this week, moving up to the No. 7 spot with an average score of 196.225. For the first time in program history, DU moved into the top five nationally on bars, holding a school-record ranking of No. 4. Denver is also in the top 10 on floor, sitting at No. 6. On vault, Denver is tied for No. 12, and the Pioneers are just outside of the top 25 on beam.
 
Four Pioneer gymnasts are ranked nationally as individuals as well. Sophomore Brown moved up to No. 11 in the all-around, and is currently tied for No. 13 on floor, tied for No. 19 on vault and tied for No. 21 on bars.
 
Karr, too, is ranked on bars, moving into a tie for No. 4 in the nation, which is a new career best. In the all-around, she is tied for No. 24 nationally.
 
Schou returned to the beam rankings, tying for No. 13 on the event.
 
Sundstrom joins Brown in a tie for No. 21 on bars, marking the first time in her career that she is nationally-ranked on the event.
 
This is the first time in DU history that three Pioneer gymnasts have been in the top 25 on bars simultaneously.
 
LAST TIME OUT
DU hosted Central Michigan, Texas Woman's and Sacramento State on January 19 in its home opener, finishing in first with a 196.175. The Pioneers set a school record on bars and then overcame a rough beam performance to finish with DU's highest floor score in nearly a year.
 
Denver swept the podiums in all five individual events. Brown captured the all-around and floor titles, Karr the vault and bars titles, and Schou the beam title.
 
Among the career highs set or tied during the meet were Karr's 9.975 on bars, Schou's 9.950 on beam and 9.900 on floor, and Sundstrom's 9.925 on bars.
 
ABOUT OKLAHOMA
The top-ranked Sooners last competed at North Carolina with Ball State on January 19, winning the meet with a team tally of 197.000. They swept the event titles with Brenna Dowell taking the wins in the all-around and on vault. Three OU gymnasts shared the bars title (Anastasia Webb, Karrie Thomas and Nichole Lehrmann) while Webb won on beam and Olivia Trautman did on floor. Maggie Nichols, who is ranked No. 1 in the nation in the all-around, did not compete.
 
DU and OU met three times in 2018, the last at NCAA Regionals in Minneapolis where OU came out on top 198.000-196.275. The margin was much closer at the Big 12 Championships with Oklahoma scoring a 197.775 to Denver's 197.075.
 
ABOUT MISSOURI
The Tigers, ranked No. 15 in the nation this week, lost to Auburn at home in their last meet by a final score of 195.825-194.975. Britney Ward won Missouri's only event title in the meet, doing so on beam. Ward also had the team's top score on vault. Aspen Tucker and Mary Nicholson led the Tigers on floor, and Tucker shared the team lead on bars with Becca Schugel and Morgan Porter. Porter finished third in the all-around.
 
Denver is 10-8 all-time against Missouri. The teams last met at the 2016 NCAA Regionals in Minneapolis where the Tigers edged the Pioneers 195.850-195.700. The most recent meeting between the teams before that was March 3, 2012, which DU won 194.100-194.025.
 
ABOUT ARKANSAS
The No. 21-ranked Razorbacks finished second to host Kentucky, 195.275-193.875, in their most recent meet. Kennedy Hambrick and Michaela Burton shared the beam title while Sophia Carter tied for first on floor. Sydney McGlone led the team on vault, and Sarah Shaffer had the Tigers' top bars mark. Jessica Yamzon placed fourth in the all-around.
 
This will be the 10^th meeting between Denver and Arkansas. DU holds a 6-3 record in the previous nine meets. The teams met in back-to-back weeks last season, first at Oklahoma where DU upset the then-higher-ranked Arkansas 196.525-195.700. The following week, Denver visited Arkansas and finished second by a final score of 197.300-196.725.
 
NEXT UP
The University of Denver women's gymnastics team, presented by Your Hometown Toyota Stores, will compete on the road again next week, traveling to Morgantown, W.Va., for an all-Big 12 matchup with West Virginia and Iowa State.
 
DU returns to Denver on Sunday, February 10, to host Big 12-opponent and No. 1-ranked Oklahoma at 2 p.m. in Magness Arena.
 
Single meet tickets are on sale for DU's remaining four home meets, starting at $9. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the Ritchie Center Box Office at 303-871-4625.
 
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