DENVER – The University of Denver women's gymnastics team begins its 2019 season on Friday, January 11, with a trip to No. 18 Alabama. Also competing in the meet will be No. 6 Michigan and Bowling Green. Competition begins at 6:30 p.m. MT (7:30 p.m. CT) in Coleman Coliseum in Tusacaloosa, Ala.
 
DU, which did not compete during the first week of the season, was ranked No. 13 in the preseason coaches' poll. Alabama was No. 6 in the poll, and Michigan was No. 9. Bowling Green was not ranked.
 
ABOUT DENVER
DU is coming off a successful 2018 campaign that saw the Pioneers advance to their 20^th-consecutive appearance at NCAA Regionals. Then-freshman Lynnzee Brown (Kansas City, Mo.) represented Denver at the NCAA National Championships as an individual all-around competitor, which continued DU's streak of seasons with at least one gymnast at NCAA Nationals – now at 19 years.
 
Brown is one of nine returning Pioneers from last season including regular-season All-Americans junior Maddie Karr (Stillwater, Minn.) and senior Kaitlyn Schou (Orlando, Fla.). At the 2018 Big 12 Championship, Schou took home the Big 12 beam title while Karr was a co-champion on vault and floor.
 
Schou's fellow seniors Grace Broadhurst (Broomfield, Colo.), Diana Chesnok (Charlotte, N.C.) and Claire Kern (Charlotte, N.C.) also return for their final seasons.
 
Denver welcomes four freshmen in 2019: Natalie Morton (Waycross, Ga.), Maddie Quarles (Andover, Minn.), Alexandria Ruiz (Lake Mary, Fla.) and Alexis Vasquez (Arcadia, Calif.).
 
FRESH FACES
Denver's 2019 freshmen will add depth to team's lineups. Morton is from Texas Dreams Gymnastics and graduated from high school early to join DU this season. She is a two-time JO Nationals qualifier, finishing fourth on bars and sixth in the all-around in 2016.
 
Quarles is out of Twin City Twisters and owns 10 Region 4 titles from her JO career. She finished fifth in the all-around, second on floor and third on bars at 2017 JO Nationals.
 
Ruiz is a former junior elite from Ace Gymnastics. In her two appearances at the prestigious Nastia Liukin Cup, she finished in the top-six on floor twice – third in 2016 and sixth in 2012.
 
Vasquez is also a former junior elite and joins DU from Winner's Academy. She was named to the 2014 U.S. Junior National Team, capturing the beam title at the 2014 P&G Championships.
 
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Vault: DU boasts three 10.0 start values on vault from Karr, Brown and sophomore Emily Glynn (Longmont, Colo.). Karr has finished No. 6 in the nation on vault in each of her two seasons with Denver. Both sophomore Mia Sundstrom (Boulder, Colo.) and senior Chesnok competed on the event in every meet last year. Freshman Ruiz and senior Schou will also look to add depth to the lineup. The Pioneers only lost one vault from the 2018 season.
 
Bars: The entire 2018 bars squad – that set a school record and finished No. 6 in the nation – returns for DU in 2019. Karr and Glynn both finished nationally-ranked on the event last year. Joining them are returners Kern, Chesnok, Brown and Sundstrom, as well as newcomer Ruiz, who will contend for lineup spots. Broadhurst, who has missed each of the last two seasons with injuries, is healthy and looking to join the bars rotation.
 
Beam: Schou and Karr, who were both nationally-ranked on beam at the end of 2018, will look to lead DU once again on the event. Sundstrom, who spent three weeks in the national beam rankings last year, also returns with lineup-regular Brown. Junior Courtney Loper (West Des Moines, Iowa) competed in exhibition three times in 2018, and will join freshmen Vasquez and Ruiz in adding depth on the event. Denver only lost a single beam routine from last year.
 
Floor: All but one of DU's floor routines from 2018 return this year. The lineup is led by Brown and Karr, who consistently scored in the 9.900 range last season. Schou and Sundstrom competed on floor every meet last year while Kern and Glynn also made numerous appearances. Loper is expected to again compete for a lineup spot while the freshmen class will look to add more depth for the Pioneers.
 
EYE ON THE RANKINGS
The Pioneers finished 2018 ranked No. 15 in the nation and inside the top 20 on all four events.
 
DU's final national ranking of No. 6 on bars in last season was a new program record. Denver was also No. 10 nationally on vault, which was the third-best finish in program history.
 
Karr became the first DU gymnast to finish the season nationally-ranked on all four events and in the all-around, highlighted by a No. 5 finish in the all-around and a tie for No. 6 on vault. She finished with a 39.630 RQS in the all-around to become the new program record holder by more than half a tenth.
 
Schou earned a top-10 finish on beam to lead Denver in the national rankings at the end of 2018. Her final RQS of 9.920 was the second-highest in DU history, aided by a career-best 9.950 performance that tied the program's fifth-highest score.
 
Glynn added another top-20 final national ranking for DU, doing so on bars. Her 9.950 on the event at the Big 12 Championship tied the seventh-highest score in program history and earned her a runner-up spot in the competition.
 
LAST TIME OUT
DU wrapped up its 2018 season at NCAA Regionals in Minneapolis, finishing third overall with a 196.275 – the second-highest Regionals score in program history. DU added two more scores to the record book with a 49.350 on floor and 49.325 on bars, both the school's second-best marks at NCAA Regionals.
 
After a midseason injury, Brown returned to the all-around at NCAA Regionals and competed on floor for the first time in eight meets to advance to the NCAA National Championships as an individual all-around qualifier. In her first NCAA Nationals appearance, she finished tied for No. 9 on bars in her semifinal, missing an All-American nod by the smallest possible margin of .0125.
 
ABOUT ALABAMA
Alabama opened its 2019 season at home last weekend, scoring a 194.750 to top Northern Illinois, Temple and SE Missouri. Lexi Graber took home wins in the all-around, on beam and floor. Teammates Shallon Olsen (vault) and Emily Gaskins (bars) completed the team's title sweep.
 
Returning for the Crimson Tide in 2019 are All-SEC honorees Wynter Childers and Maddie Desch. Alabama welcomes six freshmen for head coach Dana Duckworth's fifth season.
 
This will be the eighth all-time meeting between Denver and Alabama. The Crimson Tide own the previous seven wins including the teams' last competition on February 20, 2016, at Penn State. DU last visited Tusacaloosa for NCAA Regionals in 2013.
 
ABOUT MICHIGAN
Michigan competed at the Cancun Classic last weekend to open its season and won with a 196.050 over Iowa State, West Virginia and Rutgers. Natalie Wojcik captured the all-around title in addition to her wins on vault, bars and beam. Emma McLean shared the floor title.
 
Six freshmen join the Wolverines' eight returners from the 2018 season including All-Big Ten team members McLean and Lexi Funk. Head coach Bev Plocki is in her 30^th season.
 
DU holds a 2-6-1 all-time record against Michigan. In their last meeting – at last year's Elevate the Stage meet in Toledo, Ohio – the teams tied atop the scoreboard with matching 196.575s.
 
ABOUT BOWLING GREEN
Bowling Green, like Denver, has not yet competed in 2019. The Falcons' last competed at the 2018 MAC Championships, finishing third with a 195.850. Five BGSU gymnasts qualified for NCAA Regionals, and Jovannah East advanced to the NCAA National Championships in the all-around where she finished No. 11 in Semifinal I.
 
The Falcons welcome four freshmen in 2019 and return 15 from last year. Among the returners is NCAA Nationals-qualifier East. This will be head coach Kerrie Turner's 12^th season.
 
DU and BGSU have met five times previously with the Pioneers winning four of them. They last met at Elevate the Stage on February 23, 2018, where Denver topped Bowling Green 196.575-194.750.
 
NEXT UP
The University of Denver women's gymnastics team, presented by Your Hometown Toyota Stores, will host its home opener next Saturday, January 19, against Central Michigan, Sacramento State and Texas Woman's at 6 p.m. in Hamilton Gymnasium. Season tickets are still available starting at $35, and single meet tickets are also on sale. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the Ritchie Center Box Office at 303-871-4625.
 
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