NORMAN, Okla. – The No. 5-ranked University of Denver women's gymnastics team earned its highest-ever postseason score at Saturday's Big 12 Championship meet, finishing with a 197.250. It was the team's eighth-consecutive score of 197+, continuing the program-record streak.
 
Denver finished second overall, just .325 behind host No. 1 Oklahoma – the smallest margin between the two schools since DU joined the conference in 2016. No. 23 Iowa State finished third with a 195.950, and West Virginia was fourth with a 195.600.
 
Junior Maddie Karr (Stillwater, Minn.) became the 2019 Big 12 All-Around Champion with her 39.600 performance. She also captured a share of the wins of vault and bars, giving her five-career Big 12 titles.
 
Sophomore Lynnzee Brown (Kansas City, Mo.) captured her first Big 12 title, sharing the win on vault with Karr. She also tied for second in the all-around with a 39.550.
 
"They're locked in," head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart said. "They were consistent from the get-go, went 24-for-24 and showed tremendous character again. They did exactly as they do in training and stayed focused on one routine at a time and one event at a time."
 
The Pioneers began the meet on bars with their strongest rotation of the meet, earning a 49.425, which is DU's second-highest postseason score ever on the event and the seventh-highest score in program history. Karr captured a share of the Big 12 title with her 9.950 performance. Brown was just off that pace, earning a 9.925 and a tie for third overall. All six of DU's scores were above 9.800 with 9.850s from freshman Alexandria Ruiz (Lake Mary, Fla.), sophomore Emily Glynn (Longmont, Colo.) and senior Diana Chesnok (Charlotte, N.C.). Senior Claire Kern (Charlotte, N.C.) added a 9.825.
 
On beam in the second rotation, DU tallied a 49.250 for a new program record postseason score on the event. Senior Kaitlyn Schou (Orlando, Fla.) tied for second overall along with teammate freshman Alexis Vasquez (Arcadia, Calif.). Sophomore Mia Sundstrom (Boulder, Colo.) earned a 9.850 while Brown and Karr each had 9.800s.
 
Denver scored a 49.225 on floor, which was the highest score of the meet on the event. Karr's 9.900 lead the team and placed third overall. Brown earned DU's second highest score with a 9.875, and junior Courtney Loper (West Des Moines, Iowa) tied her season high with a 9.850. Ruiz and Schou added matching 9.800s as well.
 
DU's 49.350 on vault in the final rotation became the program's second-highest ever in the postseason after both Karr and Brown posted 9.950s to share the Big 12 vault title. Brown's became a new career high, and Schou tied her personal best with a 9.850 after sticking her vault. All three of Denver's remaining vaulters – Ruiz, Chesnok and Sundstrom – had 9.800s.
 
Four Pioneers earned a place on the All-Big 12 Championship Team led by Karr in the all-around and on vault and bars. Brown captured a spot on both the all-around and vault teams while both Vasquez and Schou finished on the beam team. The All-Big 12 Championship Team is determined by the top-three finishers on each event and the all-around.
 
"It was a high-level Big 12 Conference Championship that went back and forth between routines and events, and it came down to the last routine," Kutcher-Rinehart added after the meet.
 
After the competition, the conference announced Kutcher-Rinehart as the Big 12 Coach of the Year, her second in three years.
 
The University of Denver women's gymnastics team, presented by Your Hometown Toyota Stores, will learn its seeding and placement for NCAA Regionals on Monday, March 25. The NCAA Selection Show is set for 3:00 p.m. MT and will be streamed on the NCAA website.
 
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