DENVER – The No. 12-ranked University of Denver women's gymnastics team tallied its second highest bars and beam scores of the season to top visiting Iowa State in DU's first Big 12 Conference home meet of the year. DU finished with a 196.850, ahead of Iowa State's 195.775
COACH'S NOTES:
From head coach
Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart: "It was certainly an improvement over our last meet. We know where we can improve, and I believe we will continue to get stronger and stronger every meet.
"The team has really been stepping up training, and we saw things transfer to the competition floor today. We're still making adjustments to our lineups, but the talent and our team's potential is as high as the top teams in the country."
SIGNIFICANT STATS
- Sophomore Jessica Hutchinson had the best meet of her career so far in just her second all-around appearance of 2022. She set a new personal best in the all-around by more than a tenth (39.625) and increased her career high on beam (9.950) for the second meet in a row.
- Junior Callie Schlottman stepped into the beam lineup and set a new career high with a 9.875.
- DU's bars score (49.374) was just .025 off its season high.
- Denver entered the final rotation with a 147.925, which was the team's second highest three-rotation score of the year.
- Despite changing lineups again, Denver saw an improvement of more than seven tenths over the team's last meet on February 6.
VAULT RECAP
DU opened the meet with four scores above 9.800 on vault, led by Hutchinson's season-high 9.875 that was only .025 from her career high. Graduate student
Emily Glynn just missed her season, posting a 9.825 while fellow graduate student
Mia Sundstrom and sophomore
Rylie Mundell finished off the rotation with matching 9.850s.
BARS RECAP
Denver began building momentum with one of its best bars rotations of the year. Mundell matched her season's best with a 9.925 to finish first overall, and Glynn scored her this 9.900+ score of the year. Hutchinson added another season high with a 9.875. Sophomore
Rosie Casali returned to the lineup for the first time in four weeks, scoring a 9.850. Sundstrom and senior
Alexandria Ruiz each earned a 9.825.
BEAM RECAP
Despite shaking up its beam lineup and order, Denver had one of its best rotations of the season. Hutchinson's new personal best 9.950 paced DU, which Mundell nearly matched with her 9.925 in the anchor position. Both routines were even more impressive considering there was a fall in the previous routine, adding more pressure to the sophomores. Schlottman made her first lineup since January 15 and set a new personal best with a 9.875. Freshman
Momoko Iwai again assumed the lead off position, scoring just .025 off her career high with a 9.850, and sophomore
Bella Mabanta's 9.825 was DU's final counted score.
FLOOR RECAP
Hutchinson capped her day with her second consecutive 9.925, missing her personal best by a quarter tenth. Glynn had a 9.825 while Ruiz started the rotation with a 9.800. Junior
Emma Brown also scored 9.800 in just her second floor lineup appearance of the year. Mabanta and Casali rounded out the rotation with Casali making her season debut on the event.
PODIUM FINISHES
All-Around
Hutchinson: First Place – 39.625
Ruiz: Second Place – 38.500
Vault
Hutchinson: Second Place (tie) – 9.875
Bars
Mundell: First Place – 9.925
Glynn: Second Place – 9.900
Hutchinson: Third Place (tie) – 9.875
Beam
Hutchinson: First Place – 9.950
Mundell: Second Place – 9.925
Schlottman: Third Place – 9.875
Floor
Hutchinson: First Place – 9.925
Glynn: Second Place (tie) – 9.825
NEXT UP:
Denver travels to Fort Worth, Texas, for a Big 12 vs. Pac-12 showdown at the Metroplex Challenge with Oklahoma, Stanford and Washington on Saturday, February 19.
DU returns home to close out the month by hosting Air Force on Sunday, February 27, at 2 p.m. in Magness Arena.
Season tickets, single meet tickets and group tickets are all on sale and can be
purchased online or by calling 303-871-4625.
CORONAVIRUS UPDATES
Masks are required at all indoor athletic events. For the latest University of Denver updates on the coronavirus, click here.
TICKETS
Tickets for the 2022 DU Gymnastics season are now on sale. Season tickets are available starting at $40, and single meet tickets begin at $12. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 303-871-4625.
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- OUR JOURNEY, OUR TIME –
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