WHO: No. 10 Denver vs. No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 11 UCLA, Stanford
WHAT: Blackout Magness Arena meet
WHERE: Magness Arena (Denver, Colorado)
WHEN: Sunday, January 21, at 1:45 p.m. MT
 
MEET PROMOTIONS:
For the second year in a row, Denver will host its Blackout Magness event. Fans are encouraged to join the DU gymnasts in wearing black to the meet.
 
Sunday is also Denver's annual alumni reunion. In honor of 2024 being the 50^th year of Denver Gymnastics, this year's reunion is expected to feature more than 70 alumni – double the average over the last several years. All alumni will be recognized during a pre-meet ceremony, slated to begin at 1:30 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT:
Denver hosted Arizona State in its home opener on January 14, putting up a 196.900-196.375 win over its future Big 12 Conference opponent. In addition to increasing its overall team score, DU improved its beam and floor scores from the first meet of the year while equaling its mark on bars.
 
For the second meet in a row, senior Jessica Hutchinson won the all-around and floor titles while freshman Madison Ulrich again finished second in the all-around. Senior Rylie Mundell collected her first title of the season, doing so on bars.
 
EYE ON THE RANKINGS:
DU sits at No. 10 in the Road to Nationals rankings following the second week of the season, marking the eighth-straight year that Denver has been ranked in the top 10 nationally through its first two meets.
 
Denver adds top-15 rankings on three events including top five on beam (No. 4) and top 10 on bars (No. 7). Individually, Hutchinson is tied for No. 12 in the all-around; Mundell moved up to a tie for No. 8 on bars; and senior Bella Mabanta is tied for No. 13 on beam.
 
QUICK HITS:

• Ulrich was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week for the second-straight week after improving her scores in the all-around and on three events over her debut in the season opener. She also placed second in the all-around for the second time in a row.
• DU is expecting one of its largest regular-season crowds of the year for Sunday's meet.
  • The last time Denver hosted Oklahoma, DU set a program attendance record with a standing-room-only crowd of nearly 6,500 on January 29, 2023.
• Denver will face three of its 11 Power-5 opponents in Sunday's meet. In total, DU will compete against all four of its Big 12 opponents while also seeing teams from the Pac-12, SEC and Big Ten in 2024.
  • Sunday's meet features a showdown between the Big 12 Conference (Denver, Oklahoma) and the Pac-12 Conference (UCLA, Stanford).
• Denver and Oklahoma will meet in consecutive weeks, starting with Sunday's meet before DU travels to OU on January 26.
  • It is the first of two times that Denver will compete against a Big 12 opponent in back-to-back weeks this year (also: Iowa State on February 11 and February 18).

SCOUTING THE SOONERS:
Oklahoma sits at No. 1 in the country following two 197.850+ scores to begin the 2024 season, including the nation's top score this year (197.900) en route to winning its session at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad on January 13. Helping lead the Sooners in 2024 are all-arounders Faith Torrez and Audrey Davis, who are both ranked in the top 10 in the Week 2 rankings.
 
OU is Denver's second-most common opponent all-time with Sunday set to be the teams' 59^th all-time meeting. The teams last met at the 2023 Big 12 Championship where Oklahoma won the title while Denver finished as the runner-up. OU last visited Denver on January 29, 2023, and the teams will meet again next week at Oklahoma before seeing each other once more at the 2024 Big 12 Championship, which OU will host on March 23.
 
View DU's complete history against Oklahoma.
 
SCOUTING THE BRUINS:
UCLA jumped to No. 11 in the Road to Nationals rankings following its 197.100 at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad on January 13 where the Bruins placed third (behind session-winner Oklahoma and LSU but ahead of Utah). Selena Harris is the No. 6-ranked all-arounder in the country and is also ranked in the top 10 on vault and bars.
 
This will be the 14^th time that Denver and UCLA have competed against each other and the first since the 2019 NCAA Championship Final where UCLA placed third with Denver just behind in fourth. They haven't met in the regular season since February 2011, and this is the first time UCLA will make the trip to Denver since February 10, 2007.
 
View DU's complete history against UCLA.
 
SCOUTING THE CARDINAL:
Stanford made its season debut at Michigan on January 12 after sitting out the first week of the NCAA season. The Cardinal overcame having only five competitors on vault and bars to finish with big beam and floor rotations including tying the second-highest beam score in the country so far (49.425). Chloe Widner is tied for No. 10 nationally in the all-around and adds a tie for No. 5 on beam.
 
DU and Stanford have met 17 times previously, most recently at the 2022 Metroplex Challenge – the last of seven-straight meetings at neutral sites. Stanford's last trip to Denver was for 2004 NCAA Regionals, and the Cardinal have not competed in Denver in the regular season since January 18, 2003.
 
View DU's complete history against Stanford.
 
WHAT'S NEXT:
No. 10 Denver closes January with its final trip to Oklahoma for a regular-season Big 12 meet on Friday, January 26. Competition is set to begin at 7 p.m. CT/6 p.m. MT.
 
TICKETS:
Tickets for the 2024 University of Denver gymnastics season are now on sale and can be purchased online, by calling 303-871-4625 or by visiting the Ritchie Center Box Office.
 
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