DENVER – The University of Denver gymnastics team is tied for No. 6 in the Week 1 Road to Nationals rankings, which were released on Monday.
 
This is the eighth year in a row that Denver has held a top-10 national rankings following its first meet of the season and is tied for the third-highest rankings following the team's season opener.
 
TEAM NATIONAL RANKINGS
Overall: tie-No. 6 (196.850 average)
Vault: No. 8 (49.250)
Bars: tie-No. 8 (49.350)
Beam: No. 5 (49.200)
Floor: tie-No. 15 (49.050)
 
DU's 196.850 at the Mean Girls Super 16 Gymnastics Championships on January 5 became the third-highest score in a season opener in program history and the top score in a season opener held on the road.
 
Denver also set program records for top team scores on vault and bars in the first meet of the season.
 
With its No. 6 ranking, Denver is up four spots from its preseason rankings (No. 10) for the second-consecutive season.
 
INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL RANKINGS
Senior Jessica Hutchinson
All-Around: No. 8 (39.525 average)
Vault: tie-No. 9 (9.900)
Bars: tie-No. 13 (9.925)
 
Freshman Madison Ulrich
All-Around: tie-No. 21 (39.325)
Vault: tie-No. 9 (9.900)
 
Senior Bella Mabanta
Beam: tie-No. 6 (9.925)
 
Senior Rylie Mundell
Bars: tie-No. 21 (9.900)
 
Hutchinson returns to the all-around rankings with a career-high No. 8 ranking after finishing the 2023 season ranked No. 16, earning her WCGA Regular-Season All-American honors. This is just the second time she has held a national vault ranking and is her debut in the bars rankings.
 
Ulrich joins teammate Hutchinson (2021) and Denver alumnae Lynnzee Brown (2018) and Maddie Karr (2017) in earning a national all-around ranking in the week immediately following her collegiate debut.
 
Mabanta's stunning beam routine in the season opener placed her among the best in the country and placed her in the national rankings for the first time in her career on the event. Her only other previous national rankings came on floor, both in the first week of the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
 
Mundell is ranked on bars following the season opener for the third time in her career. The senior ended 2023 tied for No. 21 nationally on the event and has been ranked on bars at least once in every season of her career.
 
No. 6 Denver hosts its home opener against Arizona State on Sunday, January 14, at 1:45 p.m. MT in Magness Arena. ASU begins its 2024 season on January 8 and was ranked No. 19 in the WCGA Preseason Coaches' Poll.
 
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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