ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The No. 9-ranked University of Denver women's gymnastics team posted the second-highest road score in program history (197.750) in its regular-season finale at No. 10 Michigan (197.550) on Friday night.
 
For the second time this year, senior Jessica Hutchinson tied the Denver program record in the all-around with a 39.825, using two near-perfect 10.0s on beam and floor in the back half of the meet.
 
DU was without senior Rosie Casali for the meet following a fall during warm-ups. As a result, Denver shuffled each of its lineups at the last minute and still scored at least 49.300 on all four.
 
COACH'S NOTES:
From Joy S. Burns Head Women's Gymnastics Coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart: "I'm so incredibly proud, once again, of their resiliency and grit. We lost one of our top all-arounders for the night, but I'm proud of how different people stepped up in the lineups on all four events. There continues to be room to improve, but they did a fantastic job closing out the meet on beam in the final rotation and after having a fall in the first routine. This put us in a confident position going into postseason."
 
SIGNIFICANT STATS

• Denver's 197.750 was just a quarter tenth from the program record at an away meet (197.7725 on March 1, 2019, at Illinois).
  • Denver also tied the third- and sixth-highest floor (49.550) and beam (49.475) road scores, respectively, in program history.
• Hutchinson's 39.825 in the all-around became a new DU record at an away meet, topping the previous record of 39.775 from Lynnzee Brown at BYU on March 11, 2021.
  • She collected three more individual titles in the meet, bringing her career haul to 59, sixth-most in DU history.
  • Her 31 titles in 2024 are now tied for the fifth-most in a single season by a Denver gymnast.
• DU's 10 scores of 9.9+ tied for the fourth-most at an away meet in program history.
• Freshman Madison Ulrich tied her career high in the all-around with a 39.550, again equaling the fifth-highest score by a DU freshman.

BARS RECAP
DU opened the meet with sophomore Kiley Rorich leading off the event for the first time in her career and setting the tone with a 9.850. Ulrich followed it with a 9.925, a score that Hutchinson would equal two routines later and helping to get the rotation back on track after a mistake in the No. 3 spot. Senior Rylie Mundell equaled her season best with a meet-high-tying 9.950, and junior Momoko Iwai made just the second competitive lineup appearance of her career on the event, hitting her routine to ensure DU would not count the mistake from the first half of the rotation.
 
VAULT RECAP
Denver opted to compete with just five student-athletes on vault – though senior Bella Mabanta was prepared to compete but was scratched at the conclusion of the rotation. Sophomore Mila Brusch and freshman Amanda Hargraves both hit their Yurchenko fulls with small adjustments for a 9.825 and 9.800, respectively. Ulrich gave DU its first of three 10.0 start value, overcooking her front pike half but earning another 9.825. Mundell and Hutchinson finished the lineup with big Yurchenko 1.5s, Mundell's with a small hop in place and Hutchinson's with a stick for the second week in a row.
 
FLOOR RECAP
Denver saw all six of its floor workers score above the 9.800 mark with Rorich leading off with the first counting score of 9.850. Senior Abbie Thompson nearly matched her score with a 9.825, and Iwai followed with a 9.875. Mabanta returned to the lineup for the first time since January 21, delivering a 9.925 that was only .025 from her career best. Ulrich, too, scored a 9.925 to match her personal best, setting up Hutchinson for her first near-perfect score of the night and her sixth floor score of 9.950+ this year.
 
BEAM RECAP
DU's beam squad banded together to overcome a fall in its first routine to again count only scores at or above 9.850. Thompson got the rotation back on track immediately with a 9.875, her second-highest score of the season. Junior Mia Hebinck made the second full beam lineup of her career and added a 9.850 before Ulrich hit a 9.875 for the sixth time in 2024. Mabanta extended her 9.9+ streak on beam to three routines, and Hutchinson again anchored the lineup with a near-perfect 9.975 – overcoming the loudest crowd noise of the night during her routine to keep DU from counting a fall.
 
EXHIBITION NOTES
Despite being without Casali on all four events, DU still fielded an exhibition on both beam and floor. Hargraves took the beam exhibition slot for the second meet in a row and again hit her routine while Brusch made her fifth floor exhibition appearance of the year.
 
PODIUM FINISHES
Vault
Hutchinson: First Place (tie) – 9.950
Mundell: Third Place – 9.900
 
Bars
Mundell: First Place (tie) – 9.950
Hutchinson: Third Place (tie) – 9.925
Ulrich: Third Place (tie) – 9.925
 
Beam
Hutchinson: First Place – 9.975
 
Floor
Hutchinson: Second Place (tie) – 9.975
 
All-Around
Hutchinson: First Place – 39.825
 
NEXT UP:
Denver begins the 2024 postseason at the 2024 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship, hosted by Oklahoma, on Saturday, March 23.
 
TICKETS:
Season ticket deposits for the 2025 University of Denver gymnastics season are now on available and can be purchased online, by calling 303-871-4625 or by visiting the Ritchie Center Box Office.

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