TUCSON, Ariz. – The No. 17-ranked University of Denver women's gymnastics team dropped its first Big 12 Conference meet of the season, falling at No. 20 Arizona, 194.600-196.775, on Friday night.
 
DU started the meet with a strong bars rotation and five hit vaults in the second rotation before shifting its floor lineup and completely restructuring its beam lineup in the final half of the meet.
 
SIGNIFICANT STATS

• For the first time in her career, graduate student Bella Mabanta won the vault title, sticking her Yurchenko full for a 9.875 that was just a quarter tenth from her career best.
• Sophomore Madison Ulrich equaled her career high on beam with a 9.875 in the final rotation to tie for second overall.
• DU's 49.275 on bars was its highest on the event since the season opener.

BARS RECAP
Denver competed with its same six bars workers as in the last two meets but shuffled the order, posting scores above 9.800 in the final five routines. Fifth-year senior Rosie Casali continued to lead off the lineup, and graduate student Rylie Mundell maintained her spot as the anchor and posted DU's single-highest score of the day with a 9.900. Ulrich moved into the No. 2 slot and delivered a 9.825, which senior Mia Hebinck would later match after shifting up to the No. 5 spot. Juniors Kiley Rorich and Cecilia Cooley made up the middle section of the lineup, scoring a 9.875 and 9.850, respectively.
 
VAULT RECAP
DU kicked off the second rotation with back-to-back dynamic Yurchenko fulls from junior Mila Brusch and Mabanta with the latter sticking hers cold for a near-personal-best 9.875 that finished as the meet's top score outright on the event. Ulrich gave DU its first 10.0 start value of the rotation with her handspring front piked half before fellow sophomore Maddison Reidenbach and Mundell nearly stuck their Yurchenko 1.5s immediately afterward for a 9.825 and 9.800, respectively.
 
FLOOR RECAP
In the third rotation, DU made a couple more adjustments to the lineup from its first four meets of the year. Among the changes was welcoming back Mabanta to the lineup after stepping away for the last two meets. The graduate student hit her routine for the first time in 2025, though stepped out of bounds after a slight over-rotation on her final pass. Cooley and Mundell both logged 9.825s with Cooley staying in the No. 2 spot and Mundell shifting to No. 5. Ulrich resumed as the anchor but this time upgraded her first pass to a double layout for the first time in 2025. DU was forced to count a miss in the rotation after both Brusch and Rorich bailed on double tucks and turned them into single layouts. Both competitors successfully finished their routines and were not injured.
 
BEAM RECAP
Denver made its biggest lineup changes of the night in the final rotation, shaking up its beam order. For the first time in her career, Cooley took over the critical role of beam leadoff and delivered a hit with a 9.825 that was just a quarter tenth from her personal best. DU's normal leadoff performer, senior Momoko Iwai, moved back to the No. 6 spot and also hit her routine for a 9.850. Mundell and Ulrich stayed as back-to-back competitors but slide back to Nos. 3 and 4, and both also contributed scores in the 9.800 range, highlighted by Ulrich's career high-tying 9.875.
 
EXHIBITION NOTES
DU once again competed with an exhibition performer on all four events. Reidenbach took two of the spots, doing so on bars and floor for an 8.900 and 9.800, respectively. Sophomore Amanda Hargraves again went on vault and scored a 9.650. Freshman Sophia Hampp made her second exhibition appearance for DU so far, this time going on beam and hitting her routine for a 9.675.
 
PODIUM FINISHES
Vault
Mabanta: First Place – 9.875
Brusch: Second Place (tie) – 9.825
Reidenbach: Second Place (tie) – 9.825
 
Bars
Mundell: Third Place – 9.900
 
Beam
Ulrich: Second Place (tie) – 9.875
 
All-Around
Mundell: Second Place (tie) – 39.325
 
NEXT UP:
Denver returns home for two consecutive meets in Magness Arena, beginning with another Big 12 Conference competition against BYU on Saturday, February 8, at 7 p.m. MT.
 
TICKETS:
Tickets for the 2025 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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