AMES, Iowa – The University of Denver women's gymnastics team earned its second highest road score of the year to finish atop the final team standings of a tri meet at Iowa State on Friday night.
 
No. 19 Denver tallied a 196.725, ahead of host and Big 12 Conference opponent Iowa State (195.775) and No. 18-ranked NC State (195.000).
 
SIGNIFICANT STATS

• In addition to being the team's second best road score of 2025, DU's 196.725 ranks third among all of the team's scores this season so far.
  • The score will also allow the team to drop a 194.600 from its current NQS when the Week 9 rankings are released on Monday, March 3.
• For the third time this year, graduate student Bella Mabanta won the vault title and did so with a near-perfect 9.925 on her Yurchenko full (which has a 9.950 start value).
  • It is the first time in DU history since the Yurchenko full was devalued to a 9.950 in 2017 that a Denver gymnast has earned a perfect 9.950 from one judge on the vault.
• DU won at least a share of all five individual event titles.
  • Sophomore Madison Ulrich won titles in the all-around and on beam and floor.
  • With her beam win, she now owns at least one title on all four events plus the all-around in her career – joining graduate student Rylie Mundell as the only active DU gymnasts to have done so.
  • After winning the bars title, Mundell moved within three of DU's top 10 all-time for career titles won, now at 41.
• Denver's top event score of the night was a 49.350 on bars, which is its fourth highest score of the season on the event and its second highest at an away meet.
• For the fourth meet in a row, DU scored in the 49+ range on all four events.
  • DU also hit all 24 of its competitive routines and only counted two scores below a 9.800.

BARS RECAP
Denver got off to a hot start with a 49.350 on bars with all six scores hitting at least a 9.850. Fifth-year senior Rosie Casali just missed her season high set last week, leading off with a 9.875, which junior Kiley Rorich would also do two routines later. Sandwiched between Casali and Rorich was the first of three 9.850s for DU, coming Ulrich. Junior Cecilia Cooley would match that score in the No. 4 spot, and senior Mia Hebinck would also score a 9.850 in her return to the lineup after a week away. Mundell capped the rotation with what would be the only 9.900 of the meet on bars – and one of only three 9.9+ scores on any event for any team.
 
BEAM RECAP
DU repeated its beam lineup from its last meet for Friday night's competition and again delivered six hit routines. For the 10^th time in her career and for the third consecutive meet, Ulrich landed her career high of a 9.875 and led the entire meet on the event. Sophomore Ashley Gallen made the competitive lineup for the second time in her career and posted a 9.825 to tie for second overall and finish just .025 off her collegiate debut score from last week. Joining Gallen at a 9.825 was graduate student Abbie Thompson in the very next routine. Cooley gave Denver a fourth 9.800+ score from the leadoff position, and the team's final counted score came from senior Momoko Iwai immediately after Cooley.
 
FLOOR RECAP
Denver mixed up its floor lineup yet again and has yet to repeat the same lineup twice in 2025. For the fourth meet in a row, Rorich led off the rotation with a 9.825. A last-minute shuffle moved sophomore Maddison Reidenbach and Iwai into the Nos. 2 and 3 spots after the four-minute touch, and they both scored 9.750s for very solid routines. Cooley put Denver back in the 9.800 range as the scores began to build again for the back half of the lineup. Mabanta matched her 9.850 from last week, which was only .025 from her season high, and Ulrich anchored with a meet high-tying 9.875 that also equaled her season high – which she has now hit in four consecutive meets.
 
VAULT RECAP
As it did in the first rotation on bars, Denver counted only scores at or above 9.800 in the final rotation on vault. The highlight of the night was Mabanta's near-perfect 9.925 for a Yurchenko full, becoming a new career high. Ulrich followed by tying her season high of 9.850 in what would be DU's first of three 10.0 start value vaults. Reidenbach and Casali followed with a 9.800 and 9.825 for the next 10.0 starts, and sophomore Amanda Hargraves slotted in the No. 6 spot with another dynamic Yurchenko full for a 9.800.
 
EXHIBITION NOTES
Freshman Sophia Hampp claimed half of Denver's exhibition spots, going on vault and beam, and scoring a 9.675 and a 8.950, respectively. Reidenbach went on bars for the seventh meet in a row and earned a 9.650. For the first time in her collegiate career, Gallen claimed the floor exhibition slot – after previously only doing so on beam – and scored a 9.700.
 
PODIUM FINISHES
Vault
B. Mabanta: First Place – 9.925
 
Bars
Mundell: First Place – 9.900
Casali: Second Place (tie) – 9.875
Rorich: Second Place (tie) – 9.875
 
Beam
Ulrich: First Place – 9.875
Gallen: Second Place (tie) – 9.825
Thompson: Second Place (tie) – 9.825
 
Floor
Ulrich: First Place (tie) – 9.875
B. Mabanta: Third Place (tie) – 9.850
 
All-Around
Ulrich: First Place – 39.450
 
NEXT UP:
Denver returns to Magness Arena for the final time in 2025 when it hosts Arizona State for DU's Big 12 Conference finale on Sunday, March 9, at 1:45 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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