WHO: No. 18 Denver at NCAA Second Round (Session II)
WHAT: DU seeks one of two team spots in NCAA Regional Final
WHERE: Jon M. Huntsman Center (Salt Lake City, Utah)
WHEN: Thursday, April 3, at 7 p.m. MT
 
LAST TIME OUT:
Denver placed third at the 2025 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship on March 22, scoring a 196.400 in the evening session of the competition. DU improved its team score in every rotation, peaking with a 49.225 on vault to end the night with what finished as one of the best postseason rotations on the event in program history.
 
Junior Mila Brusch and graduate student Bella Mabanta led off that vault lineup with back-to-back 9.900s – Brusch's matching her career high – to become Big 12 co-champions on the event.
 
EYE ON THE RANKINGS:
DU again maintained its No. 18 national ranking, a place it has held since the first week of March, while also finishing with top-25 rankings on three events (vault, bars, beam). Four of DU's final team NQSs finished in the top 10 in program history including its final overall NQS of 196.735.
 
No Denver gymnasts finished in the top 25 individually, but graduate student Rylie Mundell missed such an accomplishment by the smallest possible margin of .005 on bars, ending with a final NQS of 9.900.
 
QUICK HITS:

• This will be Denver's 26^th consecutive appearance at NCAA Regionals and 28^th overall.
  • Six times, Denver has advanced to NCAA Nationals as a team, most recently as the NCAA Regional champion in 2023.
  • In 24 of the last 25 seasons (excluding the canceled 2020 postseason), at least one Denver gymnast has qualified for NCAA Nationals.
• This week marks DU's third trip to the Salt Lake City area in the last seven weeks.
  • Denver competed at the Jon M. Huntsman Center for a Big 12 regular-season meet at Utah on February 21 where DU posted its highest score of the year (197.525).
  • DU's most recent meet was less than 25 miles from the Utah campus as well, with the Big 12 Championship being held at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah, on March 22.
• Salt Lake City is Denver's most frequented location for NCAA Regionals with DU competing at Utah five times previously.
  • Most recently, Denver competed at the Utah Regional in 2010.
  • Denver booked its first-ever team trip to NCAA Nationals from Salt Lake City as well, becoming the first team from the former "small college division" to do so in 2001.

NCAA REGIONALS FORMAT & DRAW:
NCAA Regionals is hosted at four campus sites – this year: Alabama, Penn State, Utah and Washington – with each site hosting four meets across four days. Nine teams and multiple individual qualifiers compete at each site, all seeking berths to the NCAA National Championships.
 
The two lowest-ranked teams at each site compete in a dual meet in the NCAA First Round with the winner advancing to the NCAA Second Round. The second round features two quad meet sessions with the top two teams in each session advancing to the NCAA Regional Final, which is also a quad meet where two team berths to the NCAA National Championships are on the line.
 
Individual qualification to NCAA Nationals is determined by competition in the NCAA Second Round and is determined after the two team berths have been secured in the NCAA Regional Final.
 
No. 18-ranked Denver has received a bye into the second session of the NCAA Second Round and will face No. 4-ranked Utah, No. 13-ranked Stanford and the winner of the first-round meet between BYU and Utah State.
 
The first session of the second round will feature No. 5-ranked UCLA, No. 10-ranked Minnesota, No. 24-ranked Southern Utah and Boise State.
 
Individual qualifiers who will be rotating with Denver during the second round will be: Kylie Eaquinto (BYU) or Avery Bibbey (Utah State) on bars, Brynlee Andersen (BYU) or Sydney Jelen (Utah State) on beam, and Maya Davis (Brown) on floor. Eaquinto will also rotate with Denver on vault should BYU not advance as a team to the second round.
 
SCOUTING THE RED ROCKS:
Utah won the Big 12 Gymnastics Championship with a 197.775 on March 22 and claimed at least a share of all five individual titles – led by Big 12 Gymnast of the Year Grace McCallum in the all-around and on vault.
 
This will be the third meeting between Denver and Utah in 2025 – with both previous meetings coming in the Salt Lake City area including at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in the regular season where DU scored a season-high 197.525. Both teams also competed in the evening session of the Big 12 Championship just down the road from the Utah campus at the Maverik Center.
 
Of the teams' previous 22 meetings, 19 have come in the postseason, and eight of those were held in Salt Lake City.
 
View DU's complete history against Utah.
 
SCOUTING THE CARDINAL:
Stanford won the ACC Championship with a season's-best 197.775 on March 22. Like Utah, the Cardinal claimed at least a share of all five individual titles in their conference championship meet, highlighted by Anna Roberts tying for the all-around and floor wins.
 
DU and Stanford also met once already in 2025 when Denver made its first trip to Stanford since 2002, scoring a 196.475 in DU's regular-season finale on March 14. This will also be the second consecutive year that Denver and Stanford will meet at NCAA Regionals after a nail-biter in the 2024 NCAA Regional Final in Berkeley, Calif., that saw Stanford top Denver by just .125.
 
View DU's complete history against Stanford.
 
SCOUTING THE COUGARS:
BYU topped the first session of the Big 12 Championship on March 22 and saw its 196.275 finish fourth overall, placing the Cougars ahead of Arizona State, which competed in the evening session. Anna Bramblett-Wilde won a share of the bars title while teammate Brynlee Andersen was recognized as co-Event Specialist of the Year.
 
In their only head-to-head meeting in 2025, Denver hosted BYU on February 8 and posted a 196.625-195.825 win. The teams have met nine times previously at NCAA Regionals but not since 2016.
 
View DU's complete history against BYU.
 
SCOUTING THE AGGIES:
Utah State won the Mountain West Championship for the first time, scoring a 196.100 on March 22. Brianna Brooks won a share of the conference title on bars and was named the Championship MVP.
 
DU and Utah State last competed against each other in Denver on March 7, 2021, in a 197.650-196.775 win for DU. Seven times previously, they have faced each other at NCAA Regionals, though the last time was 2007 when Denver went on to advance to NCAA Nationals.
 
View DU's complete history against Utah State.
 
TICKETS:
Season ticket renewals and deposits for the 2026 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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