WHO: No. 15 Denver at West Virginia
WHAT: Denver's Big 12 opener
WHERE: Hope Coliseum (Morgantown, W. Va.)
WHEN: Saturday, January 24, at 4 p.m. ET/2 p.m. MT
 
SCHEDULE UPDATE:
Due to anticipated weather conditions, Saturday's meet start time has been changed to 4 p.m. ET/2 p.m. MT. (The meet was originally scheduled to start at 6 p.m. ET.)
 
LAST TIME OUT:
Denver hit the road for the first time in 2026 in a top-25 meeting at then-No. 25 Texas Woman's with Arizona on January 16. DU came away with a 195.850 to finish atop the final standings, doing so despite missing key routines on all four events.
 
Junior Maddison Reidenbach won the all-around title in what was just her second career all-around appearance and also added a win on vault. Senior Cecilia Cooley won her second consecutive floor title while freshman Kaitlynd Kastl won a share of the bars title after having to repeat her routine due to an equipment malfunction during her first attempt – and doing so immediately following a fall in the previous DU routine.
 
EYE ON THE RANKINGS:
Denver sits at No. 15 in the Week 3 Road to Nationals rankings and is inside the top 20 on all four events, led by its No. 8 ranking on floor. The team is tied for No. 16 on beam and tied for No. 19 on vault while also improving its bars ranking by three spots from a week ago to a tie for No. 20.
 
For the second week in a row, Cooley holds a No. 1 national ranking on floor. By taking the top ranking in Week 2, she became the fourth DU gymnast to ever achieve a No. 1 national ranking on floor.

Junior Maddison Reidenbach matched her season-opening 39.275 in the all-around at TWU, moving her up to a tie for No. 18 nationally. Freshman Shyla Bhatia joins them in the rankings, coming in a tie for No. 20 on vault.
 
QUICK HITS:

• Through Denver's first two meets, 12 of its 14 gymnasts have seen at least one full lineup appearance, and a 13^th has competed in exhibition.
  • All 12 have competed on at least one event for the first time in their collegiate careers.
  • Five freshmen and both DU sophomores have made their official collegiate debuts in 2026.
• With Bhatia making her collegiate all-around debut at Texas Woman's, three DU gymnasts have competed in the all-around this year (also: Cooley, Reidenbach).
  • None of the three competed in the all-around for DU a season ago.
  • All three finished within a tenth of each other's final scores last weekend.
• This is the second year that the Big 12 Conference has sponsored a traditional conference schedule, pitting each team against one another in the regular season.
  • DU also opened its Big 12 schedule against West Virginia last year.
  • Though Denver and Arizona met last week in a tri meet at Texas Woman's, the meet did not count toward the Big 12 standings. Only Arizona's trip to Denver on February 14 is recognized as a Big 12 meeting.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS:
West Virginia has started the year with back-to-back road meets, wrapping up with a second-place finish in a Kent State tri meet on January 18 with a 192.025 final score. Freshman Kayla Smith has had a strong start to her NCAA career, logging the team's top averages on beam and floor so far. Sophia Rice has WVU's top average on vault while Amber Lowe leads on bars.
 
This will be the 30^th all-time meeting between Denver and West Virginia with DU owning a 23-6 record thus far. In last year's meeting, DU earned a 195.975-194.100 win at home in what was also Denver's Big 12 Conference opener. Denver's last trip to WVU was February 18, 2024, where DU posted a 197.350-195.250 win.
 
View DU's complete history against West Virginia.
 
WHAT'S NEXT:
Denver returns home after two weeks on the road to host its Big 12 Conference home opener against Iowa State on Sunday, February 1, at 2:45 p.m. MT. The meet will be televised live on ESPN2.
 
TICKETS:
Tickets 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.