MORGANTOWN, West Virginia – The No. 15-ranked University of Denver women's gymnastics team rallied after a tough first rotation to end with three consecutive strong events on its way to a 196.000 at West Virginia on Saturday.
 
DU earned the win over host WVU in the teams' Big 12 Conference opener, moving Denver to 1-0 in the conference standings.
 
COACH'S NOTES:
From Joy S. Burns Head Women's Gymnastics Coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart: "I'm so pleased with how they responded to adversity, whether it be people who were in and out lineups due to illness or injury, or to mistakes during the first event. They responded with a level of grit and resilience and trust that defines this team. You had to be on the floor today to really appreciate it. Regardless of the scores, their motivation doesn't change."
 
SIGNIFICANT STATS

• As a team, Denver grew its event scores from rotation to rotation, finishing with a 49.250 on beam, which was the highest rotation score for either team on any event.
• In each of the first three meets of the year, a different freshman has anchored DU's beam lineup. Abby Steeley was a late substitution into the lineup on Saturday and hit her routine in what was the first full-lineup appearance of her young collegiate career.
• Junior Maddison Reidenbach won the beam title, the first of her career, with a career-best 9.900 – including a 9.950 from one judge.
• Senior Kiley Rorich made her season debut after missing the first two meets with a minor injury.
  • She hit her bars set and then made her collegiate vault debut, an event she had not trained in her time at DU until this preseason.
• Sophomore Addie Hewitt filled the floor lineup for the second meet in a row and delivered a hit routine to count her score toward the team title.
• With Steeley's collegiate debut and Rorich's season debut, all 14 Denver gymnasts have now competed in a full lineup at least once this season.

BARS RECAP
DU had a bit of a slow start to the meet, seeing a couple uncharacteristic mistakes on bars but also finding some highlights, started with Rorich's 2026 debut in the No. 6 spot that matched Denver's top score of the rotation, despite immediately following a mistake in the previous routine. Freshman Kaitlynd Kastl also scored a 9.775, posting DU's top bars score of the meet for the second straight competition. Senior Cecilia Cooley was just off their pace with a 9.750, also following a smaller mistake in the routine before hers. Freshman Shyla Bhatia and senior Mila Brusch had the team's final counted scores.
 
VAULT RECAP
Denver hit the reset button before the start of the second rotation and delivered a six clean vaults. For the second meet in a row, junior Amanda Hargraves stuck her Yurchenko full cold, this time earning a 9.825, which tied her with Bhatia for the second highest score of the meet. Reidenbach added a third score in the 9.800 range as well. Rorich posted a 9.775 in her first collegiate vault – despite competing with only a 9.900 start value as she builds up to a 10.0 start. Freshman Sevana Kasparian added a 9.750 for the fifth counted score.
 
FLOOR RECAP
The team carried the energy earned from vault into its floor lineup, building scores from the start. Junior Ashley Gallen set the tone with a 9.775, and Hargraves scored a 9.800 in the No. 2 slot. Bhatia kept the pattern going with another quarter tenth earned and a 9.825 before both Reidenbach and Cooley scored matching 9.850s. In one of the standout moments of the meet, Hewitt made the lineup for the second meet in a row – after not having competed in a full lineup prior to last week – and earned a 9.825 to improve DU's team score.
 
BEAM RECAP
The momentum continued to build all through its beam rotation that saw Denver count five scores of at least 9.800 for the second straight event to wrap up the meet. Freshman Terra Rutter retook the leadoff position, a spot she earned in the season opener, and again hit her set for a 9.750. Gallen followed with a 9.850 in a routine reminiscent of her 2025 postseason sets that cemented her spot in the lineup. Cooley added a 9.875, a score just .025 from her career best.
 
Freshman Megan Aamold made the lineup for the second meet in a row in her return from an injury and set up the back half of the rotation with a 9.825, an improvement of a tenth over her debut. Reidenbach also grew from her score from the previous two meets by a tenth, earning the meet's highest score for any gymnast on any event with a personal-best 9.900. Finally, Steeley made her official collegiate debut, moving into the anchor spot after the four-minute touch and delivering a hit set for a 9.800.
 
EXHIBITION NOTES
Denver filled its four exhibition slots with three gymnasts. Hewitt went on vault once again, and Steeley did so on bars in her first appearance of any sort on the event so far. Kastl then stepped into the slot on both beam and floor, marking back-to-back beam exhibitions and a first-time floor exhibition for the freshman.
 
PODIUM FINISHES
Vault
Bhatia: Second Place (tie) – 9.825
Hargraves: Second Place (tie) – 9.825
 
Bars
Kastl: Second Place (tie) – 9.775
Rorich: Second Place (tie) – 9.775
 
Beam
Reidenbach: First Place – 9.900
Cooley: Second Place – 9.875
Gallen: Third Place – 9.850
 
Floor
Cooley: Second Place (tie) – 9.850
Reidenbach: Second Place (tie) – 9.850
 
All-Around
Cooley: First Place – 39.200
Reidenbach: Third Place – 38.600
 
NEXT UP:
Denver returns home after two weeks away to host its Big 12 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.