TEMPE, Arizona – The No. 18-ranked University of Denver women's gymnastics team used season highs on bars and beam to help earn is highest overall team score of the year in a Big 12 Conference win at Arizona State on Saturday.
 
Denver finished with a 196.950 – a new season high by nearly four tenths – to finish ahead of host ASU's 195.875.
 
COACH'S NOTES:
From Joy S. Burns Head Women's Gymnastics Coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart: "What we saw today is more of what we've been seeing in practice. They've been training with the level of purpose. People stepped up, and everyone – including the exhibitions – contributed at a very high level. It takes a full team for this kind of a performance. I thought they stayed with their energy from the beginning to the end, and their team bond was strong and consistent. They showed a lot of team pride today."
 
SIGNIFICANT STATS

• Freshman and reigning Big 12 Newcomer of the Week Megan Aamold moved to the anchor position on beam for the first time, becoming the fourth different DU freshman to claim the spot this season.
  • She also continued her trend of improving her personal best on the event in every meet since making her debut on January 16.
  • Her 9.925 on beam becomes DU's highest score of the season so far on the event, joining senior Cecilia Cooley 's identical score set three routines prior.
• Both DU all-arounders set new personal bests: Cooley with a 39.450 and junior Maddison Reidenbach with a 39.375.
• For the second meet in a row, DU gymnasts claimed at least a share of four of the five individual titles, led by Cooley's win in the all-around for a third consecutive meet.
• DU's 49.450 to finish the meet on beam was its highest on the event in 2026 by two tenths.
  • The team also equaled its season high on bars (49.150) and hit its second highest vault score (49.000).
• DU only counted one score below a 9.800 in the entire meet and matched its season high for total scores of 9.900 or higher with four.
• In addition to its new season-high overall team score, Denver posted new season's bests for team tally after two events (98.150) and after three events (147.500).

BARS RECAP
Freshman Kaitlynd Kastl set the tone in Denver's first routine of the meet, moving to the lead off position on bars for the first time and delivering a personal-best 9.875 that would hold up to tie atop the event podium at the end of the meet. Senior Kiley Rorich joined her at the top of the bars standings, missing her season's best by on a quarter tenth. The team's final three counted scores were all 9.800s in back-to-back routines from seniors Cooley and Mila Brusch, and freshman Shyla Bhatia, who took the anchor spot after serving as the lead off in every other meet until Saturday.
 
VAULT RECAP
Denver built scores through its first five vaults on its way to a 49.000. Junior Amanda Hargraves started it off with a 9.750 while freshman Sevana Kasparian and Cooley each followed with a 9.800 – both setting or tying a personal best. A stuck Yurchenko full from Reidenbach and a nearly stuck Yurchenko 1.5 from Bhatia each earned a 9.825 for DU's top score of the rotation. For the second meet in a row, Rorich gave Denver a second 10.0 start value with her front handspring front pike half, counting a 9.750 to the team score.
 
FLOOR RECAP
As was the case on vault, Denver saw scores increase through its first five floor routines. Junior Ashley Gallen continued her consistent start to the season with a 9.825, just .025 off her high from last week. Classmate Hargraves built on that by a quarter tenth, also just missing her personal best earned a week ago with a 9.850. Both Bhatia and Reidenbach contributed 9.875s, setting up Cooley for a 9.925 – her fourth score above 9.900 through the first five meets of the year. Sophomore Addie Hewitt made it six-for-six in floor scores above the 9.800 mark, adding a 9.825 in the No. 6 spot.
 
BEAM RECAP
Denver saved its best for last in consecutive away meets, finishing with its highest score of the meet and a new season high of 49.450 on beam. Again, all five counted scores sat above 9.800, despite DU shuffling its lineup order. For the first time in her career, Gallen served as the lead off, going 9.825 to set the tone. Freshman Terra Rutter followed with a big 9.875, an improvement of .050 from her previous best score. Cooley continued the trend of increasing scores and also set a new career high with a 9.925. Reidenbach got redemption for a miss in her last routine, equaling her personal best of 9.900 – giving her back-to-back 9.900s in road meets. Aamold slid back to the anchor position for the first time and matched Cooley's 9.925, also marking a new personal best for the freshman by a half tenth.
 
EXHIBITION NOTES
After not having the opportunity to compete with exhibitions in its last meet, Denver did so with four competitors across three events on Saturday. Hewitt returned to the position on vault, scoring a 9.825 that would have been a personal best by nearly three tenths. Kasparian made her first appearance of any kind for DU on bars and hit the core of her routine before a fall on the dismount that she was able to easily bounce up from. Hargraves and sophomore Sophia Hampp claimed the two beam exhibition spots to finish the meet with Hargraves going 9.850 and Hampp going 9.625.
 
PODIUM FINISHES
Vault
Bhatia: Second Place (tie)  – 9.825
Reidenbach: Second Place (tie) – 9.825
 
Bars
Kastl: First Place (tie) – 9.875
Rorich: First Place (tie) – 9.875
 
Beam
Aamold: First Place (tie) – 9.925
Cooley: First Place (tie) – 9.925
Reidenbach: Third Place – 9.900
 
Floor
Cooley: First Place – 9.925
Bhatia: Second Place (tie) – 9.875
Reidenbach: Second Place (tie) – 9.875
 
All-Around
Cooley: First Place – 39.450
Reidenbach: Third Place – 39.375
 
NEXT UP:
Denver returns home to host its annual Pink Meet while continue Big 12 Conference competition against Arizona on Saturday, February 14, at 7 p.m. MT.
 
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.