DENVER – University of Denver gymnasts Shyla Bhatia and Mila Brusch earned weekly Big 12 Conference honors, the conference announced on Wednesday.
 
Bhatia was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week while Brusch picked up a share of the Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week award.
 
Bhatia matched DU's highest single-routine score of the season on any event with her near-perfect 9.975 on vault during Denver's home finale against Air Force on March 9. She stuck her Yurchenko one-and-a-half to earn the new personal-best score and to anchor what would be a new season high of 49.275 for DU on the event.
 
On floor, she was only a quarter tenth off her career-best mark with a 9.900, one of five counted scores at or above such a score to help Denver equal the fourth highest floor score in program history with a 49.600. Finally, she contributed her bars score toward DU's season high of 49.350 earlier in the meet, factoring in all three of her routines to Denver's best overall team score of the year so far, a 197.075.
 
Brusch posted back-to-back career-high 9.900s in the first two rotations of DU's meet against Air Force on March 9 as well. For the second time in as many meets in Magness Arena, she started with a stuck Yurchenko full on vault to against match her personal best and join Bhatia in helping the team set a new season high on the event.
 
The senior then followed it up with the best bars routine of her career as well, scoring her second 9.900 of the night and again helping DU set a season high on the event. Like Bhatia, all of her scores counted towards Denver's season-high 197.075 overall.
 
This is the second weekly Big 12 award for Bhatia after the freshman earned the same Newcomer of the Week honor for the first week of 2026. This is the third time Brusch has earned weekly recognition from the Big 12 in her career but her first as the Event Specialist of the Week.
 
Six Denver gymnasts have now combined for eight weekly Big 12 awards this season including back-to-back Event Specialist of the Week nods and a combined five Newcomer of the Week honors.
 
The No. 23-ranked University of Denver gymnastics team finishes its 2026 regular season at No. 25 Oregon State on Saturday, March 14, at 2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT. DU's postseason begins with the 2026 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship in West Valley City, Utah on Saturday, March 21.
 
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.