Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart: “I’m so proud of the team. They were firing on all cylinders. They competed with freedom, stayed in the moment and had a focused, relaxed energy. It was a complete performance from start to finish. We’ve known we were capable of this and were just waiting for it to come together. We’re excited […]
Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart: “I’m so proud of the team. They were firing on all cylinders. They competed with freedom, stayed in the moment and had a focused, relaxed energy. It was a complete performance from start to finish. We’ve known we were capable of this and were just waiting for it to come together. We’re excited to advance to our sixth consecutive regional final on Saturday.
“Our fans and supporters were incredible. They were loud and brought energy and enthusiasm, just like they have all season long.”
SIGNIFICANT STATS
- Denver’s 197.650 became the third highest postseason score in Denver history and its second highest in at NCAA Regionals meet.
- Additionally, Denver set a program postseason record on vault (49.500) as well as top-10 postseason marks on bars (49.400, tied for eighth highest) and beam (49.400, tied for ninth highest).
- The 49.400 on bars also tied DU’s third highest score on the event at NCAA Regionals.
- Fifth-year senior Rosie Casali earned a share of the NCAA Regional title on vault with a 9.950 for her stuck Yurchenko 1.5, which also tied the second highest vault score by a Denver gymnast at NCAA Regionals.
- Sophomore Madison Ulrich set a career high in the all-around with a 39.575 to place third overall and tying the seventh highest NCAA Regionals score by a DU gymnast.
- DU’s win against Stanford was just the third in program history, and the tie with Utah marked the first non-loss against the Utes in 23 tries.
- Denver hit all 24 of its routines, scoring a 9.900+ in a season-high 11 of them.
- DU only scored below 9.800 on one routine and did not count a score below 9.825.
- DU started the meet in second place after the first rotation but fell to third at the midway point. Denver reclaimed second place in the team standings heading into the final rotation before moving into a tie for first when competition ended.
BARS RECAP
Denver set the tone right from the start, hitting a 49.400 on bars with the entire lineup going above 9.800 after all six gymnasts improved from their scores in the team’s last meet at the Big 12 Championship on March 22. Casali again led off the meet for Denver with a 9.850, a score that junior Cecilia Cooley would later equal. Sandwiched between the two 9.850s were the first two of three 9.900s from DU’s bars squad with Ulrich and junior Kiley Rorich hitting their sets – Rorich’s equaling her season high. Graduate student Rylie Mundell also contributed a 9.900 in the anchor spot, following senior Mia Hebinck ‘s 9.825 in the No. 5 spot .
BEAM RECAP
For the second rotation in a row, DU scored a 49.400, this time doing so on beam and equaling its best score of the season on the event – also achieved at Utah in the teams’ regular-season meeting on February 21. Three gymnasts led the way with matching 9.900s, starting with Cooley in the leadoff spot who debuted her upgraded triple acro series to set a career high. Graduate student Bella Mabanta, too, scored a 9.900 that was only a quarter tenth from her season’s best after slotting back into the lineup for a second consecutive meet. Fellow graduate student Abbie Thompson equaled the score in the very next routine and did so after an uncomfortable fall during the four-minute touch.
DU also saw three scores of 9.850 including from sophomore Ashley Gallen, who matched her career high in the same building where she made her collegiate debut in February. Senior Momoko Iwai followed Gallen with her own 9.850, and Ulrich anchored the lineup with another such score to rebound from a fall in her last routine at Big 12s.
FLOOR RECAP
For the third consecutive rotation, Denver counted only scores at or above 9.850, doing on floor to post a 49.350 – the team’s second highest score of the year on the event and its highest on the road by a tenth. Rorich kicked it off with the first of two 9.850s for Denver, which Iwai would match just two routines later. Cooley started to build the scores with what would become a 9.875 after a successful video review. Mabanta returned to the lineup after a meet away and also scored a 9.875, setting up Ulrich for a 9.900 in the sixth spot, which just missed her career best by a quarter tenth.
VAULT RECAP
DU secured the win with a strong vault performance in the final rotation, highlighted by Casali’s stuck Yurchenko 1.5 to mathematically clinch it for Denver in the No. 5 spot. She followed a string of 9.900+ scores for DU, which started with a second straight 9.900 for Mabanta, her fourth 9.9+ vault score of the season. Ulrich set a new career high of 9.925 in DU’s first of three 10.0 start-value vaults before fellow sophomore Maddison Reidenbach added her own 9.900 in the very next vault. The lineup was bookended by 9.825s for dynamic Yurchenko fulls from junior Mila Brusch and sophomore Amanda Hargraves, who was a late substitution for Denver.
PODIUM FINISHES
All-Around
Ulrich: Third Place – 39.575
Vault
Casali: First Place (tie) – 9.950
Bars
Mundell: Second Place (tie) – 9.900
Rorich: Second Place (tie) – 9.900
Ulrich: Second Place (tie) – 9.900
Beam
Cooley: Second Place (tie) – 9.900
B. Mabanta: Second Place (tie) – 9.900
Thompson: Second Place (tie) – 9.900
NEXT UP:
The University of Denver will compete in the 2025 NCAA Regional Final on Saturday, April 5, at 5 p.m. MT, joining No. 4 Utah, No. 5 UCLA and No. 10 Minnesota, where two team berths to the 2025 NCAA National Championships are on the line.
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