No. 21 Denver Gymnastics Tallies Season High Against BYU

DENVER – The No. 21-ranked University of Denver women’s gymnastics team posted its best team score of the season so far with a 196.625 showing on Saturday night.
 
DU earned its second Big 12 Conference win of the season, topping BYU (195.825) and doing so in front of the fourth-largest crowd in program history.
 
COACH’S NOTES
From Joy S. Burns Head Women’s Gymnastics Coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart: “The team responded from last week and moved in the right direction tonight. It was certainly an improvement. It was a more complete meet but still not at our potential with lots of opportunities for growth. We’ll continue to get back to the gym, do the hard work and try to capitalize on momentum from tonight as we head into next weekend’s home meet against Oregon State, Ball State and Texas Woman’s.”
 
SIGNIFICANT STATS

• For the fourth time in school history, Denver welcomed more than 6,000 fans to Magness Arena for a gymnastics meet.
  • Saturday’s attendance of 6,050 was just 50 people shy of an official sellout.
  • It also marked the third year in a row that DU hosted a crowd of at least 6,000 at one point during the season.
• In addition to its season-high final team score of 196.625, DU also posted its best mark of the season on vault (49.275).
  • The team’s 49.100 on beam and 49.175 on floor were also top-three scores on the season so far.
• Denver gymnasts won at least a share of four individual titles including three for sophomore Madison Ulrich.
• DU finished with 19 scores of at least 9.800, the most so far in 2025.

VAULT RECAP
Denver opened the night with its strongest vault rotation of the year and what would be the top event score for either team on any event (49.275). All six of DU’s scores were above the 9.800 mark, led by a career high-tying 9.900 from graduate student Bella Mabanta that would win her the outright event title for the second meet in a row. DU’s lineup was bookended by 9.850s, starting with junior Mila Brusch in the leadoff and then from graduate student Rylie Mundell and fifth-year senior Rosie Casali in the last two vaults. Sophomores Ulrich and Maddison Reidenbach posted back-to-back 9.825 in the middle portion of the lineup, Ulrich’s becoming a new season’s best.
 
BARS RECAP
DU hit six strong bars routines, though gave up some tenths on unstuck dismounts. An exception to the rule was Casali, who stuck her double layout cold in the team’s first rotation for a 9.850. Ulrich followed with a 9.875, also just a quarter tenth from her season high, in what would be the top score of the night. In her usual spot as the anchor, Mundell delivered a 9.800. Juniors Kiley Rorich and Cecilia Cooley had the final counted scores for DU with 9.775, and senior Mia Hebinck rounded out the lineup with a 9.700.
 
BEAM RECAP
Denver dug in as a team to put together one of its strongest beam rotations of the year and counted five scores of 9.800 or higher for the first time in 2025. For the second straight meet, Cooley took over the role as leadoff and tallied a 9.825 that was only .025 from her personal best. Senior Momoko Iwai equaled her score in the No. 2 spot. After a fall in DU’s third routine, the remaining three competitors successfully stood up to the pressure, starting with back-to-back 9.825s from graduate student Abbie Thompson and Mundell. Ulrich moved into the anchor spot for just the second time in her career and hit her routine for a 9.800 to ensure DU would drop the fall from earlier in the lineup.
 
FLOOR RECAP
Denver again shuffled its floor lineup, both in the competition order and the gymnasts comprising it. Rorich, who led off every floor lineup for DU in 2024, moved back into the spot on Saturday, hitting her routine but overcooking her double pike to finish and bouncing out of bounds. DU responded with five controlled routines, beginning with consecutive 9.800s from Cooley and Brusch in the routines immediately following Rorich’s. Reidenbach made just her second full lineup appearance of the year and started to build scores with a 9.850, which Mundell would equal in the No. 5 spot. In the anchor spot, Ulrich competed her double layout for the second meet in a row and showed great control on the landing, which she would also do with her double pike to close and scored a 9.875.
 
EXHIBITION NOTES
Denver again competed with a full complement of exhibitions with sophomore Amanda Hargraves claiming three of the four spots. She started with a 9.725 on vault before adding a 9.775 in her first beam appearance of the year. On floor, she competed in exhibition for the second time in 2025 but came up short on her final pass for a 9.075. Reidenbach took the bars exhibition slot for the fourth meet in a row and posted a 9.750.
 
PODIUM FINISHES
Vault
Mabanta: First Place – 9.900
Brusch: Second Place (tie) – 9.850
Casali: Second Place (tie) – 9.850
Mundell: Second Place (tie) – 9.850
 
Bars
Ulrich: First Place – 9.875
Casali: Second Place – 9.850
Mundell: Third Place (tie) – 9.800
 
Beam
Cooley: Second Place (tie) – 9.825
Iwai: Second Place (tie) – 9.825
Mundell: Second Place (tie) – 9.825
Thompson: Second Place (tie) – 9.825
 
Floor
Ulrich: First Place (tie) – 9.875
Mundell: Third Place (tie) – 9.850
Reidenbach: Third Place (tie) – 9.850
 
All-Around
Ulrich: First Place – 39.375
Mundell: Second Place – 39.325
 
NEXT UP:
Denver hosts its penultimate home meet of the 2025 season when it welcomes Oregon State, Ball State and Texas Woman’s to Magness Arena on Sunday, February 16, at 1:45 p.m. MT.
 
TICKETS:
Tickets for the 2025 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.

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