Photo by: Jacob Rokeach
Hamilton Gymnasium was packed to the brim, standing room only, when No. 7 UCLA came to town Saturday.
There was a buzz of energy that was generated by the 2,224 fans that filled the gymnasium. This was the second largest regular season crowd ever at DU.
The No. 13 Pioneers hosted UCLA in what was the sixth meeting between the two teams. UCLA held the series 5-0 coming into the event. However, UCLA returned home 5-1 against DU, as the Pioneers were able to hold the Bears off in the last event on Saturday.
The final score was 194.900 to 194.800, for the Pioneers and Bears respectively. There was a lot of anticipation for this match-up given that both the Pioneers and Bruins are ranked in the top 15 in the nation.
Heather Huffaker continued right where she left off in New Hampshire. Last week Huffaker won the all-around with a score of 39.275 and with the same score, she took home the same title against UCLA. Huffaker went 9.9 on the vault, 9.725 on the uneven bars, 9.750 on the balance beam and 9.900 on the floor. Her floor routine was second to last and she followed Gretchen Goerlitz who landed awkwardly near the end of her routine, falling to the mat out of bounds. The score was close, though no one knew how close.
After an uncharacteristically error-prone start to the floor exercise for DU, Huffaker had to turn it around, and she did just that, keeping DU right in the thick of things. Her floor exercise was second in the meet only to fellow teammate Sasha Sullivan. Sullivan followed Huffaker and produced a routine that earned her a 9.950, a personal best. Sullivan and Huffaker produced in the clutch situation that enabled the Pioneers to get their first ever win over UCLA. Sullivan’s win on floor was the only individual event that DU won. Interestingly, Huffaker won the all-around without winning a single event.
Sullivan also had DU’s highest balance beam score with a 9.850, which took second in the meet to Ariana Berlin’s 9.875. Sullivan took third in the all-around with a score of 39.175.
Sullivan said she felt that there was room for improvement but was generally pleased with the meet.
“I used [the pressure] in a good way, to motivate me to help me get better,” Sullivan said referring to the extra pressure that was a result of the closeness of the score as it came time for her to perform her floor exercise.
Huffaker also used the pressure in a positive manner stating, “I definitely felt like I needed to come in big but that kind of stuff is what motivates me, so I think it helped a lot,” referring to the extra pressure applied nearing the end of the meet.
The two teams were neck and neck all night, switching leads after every rotation. The Pioneers were competing at a level above their average scores going into the final rotation.
In the final rotation, there was mishap after mishap for both DU and UCLA. Both teams had been competing at such a high level and then all of a sudden both fell off the horse.
DU started the night by recording its best vault performance of the year, 49.300, which is tied for eighth-highest team vault score in school history. DU had three vault scores of 9.9 and two 9.8.
The team ended the competition with their worst floor score of the season, 48.075. UCLA also started strong posting 49.150 on both the vault and the bars and then falling to 48.450 on the floor and 48.050 on the balance beam.
“Both teams were fighting to give it away at the end,” said Denver assistant coach John Figueroa.
DU Head Coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart said that she was not worried about the team’s floor performance because it was so unusual and uncharacteristic.
She also said that Huffaker and Sullivan are “very confident with their routine, their technique is very good, they have a good foundation so it’s really easy for them to do what they did tonight,” referring to the final to gymnasts on the floor for the Pioneers.
Overall, it was an exciting meet in which the lead see-sawed back and forth after nearly every rotation. There were excellent performances as well as not so good ones, but it was evident that every gymnast gave it her best effort.
The win for Denver puts the Pioneers at 5-5 on the season. Their next event is Saturday, when they host Northern Illinois at 6 p.m. in Hamilton Gymnasium.
