It took endless practices, meets, hard training, sweat, tears, pain and injuries, but finally the four seniors did what they came to DU to do. They have taken the Pioneers to the NCAA National Championships for just the second time in school history and the first time since 2001. Seniors Heather Huffaker, Casey Dobyns, Katie Andrews and Gretchen Goerlitz were told by the DU coaching staff that they had the ability to take the Pioneers as a team to Nationals and they finally did it in their senior year.
“Coming in as freshmen we were told that we had the talent and we were the class to do it. To see it finally happen and to finally realize that all of our work had paid off is awesome,” said Dobyns.
It took close to 30 nerve-breaking minutes for the officials to finally announce last Saturday night that the No. 14 Pioneers had advanced to NCAA Nationals with a score of 195.825. It was just .05 points ahead of third place, No. 11 Penn State, with only the top two teams advancing to the Nationals held at the University of Utah this Thursday through Saturday.
“We knew it was close and we were just so anxious to find out the results. Once we finally heard it announced it was so exciting, especially for us seniors, because we have been waiting so long for this to happen,” said Dobyns.
The University of Georgia took first place with a score of 197.275 in the North Central Regional hosted by the University of Denver.
After a few days on cloud nine and celebrating their great performance Denver got back to work in the gym last Tuesday and things will be nowhere near easy street as the team heads into this weekend’s big meet.
“We are actually not going to Nationals just to be there. We are going to compete and compete hard,” said Head Coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart after the Pioneers had advanced.
This comment did not go over their heads. “She is ready to go, she is fired up for sure. It is almost like we are going to regionals again,” said Huffaker.
“We are definitely training hard and working on the little things so we can do the best that we can and show everyone that we deserve to be there,” said Dobyns.
For two of the four seniors on the squad this is not their first trip to the “big dance.” Huffaker was one of three Pioneers to advance to the Nationals in 2004 as an individual competing as an all-arounder and finishing with a 39.275 score. In 2005, she wrote history as she was the first DU gymnast to advance to NCAA Nationals in back-to-back seasons and finished her all-around competition with a score of 38.300. Last season Dobyns was Denver’s lone qualifier for the 2006 Nationals and she finished with a score of 9.75 on vault.
With these trips to Nationals comes experience, experience that they have and will share with the team over next few days.
“I think we kind of got a feel for it at regionals in a way. At Nationals, the teams are more competitive and I think the girls know that. I think more with noise and the arena, it is a lot bigger and louder than regionals,” said Huffaker.
Although the Pioneers do want to show off their gymnastic skills they also want to have some fun while doing it.
“Most of us I’m sure just really want to have fun and enjoy the opportunity, but we also want to take advantage of it and do good gymnastics while we are there,” said Dobyns.
“In a way the pressure is off. Coach definitely does not want us to look at it that way, but when the pressure is off we don’t have anything to qualify for. So I think the team is going to focus more on having fun,” said Huffaker.
The NCAA Championships are comprised of 12 teams with six competing in the afternoon session on Thursday and the other six squaring-off in the evening session, which DU is in. The top three teams from each session will advance to the final session on Friday evening to determine the National Champion.
The Pioneers’ evening session consists of UCLA, Michigan, Utah, LSU and Stanford.
DU’s high score on the season is a 197.00 which the team posted in a home meet against Northern Illinois and their low score is a 192.975 which the team recorded in the first meet of the year at the Super Six Challenge.
“One of our goals this year was to be a top 10 team, so we are definitely shooting for top 10 and not 12th, I would rather not embarrass ourselves,” said Huffaker.
A goal that is reachable, but will not be easy to come by as the Pioneers have the lowest average score of all 12 teams competing.
When it comes down to it, DU and its seniors could not have asked for a better ending and whatever happens at the NCAA Championships will be icing on the cake.
