For the last 10 years, Head Coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart’s guidance has been a key factor in the growing success of the DU gymnastics team especially as they prepare for the Northeast Regional Championship at Penn State on Saturday.
As a former collegiate gymnast at the University of Florida, Kutcher-Rinehart uses her own experiences and her firsthand knowledge of the work ethic involved in college gymnastics to motivate her team.
Kutcher-Rinehart’s vision for the team is best described by the team’s mission statement.
“This year sums it up perfectly,” said Kutcher-Rinehart. “To build a championship tradition based on the foundation of character, teamwork and excellence.”
In her time here, Kutcher-Rinehart has compiled an impressive 174-80-2 overall record as she hopes to steer the Pioneers to be the first team to ever win a national championship in both the Division I and Division II levels.
The Pioneers won the Division II national championship in 1983 and Denver has gotten even closer to achieving this goal with every appearance in the NCAA national tournament.
“Even before I was here, DU had a pretty incredible history in gymnastics,” Kutcher-Rinehart said. “The athletes and alumni have really paved the way. We have continued to capitalize on that. It is really the student athletes that have capitalized.”
In these last five seasons, Kutcher-Rinehart’s team has set team records on three events and broken the previous team record five times. She has guided six gymnasts to the Nationals.
Last season, the Pioneers returned to the National championships after six consecutive years of near misses. Kutcher-Rinehart guided junior All-American Jessica Lopez as she became the first three-time All-American gymnast in Pioneer history. Denver finished tenth overall, the best Division I finish in DU history.
“She has built it from a Division II team to a successful Division I program,” said sophomore Kelley Hennigan.
“We are just getting ready for regional and then hopefully getting ready for Nationals. We have reached several of our goals like finishing 10th in the nation last year and then finishing academically second in the county,” said Kutcher-Rinehart. “Our goal is to be consistent national competitors.”
The Pioneers are well under way to being consistent national competitors because of Kutcher-Rinehart’s dedication to the team.
“She cares a lot about us as people and making it a respectable program all-around,” Hennigan said.
“It’s really rewarding. It’s not often that I take a step back to get a perspective to see how the program has gone in the past 10 years. We just continue to strive to get better,” said Kutcher-Rinehart.
“I really think that we are capable of anything we put our mind to,” Kutcher-Rinehart said. “We just need to do the type of gymnastics we’ve trained for the last seven months. I would like to see them reach their fullest potential. We just need to focus on one thing at a time and not concentrate on other teams. We can only worry about the things we can control.”
The No. 13 Pioneers will compete at 4 p.m. on Saturday at University Park, Pa., against the defending national champion Georgia, No. 12 Auburn, No. 22 Penn State, Brigham Young and Iowa State.
The top two teams and all-around competitors not on an advancing team will automatically go to the NCAA national championships hosted by the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga.. April 24-26.
