The No. 11 Denver gymnastics will travel to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the 2016 NCAA Regionals on April 2, where they are ranked as the second seed. The Denver Pioneers will face the No. 2 University of Florida, host team No. 16 University of Minnesota, No. 20 University of Missouri, Ohio State University and Brigham Young University for its 18th consecutive NCAA Regionals appearance.
Based on their Regional Qualifying Score (RQS), the Pioneers, along with the other 35 top ranked programs in the country, will compete at the NCAA Regionals hosted by one of the following universities; Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota or Utah. The teams who earn the top two finishes will advance to the NCAA Championships hosted in Fort Worth, Texas at the Fort Worth Convention Center for the second consecutive year, along with event winners and top two all-around finishers not present on a qualifying team.
Following a second place finish at the Big 12 Championships on Saturday, March 19 and a RQS of 196.725, the Pioneers are hopeful to advance to their fourth NCAA Championship in program history following their regional performance.
The Pioneers are led by senior Nina McGee (Cincinnati, Ohio), who recently was announced as a finalist for the prestigious American Athletic Inc (AAI) Award presented to the most outstanding senior female gymnast in the nation. McGee also received four regular season All-American honors. She was named first team All-American on floor and all-around, as well as second team All-American on vault and the bars, an impressive feat. Last year, McGee tied for second on the floor and 11th place all-around at the NCAA Championships. In her senior campaign, McGee earned multiple DU records. Her record-breaking performances included an all-around score of 39.775, a floor score where she received a perfect 10.000 on three different occasions and most individual career titles with 94.
Preparing to finish out her senior season, McGee reflected on her experience as a student-athlete for DU.
“(It’s) been a blessing and to be where I am now, I’m just really grateful. I’m very excited and motivated coming off of last year’s season and my finishes at Nationals. Going into the remainder of this season I know where I could be and I know that I could be on top, so that’s what I’m focusing on individually,” McGee said.
Nina’s phenomenal senior season is supported by a strong team effort. Freshmen Diana Chesnok (Charlotte, North Carolina) and Kaitlyn Shou (Orlando, Florida) have made crucial contributions during their breakout seasons. Upperclassmen Julia Ross (Henderson, Nevada) and Maggie Laughlin (Scottsdale, Arizona) have provided consistency essential to the team’s continued success.
“We have this fire coming out of the conference,” McGee said. “We just need to keep that flame lit and fueling our confidence at Regionals and into Nationals.”
