On Thursday, the No. 7 ranked DU women’s gymnastics team won a decisive victory after they traveled to face Big 12 opponent West Virginia. Denver won all five individual titles and earned a 196.375 to defeat West Virginia’s 195.400. These successes came despite not having their full roster and only four days of training since last week’s meet.
Denver started the meet on the bars where senior Lynnzee Brown (Kansas City, Mo.) continued her impressive performance from last week’s competition. Brown won this event with a 9.875 but was closely followed by freshman Rosie Casali (Weddington, N.C.) who posted a career-best 9.850 that earned her a second-place podium finish. The team rounded out this event with a third-place finish for junior Alexandria Ruiz (Lake, Mary Fla.) and their first podium sweep of the meet.
DU then moved to the vault where Brown earned her second event win with a 9.850. In her first vault since Jan. 31, freshman Jessica Hutchinson (Gilbertsville, Pa.) scored an impressive 9.800 to tie for second place with West Virginia’s Abbie Pierson. Both Ruiz and Casali also contributed to Denver’s vault victory with a 9.750 and 9.725 respectively. DU earned a total team score of 48.850 in this event to defeat West Virginia’s 48.725.
However, it was on the floor that the Denver team began to shine with Brown scoring her second-consecutive 9.950 in this event to earn yet another first place title. Brown was then closely followed by senior Emily Glynn (Longmont, Colo.) and Hutchinson, who both earned a 9.875 to tie for third overall. In this event, Glynn matched her season-high vault score while Hutchinson tied her personal best. Casali also matched her career-high on the vault with a 9.825.
DU then finished the meet on the beam with another podium sweep. Junior Alexis Vasquez (Arcadia, Calif.) took home the beam title with a 9.900, and freshman Isabel Mabanta (Frisco, Texas) made her collegiate debut with an impressive 9.825 and a second-place finish. This was the only event where Brown did not earn a first-place finish and instead scored a 9.800 to tie for third with Ruiz.
However, Brown did earn the first-place all-around title on Thursday, scoring a 39.457 to beat both Ruiz and two West Virginia competitors. Ruiz finished second all-around with a 39.150.
The University of Denver women’s gymnastics team hopes to pull off another victory next week as they face West Virginia, once again. The meet will be on Feb. 21 in Magness Arena.
