The no. 13 Denver gymnastics team continued to post season-high scores at home this week on the vault and floor exercises, finishing 0.225 points behind No. 8 Oklahoma in the Paige Smith Invitational quad meet in front of a sold-out crowd Saturday night.
Improving their record this season to 9-2, the Pioneers posted 195.700, just shy of Oklahoma’s 195.925 but still topping Utah State’s 192.275 and the United States Air Force Academy’s 186.275.
“It was a fantastic night,” said Head Coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart. “Great atmosphere, great crowd, second straight sell out, I’m very proud of that, just great energy. The team has been training so hard I think they’re really showing off what they’re doing ,and I also feel that although you never want to lose, two tenths behind a team that’s No. 6 in the country isn’t bad.”
Junior All-American Jessica Lopez continued individual success receiving third place all-around, recording 39.125 points, along with senior Sasha Sullivan posting an all-around score of 38.250 in seventh place.
DU began their night on the vault, where Lopez and senior Courtney Butler shared top honors with Oklahoma’s Mary Mantle, all scoring a 9.900. They were followed by sophomore Kelley Hennigan and freshman Taylor Stanford, who tied for fifth with scores of 9.8, along with junior Liz Meals in tenth place posting a 9.725, totaling to be one of the teams best performances of the season with a score of 49.125.
“Taylor Stanford had a great night in exhibition,” said Kutcher-Rinehart. “The exhibition performers were scoring high and that makes me feel like we have a lot of depth and we have people in interchangeable parts. We can put different people in on different nights, and I’m really proud of that.”
Next for the Pioneers were the uneven bars, where they recorded a 48.575. Butler received second place scoring 9.850, followed by junior Nikki Brown in a tie for sixth place with Stephanie LoPiccolo of Oklahoma posting a score of 9.775. Other performances included sophomore Ellen McCarthy, 9.625, senior Paige Schuster, 9.650, Lopez 9.625 and Sullivan, 8.875.
DU dominated on the balance beam as all six gymnasts won second, third, tied in fourth and sixth place starting with Sullivan scoring 9.825, just 0.025 points shy of first place. In third place was Brown posting a score of 9.800, followed by both Hennigan and McCarthy in fourth with 9.775 and tying in sixth were junior Lauren Garan and Lopez recording scores of 9.750. They posted a team score of 48.925.
Denver finished strong with floor exercises as Sullivan and Lopez continued to lead the way, each posting scores of 9.850 and finishing in fourth place. Freshman Amanda Johanson scored a career-high 9.8, tying in eighth place with McCarthy.
“I am really proud of everyone,” Johanson said. “We had a couple of mistakes but we pulled back together, and we got our last two events really strong so I was really proud of them for that.”
Other performances on the floor included those of Meals, posting a 9.775 and freshman Danielle Kirchhof with 9.725, totaling DU with 49.075.
“I feel like we are really in control of our own destiny,” Kutcher-Rinehart said. “We just need to continue doing what we do well, working on form and execution and landing, but I’m really proud of how the student athletes did.”
The Pioneers will host a ‘Link To Pink’ meet in association with the Susan G. Komen Foundation on Saturday to support breast cancer research.
“We’re going to have stands outside that do a good job, hopefully, educating people about self exams and our goal is to help education out there. We’re going to turn this arena into pink Its going to be a very exciting meet.”
The Pioneers encourage all who attend to wear pink to support the fight against breast cancer. The Pioneer gymnastic team will be selling pink “Denver Gymnastics” T-shirts for $10 and 100percent of the proceeds will go to the Komen Foundation.
