Photo by: Justin Edmonds
The DU women’s gymnastic team’s quest to improve its NCAA National Championship top-10 finish is well under way and so far so good.
This past weekend the Pioneers won their home opener 194.900 to 190.475 over Washington in front of the watchful eye of nine-time Olympic medalist Nadia Comaneci and her husband two-time Olympic gold medalist Bart Conner.
Denver won three of four events as well as the all-around competition en route to a 1.700-point improvement over their season-opening score of 193.200 at the Cancun Classic on Jan. 4.
“It is one more meet, so getting used to competing again and minimizing mistakes and I think it is another week of practice. I think it is the combination of getting in the groove of competing and continuing to train harder,” said Head Coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart about the improvement.
DU began the meet on vault and was led by junior Liz Meals and senior Courtney Butler, both scored a 9.85 and sophomore Kelly Hennigan who registered a 9.80 en route to Denver’s highest team score on any event, 49.000.
The Pioneers then moved to bars where Butler again paced the squad, this time with a 9.775, while junior Nikki Brown and freshman Annamari Maaranen each scored a 9.750 as DU registered its lowest event score with a 48.500.
“I think it is just a lot more energy and we had time to come back into the gym and fix the little things and it really helps to have the home crowd,” said Butler about the team’s performance.
Junior Jessica Lopez and Brown led Denver on the balance beam with marks of 9.850 and sophomore Ellen McCarthy scored a 9.775 as the team scored a 48.525 on the event.
In the final event of the evening senior Sasha Sullivan scored a 9.850, Lopez a 9.825 and freshman Amanda Johanson a 9.775 in the floor exercise.
Last season the Pioneers advanced to the NCAA National Championships for the second time in school history and finished a program-record tenth in the country. That finish will help set high goals for this year’s team.
“Our goal is nationals and eventually super six, but we are trying to take it meet by meet,” said Butler.
“To improve on last year’s performance and I do think that we have started the year off stronger than we did last year,” said Kutcher-Rinehart about the team’s goals.
Last season, Lopez became the first gymnast in school history to become a three-time All-American. She competed primarily on bars, beam and floor and so far this season she has competed in the all-around in both meets, including her first collegiate all-around score of 39.325 at Cancun.
“It is definitely a young team, but we are meshing well and the team chemistry is definitely there,” said Butler.
