Week 4 is in the books for DU gymnastics. Denver has seen some promising improvements and some setbacks. Two of the most noteworthy accomplishments were senior Jessica Hutchinson’s career-high 39.725 All Around score to place first against Oklahoma, and Rylie Mundell’s return to the floor lineup and All Around, both in week 4 on 1/26.

Denver faced off against #1 Oklahoma twice in 6 days. The first meet was a quad meet at home on 1/21, the second was in Norman on 1/26. Predictably, Oklahoma bested DU twice, but they do that to everyone. 

The Denver Pioneers site (https://denverpioneers.com) has started doing a fantastic job at meet recaps, something that was lacking three years ago when I started writing for Let’s Go DU. So rather than duplicate their meet recaps, I’ll use this space to make some observations and look towards the future.

Week 3:
The second home meet of the season on 1/21 was a huge meet for DU and a great opportunity for gymnastics fans to see some of the best athletes in the NCAA in person in Magness Arena. Denver hosted Oklahoma, UCLA, and Stanford and took second place as a team. Senior Rosie Casali showed the brilliance on vault that we saw last year with a stuck Yurchenko 1.5 for a 9.95. One of these days, the judges are going to give her the 10. Fellow senior Rylie Mundell still looked a bit rusty on vault, landing short and needing to take a step back. Denver struggled with some bobbles on beam in week 3, which continued in week 4 as well.  Denver ended the meet on floor, which had been their lowest ranking event, and they had super strong showing to end the meet. Oklahoma hit its first 198 this week, and they gave up a few tenths here and there.  Look for OU to keep up their winning streak and stay on top of the rankings. Going in to week 3, DU and UCLA were neck and neck in rankings, so the win over UCLA was a step in the right direction. Oklahoma’s Jordan Bowers won the All Around with a 39.775.

After the meet, Denver Pioneers claimed Magness was standing room only, but looking around Magness, I’d say it was more like 80% full. Were there that many no shows? 

Also about fan experience: Denver Pioneers designated this meet as the black out meet, and encouraged fans to wear black. They shared a photo of fans wearing black DU Gymnastics t-shirts. But there was nowhere to buy those shirts, or any DU gymnastics merchandise. The scoreboard referred fans to the DU bookstore. As usual, free t-shirts were thrown to the crowd for all scores 9.8 or better. So 17 of the reported 6,224 fans got the shirts. In a sport where most of your fans are not DU students, don’t live near campus, and many who are young girls, why not sell gymnastics merchandise, or even open the merchandise stands? …especially when Magness is sold out.

Week 4:
Just six days later, the Pioneers faced off against Oklahoma again, this time in Norman. The meet was streamed on ESPN+. Overall it was a good broadcast and because it was a dual meet, every routine from both teams were shown. Too bad this is the only DU meet that will be on the platform. Denver headed into week 4 ranked 12th and Oklahoma was still #1.

One key player was missing on Friday, senior Bella Mabanta. Other athletes stepped up with some strong performances. This was Oklahoma’s first home meet of the season, and they unveiled their 2023 National Champion banner. Denver started the meet on bars and had arguably their best performances of the season on this event. Unfortunately, their scores weren’t as high as I would have expected. In the same rotation, Oklahoma was on vault and could not stick a single vault. DU started the meet with a lead over OU and should feel very proud of that bars lineup.

Noteworthy on vault was the improvement from Rylie Mundell. Her vault looked like what we’ve seen in previous seasons, finally ready to put up big numbers. As I stated earlier, Rylie also joined the floor lineup in week 4 and looked strong. Let’s hope this is the start of more huge performances from this athlete and she continues this trend through the season.

DU beat Oklahoma on vault 49.425 to 49.175. Oklahoma is ranked #1 on vault and DU is ranked 15th. This wasn’t a fluke and wasn’t poor judging. OU was off and DU is definitely on the rise. Oklahoma ate up DU’s lead in the 2nd rotation on bars, they scored their more typical 9.9s and higher (only counting one 9.8).

On floor, DU continued to improve. Even though it wasn’t perfection across the board, the gymnasts looked stronger and more ready for the season. Particularly, senior Rosie Casali looked amazing! Her last pass was strong and stuck. So much improvement in her performance. Her 9.875 was a little low in my opinion. After three rotations, Denver stayed within 0.025 of Oklahoma!

Then beam happened. One bobble became contagious and steps on landings plagued DU once again. Denver recorded their lowest beam score of the season. Allowing Oklahoma to pull away,  winning 197.775 to 197.15. But there were a lot of season and career bests for DU along the way. So as usual at this point of the season, there is a lot of potential for greatness and a lot of hope for the future. Fingers crossed that the team stays healthy, continues to improve, and finds those stuck landings.

The Pioneers’ next two meets are at home. The competition will be a lot easier than facing Oklahoma two weeks in a row. But DU needs to focus on their game plan, shake off the wobbles, and put up big scores.

Photos by Brittany Evans for the University of Denver Athletics