Denver posted their highest road score of the season with a 197.625. They beat Missouri (197.375), SEMO (193.150) and New Hampshire (195.250) at Senior Night on Sunday 3/10 at Missouri.
DU’s NQS increased from 197.435 to 197.58, which was a new DU record and enough to move them from #11 to #9. The NQS is an average of five team scores where the NCAA takes a team’s top 3 away meet scores, the next 3 highest scores (which for DU are all home meets), drops the highest overall score, and averages the remaining five scores.
Because of the way NQS is calculated, a team’s score can only increase or stay the same, but never decrease as the season progresses. In week 10, #1 Oklahoma increased their NQS by 0.01, setting yet another NCAA all time NQS record of 198.43. LSU beat out Cal for the #2 spot as both of those teams hit NQS scores above 198 points.
For DU the NQS looks like this:
- Top three away scores used: 197.625 (March 10), 197.35 (February 18), and 197.15 ( February 26)
- Top score dropped: 198.025 at home from March 3.
- Next two highest scores, all from home meets: 198.0 (February 4), 197.775 (February 11)
- Average the 198.0, 197.775, 197.625, 197.35, and 197.15 to get new NQS of 197.58.
Denver’s last regular season meet of the year is on Friday, March 15 at Michigan. Anything above a 197.15 will increase their NQS. If they match their week 10 score, their new NQS would be a 197.675. This is where having nothing but away meets left will help DU in rankings, as long as they keep up consistent scores. Schools that have home meets this weekend will have less chance to increase NQS, assuming their top scores are already from home meets. A NQS of 197.675 would put DU at #7 in the current field. So if Denver continues strong with high scores, watch for them to continue climbing a spot or two going into the post season.
Scouting the field, there are currently three teams with NQS above 198 points: Oklahoma, LSU, and Cal. This is the most teams to hit that NQS in one season since Roadtonationals.com became the official statistical and ranking site of women’s NCAA gymnastics. The website went active in 2013, but they include data on team NQS going back to 1998. In the time since 1998, there have never been more than two teams with NQS of 198+. This season we have three. DU has stiff competition if they want to make it to Nationals, especially since their Regional competition will not be at home as it was in 2023.
The 2019 DU gymnastics team that made it all the way to the Final Four on the Floor of NCAA gymnastics achieved a NQS of 197.545. This year’s team is even better than that. But the competition is better than they’ve been in the past too.
DU’s next outing is at #7 Michigan and will be streamed on the Big 10 Network, BTN+. (This DU fan is not a subscriber.) Here’s hoping Denver can stick it to Michigan like they did last year in Regionals.
Photo Courtesy GK Elite (https://www.instagram.com/gkelite)
Dunker thanks you again for your recap and scoring explanations. Because I have no life by choice, I subscribe to 4 different sites, but not B1G+. I probably get well over 100 different DU sports contests. You should look into ESPN+. They surprise you sometimes; probably an occasional gymnastics meet. Cheers
I’ve watched a couple of the away meets this year on ESPN+. They are weird though about what regions will stream on ESPN+ here in Denver. For example, my family in Florida can watch the SEC+ streams on ESPN+, but I cannot. However, last weekend’s stream on SEC+ was a webcam mounted in the ceiling. …weird view to watch gymnastics and hard to tell who was who from that high up. Honestly, the NCAA gymnastics streams were a lot easier to come by during COVID in all regions. But now we’re back to needing multiple subscriptions just to see a meet or two.
Now I’m wondering if the team will even get out of town in time for Friday’s meet in Michigan.