Denver Gymnastics has been flying high and heads into NCAA Regional competition as the #6 overall seed. Denver’s NQS (National Qualifying Score) going into Regional selection was a DU record 197.825. This is a team that is peaking at the right time and ready for championship gymnastics! They will head to Berkeley as the second seed in the California-hosted Regional competition. Denver’s first competition at Regionals will be on Friday, April 5th.

Denver has gotten stronger as the season progressed. NQS can only increase as lower scores are replaced with higher ones in the calculations, but no one has shown continued growth the way DU has! The team started with some low 197 scores at away meets but ended strong despite 5 of their last 6 meets being away. They were able to replace all of their early-season lows with late-season highs.

Denver NQS scores over the last 5 weeks:
Week 8:  197.2
Week 9:  197.435
Week 10: 197.58
Week 11: 197.7
Week 12:  197.825

Denver finished the regular season with a huge win over Michigan with a 197.75. Then they headed to Norman, Oklahoma for the Big 12 Championships. Shout out to DU hype guys Tom and Taylor (and all the DU fans who traveled to Norman): we heard your “Let’s Go DU” cheers on the ESPNU broadcast! Oklahoma has been almost robotic in its ability to hit between 9.9 and 10.0 on every single routine in every single meet. And as if they had more to prove, they hit an NCAA record 198.95 at Big 12s. Jordan Bowers hit more 10s in this one meet (3) than Denver has had all season. The beam judges should have given her a 10 just so she could have gotten the 40 to prove how insanely good Oklahoma is. And with that Oklahoma exits the Big 12. I can only imagine the ridiculous amount of 10s they’ll get in the SEC next year.

Winning the Big 12 wasn’t in the cards for DU. But increasing their national rank was possible. Anything above a score of 197.35 would have increased their NQS. But they hit a whopping 197.975 to move up two spots in the national ranking! They passed both Alabama and Kentucky to make it to #6 in the ranking.

Being in the #6 spot means DU will not have to face Oklahoma again in Regional competition! Regional placements were announced on March 25, and quite a few seeding placements had to be adjusted due to four of the top 16 hosting regional meets.

Regional hosts are #3 California, #4 Florida, #11 Michigan, and #12 Arkansas. Because of the host sites necessitating adjustments to the regional seeding, some teams get a more difficult road to nationals than their ranking would normally predict. (Like how I said that in such a respectful way, Nick on hockey seeding?) Unfortunately, Denver is one of those teams who face tougher competition than they would if seeded based solely on ranking.

Given that host team California is ranked #3, the #6 team (Denver) would normally be assigned placement with numbers 11 and 14. But instead of #11 Michigan, or even #10 Michigan State, Denver will face #9 UCLA. Teams at the Berkley regionals are as follows:

• 3 California
• 6 Denver
• 9 UCLA
• 14 Auburn
• 19 Stanford
• 22 Arizona State
• 28 Washington
• 33 Southern Utah
• 35 San Jose State

The top two teams from each regional competition will advance to the National Championships. If this were based just on NQS, the top 8 would be: Oklahoma, LSU, Cal, Florida, Utah, Denver, Kentucky, and Alabama. So, if everyone just does their average, those will be the eight teams who advance. But surprises and upsets are bound to happen, so Denver can’t relax just yet.

Denver’s closest competition will be #9 UCLA. They will likely have to beat UCLA twice in rounds 2 and 3 of their regional competition to advance to Nationals. UCLA has struggled with consistency this season. When they are on, they can put up huge scores, with a season-high of 198.55. However, their season average of 197.35 and NQS of 197.675, they are statistically unlikely to beat Denver. But can DU hold them off twice in one weekend?

For the past month, the DU team has dialed in their performances and has been consistently hitting strong scores in the 9.9 range. This team has proven that they can perform on the road as strong in the late season as they did at home.  If we look at just the last four weeks of the season, Denver’s average team score has been 197.84. Over the same four weeks, UCLA has an average of 197.48. So it is extremely doable for Denver to advance to Nationals if they go to Cal and perform how they’ve been doing for the last month. The only unknown in my mind will be in lineups. Multiple DU athletes have been substituted in and out over the season along with some key injuries. So will the gymnasts competing in regionals be the same as competed at the Big 12 championships? If we do lineup changes now, will there be time to dust off the cobwebs for athletes who have missed one or more meets?

So, what about Cal?  I would say nothing about them and just assume they’ll take their home regional as their #3 ranking would predict; Cal has had their best season ever. But they’ve started to slide in the last couple of weeks. They were beaten by both Utah and UCLA in the Pac-12 Conference Championships last weekend. Perhaps the high expectations are impacting their ability to deliver. Denver will not face Cal until the final round at Regionals if both teams advance to the final. Most of Denver’s team was part of the Regional upset last year and knows how to perform under pressure. So it is possible that Denver outperforms the home team and takes their regional championship. But Denver doesn’t have to beat Cal to advance, they just need to finish in the top 2.

Rounding out the seeded teams at the Berkley regional, coming in ranked at #14, Auburn’s season-high score of 197.725 is below the NQS of Denver. They could come in with gusto and surprise the field. But if Denver keeps up their current averages, it shouldn’t be tough to top them.

Denver will get a bye in Round 1 of the Regional competition. Their first showing will be on Friday, April 5th at 2 PM MT versus UCLA, Arizona State, and Washington. I expect Denver to take first place in this matchup. The top two teams from this meet and the top two from the other round 2 semi-final will move to the Regional final on Sunday, April 7th at 6 PM MT. From that final, the top two teams will advance to Nationals.

Photo courtesy @egrimsley and CollegeGymNews.