Year in Review

The 2022 University of Denver gymnastics season saw the program build momentum over the course of the year, testing its depth after injuries and continuing to thrive despite the ongoing challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

After losing all three of its graduate students due to season-ending injuries, the Denver underclassmen stepped up and helped secure DU’s No. 13 final national ranking, improving on its No. 15 ranking to begin the postseason. Even when faced with five-up, five-count lineups nine times during the season — including in the postseason — DU did not count a fall. Overall, Denver finished with the fifth-highest NQS in program history (196.960), top-10 NQSs on three events and a No. 7 ranking on beam.

DU also extended is streak with at least one gymnast at the NCAA National Championships to 22 after Abbie Thompson qualified on beam.

In March, Denver became the first affiliate member to host a Big 12 Gymnastics Championship while also hosting the first-ever Championship on podium. The meet was once again broadcast live on an ESPN linear network, marking another first for the program.

At the Big 12 Championship, Jessica Hutchinson became the second DU gymnast in a row to win the all-around title (Lynnzee Brown, 2021). She was also named the Big 12 Gymnast of the Year, the third for DU since Denver joined the Conference in 2016.

Fellow sophomore Rylie Mundell and freshman Momoko Iwai added two more Big 12 titles for Denver, Mundell on bars and Iwai on beam. Mundell was also the all-around runner-up.

Despite continued concern around COVID-19, 2022 was one of DU’s strongest ever for home meet attendance, finishing third for all-time average and total attendance.

STARTING STRONG

Denver started 2022 with its best season opener in program history, hitting a 197.000 against San Jose State in what was DU’s highest season-opening score and its earliest 197+ mark. The team added new season-opener records on vault and floor, all while missing multiple key routines from Hutchinson, Iwai and Alexandria Ruiz, among others. Brown began her fifth-year of eligibility — awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic — with a spectacular near-perfect 9.975 on floor.

DU began a three-meet road swing with a trip to Ohio State on January 17 in what would become a preview of a soon-to-come showdown between the teams at NCAA Regionals. Denver used one of the best road beam rotations in program history to seal the win, highlighted by a career-best 9.950 from Bella Mabanta. Ruiz also returned to all-around competition while Iwai made her collegiate debut.

In its first of two consecutive Big 12 Conference meets, DU traveled to West Virginia on January 21 with the second highest away score in Denver history (197.600). Brown added her second 9.975 on floor through the first three meets of the season while Mundell matched that score on beam. Mia Hebinck made her collegiate debut as a last-minute substitution on bars. DU’s 49.550 on beam became a top-five all-time score while its 49.400 on floor ranked in the program’s top 10.

DU’s final January meet was a top-five showdown at Oklahoma, which started with strong bars and vault rotations. Hebinck placed in the top three on bars after again joining the lineup late while Brown nailed a career best-tying 9.975 on vault. In the next rotation however, Brown was injured during her floor routine, forcing the team to regroup before beam. What was resulted was one of DU’s grittiest performances of the year, beginning with freshman Iwai taking Brown’s critical position as leadoff on the event and hitting her routine. The team would rally around each other to not count a fall while welcoming Mia Sundstrom to the lineup for the first time in two years.

FIGHTING HARD IN FEBRUARY

DU returned home for two meets following Brown’s injury, shifting lineups and continuing to succeed. Hutchinson made her season allaround debut on February 6 — a week earlier than expected — narrowly missing a career high but setting a personal-best 9.900 in her first beam routine of the year. Sundstrom and Emily Glynn joined her atop the awards standings on vault and bars, respectively, while Mabanta, Mundell and Ruiz added top-three finishes of their own.

While hosting Big 12 Conference foe Iowa State on February 13, DU continued to adjust its lineups to accommodate injuries while still improving its team scores. Hutchinson set a new career high in the all-around (39.625) and improved her beam career high to 9.950. Callie Schlottman, too, tied a personal best on beam (9.875) after being added to the lineup late.

Denver was forced to dig deep yet again in its next meet, the Metroplex Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, on February 19. DU began the night with a strong bars rotation and overcame a fall in its first beam routine to not count the fall by the end of the lineup. However, the team would lose Sundstrom to an injury in what was her first floor appearance since the 2019 NCAA National Championships. The team scrambled and filled a five-up vault lineup to finish the meet.

Down two of its grad students and other routines from Abbie Thompson, Ruiz and Glynn, DU kept pushing to finish the month with a 196.475 at home against Air Force. Hutchinson continued to roll with another allaround title and at least a share of three more titles. Schlottman filled in on floor for her first collegiate appearance on the event and counted her score to the team total while Mabanta, Mundell and Iwai added personal bests on the event.

MARCHING FORWARD

DU opened March with more adversity after Glynn was injured on floor during the team’s meet at Penn State. Prior to the injury, the team started strong on bars and beam including a career-best 9.950 from Hebinck on bars. The team regrouped after Glynn’s injury on floor, with Hutchinson tallying another 9.950 and extending her all-around win streak to five. Denver refused to concede in the face of all of its injuries, instead stepping up as a team and building momentum beginning with its regular-season finale at home on March 13. Mundell’s personal-best 9.950 on vault tied her with Olympic gold medalist Jade Carey for the title and despite DU competing five-up, five-count on three events, DU hit all 21 routines.

DU welcomed the Big 12 Gymnastics Championship to Magness Arena on March 19, capturing three individual event titles and finishing with what was then the team’s second highest score of the season (197.250), which was only one tenth off the mark DU scored in 2021 when it won the team title. Denver built momentum throughout the meet, finishing with scores of at least 49.500 on both bars and beam for some of the best postseason scores in DU history.

NCAA NAILBITER

Denver advanced to NCAA Regionals for the 23rd straight time, competing as the No. 4 seed in the Auburn Regional. After receiving a bye in the first round, Denver first competed in a highly anticipated NCAA Regional Second Round meet that lived up to expectations with DU advancing over No. 5-seed Ohio State in the final routines of the day. Denver secured its spot in the NCAA Regional Final with its best floor rotation of the year (49.450), coming back from a fourth-place standing after the first rotation. Despite all of its injuries, DU filled all six spots on every event and hit all 24 routines.

DU’s season ended with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Regional Final that head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart would celebrate as one of the highlights of her career. The team added even more scores to its postseason record book including a final team score of 197.250, its third highest of the season. Three DU gymnasts set or tied career highs during the meet, and the team finished the night with one of the best bars rotations in DU history at NCAA Regionals — despite competing with only five student-athletes on that event as well as on floor.

Thompson qualified for the NCAA National Championships on beam by way of her 9.900 performance in the Second Round, though she would not compete due to a reaggravated injury.