Season Preview

2023 SEASON PREVIEW

2023 SEASON PREVIEW

In 2023, the University of Denver gymnastics team looks to continue growing off record-setting campaigns in the last four seasons.

Head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart will lead the Pioneers for her 25th season, hoping to take Denver back to the NCAA National Championships for a sixth time.

Eleven DU student-athletes return to the roster — including four Big 12 Conference champions and two graduate students back for additional seasons — while the team welcomes four newcomers as well. Denver returns all but one of its postseason routines from 2022.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Two standout all-arounders for DU are back for a final year of eligibility: Lynnzee Brown (medical redshirt) and Alexandria Ruiz (COVID-19 fifthyear).

Lynnzee Brown won DU’s second-ever NCAA individual national title in 2019 and has established herself as one of the country’s top allarounders. In 2021, she returned better than ever following a seasonending injury in 2020, finishing the year tied for No. 2 in the country in the all-around and in the top three nationally on bars and floor. Her “COVID year” in 2022 ended after just four meets with another seasonending injury but resulted in a sixth year of eligibility for 2023.

Alexandria Ruiz has competed in the all-around for the majority of her career and is back for a “COVID fifth year.” A postseason All-American in the all-around in 2019, she has competed in every meet of her career and is consistently DU’s leadoff performer on bars. After not competing on floor for a month, she returned to the all-around at NCAA Regionals in 2022 with some of the best performances of her career including a nearcareer-high 9.900 on floor to help secure DU’s berth in the NCAA Regional Final during the final rotation.

SENIORS

DU’s true senior class features two returners from 2022, each providing depth and experience under pressure while also serving as some of DU’s “hype women.”

Callie Schlottman was instrumental in filling lineup spots for DU in 2022 following teammates’ injuries. Five times, she competed on beam and tied her career high (9.875) while also making her collegiate floor debut and counting her score to the team total. She has demonstrated poise under pressure including at the 2021 Big 12 Championship where her hit beam routine immediately followed a fall to help get the team back on track on its way to winning the conference title for the first time ever.

Victoria Fitts missed the 2021 and 2022 seasons with injuries but was instrumental in helping complete lineups during the 2020 season. Twice, she competed on vault in 2020 and set a career high of 9.825 on the road at Oklahoma. She is one of the most vocal supporters on DU’s sideline and is always one of the first to great her teammates after their routines.

JUNIORS

DU’s junior class showed tremendous growth during the 2022 season and enters 2023 with outstanding experience in delivering high-level and high-scoring gymnastics under immense pressure.

Jessica Hutchinson had a slow start to the 2022 season due to an injury but beginning in February, she was one of the most consistent all-arounders in the country. She never scored below 9.900 on floor all season and only did so once on beam. Across all four events, she never scored below 9.800. Her 39.625 career-best performance at the Big 12

Championship earned her the conference title, and she was named the Big 12 Gymnast of the Year.

Rylie Mundell, too, found her feet in the all-around as the season went on, scoring at least 39.350 in the final six meets including a personalbest 39.550 in the NCAA Regional Final. She set or tied career highs of 9.975 on beam, 9.950 on vault and 9.900 on floor while only twice scoring below 9.800 on any event during the back half of the season. At the Big 12 Championship, her 9.950 on bars gave her a share of the title.

Bella Mabanta became a mainstay in DU’s beam and floor lineups in 2022, competing on floor in every meet and on beam in all but one. Three times, she set a career high of 9.900 on floor including in both NCAA Regionals meets, and she set a new personal best (9.950) on beam in just the second meet of the year — and did so on the road. She ranked in the team’s top three for NQS on both events at the end of the season.

Abbie Thompson battled through an injury during the middle part of the season but returned strong in time for the postseason. Prior to her injury, she began the year with a career-high 9.925 on floor in the season opener and added two 9.900s on beam. She returned to DU’s beam and floor lineups at the Big 12 Championship and added bars in the NCAA Regional Second Round. Her 9.900 on beam in the Second Round qualified her on the event to the NCAA National Championships, though she did not compete after reaggravating an injury.

Rosie Casali regularly competed on vault and bars for DU in 2022 including on both events for the final seven meets, stepping in to fill lineup spots after injuries — sometimes at the last minute. She tied a career high of 9.850 on vault and finished the year with all of her bars routines scoring between a 9.825 and 9.875.

SOPHOMORES

Like Denver’s junior class, its sophomores gained invaluable experience early in their careers as freshmen and thrived under the pressure.

Momoko Iwai competed in every meet except the season opener and was in DU’s vault, beam and floor lineups for the final seven meets. She set the tone early with matching 9.875s in her first collegiate beam and floor routines and would eventually use a personal-best 9.950 on beam at the Big 12 Championship to win a share of the title. Only once did she score below 9.800 on floor, and she consistently led off the vault and beam rotations.

Mia Hebinck made a statement early on for DU on bars, filling in at the last-minute to make her collegiate debut in January and catching eyes with her well-executed Ricna-to-immediate Pak salto combination. On March 5 at Penn State, she won a share of the title with a personal-best 9.950. She added a vault appearance at the NCAA Regional Second Round to give DU a sixth score in the event that a tiebreak was needed.

FRESHMEN

DU welcomes four newcomers to the roster in 2023 who bring depth and are expected to impact all four of DU’s lineups.

Mila Brusch joins Denver from Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy and is a three-time USAG Development Program Level 10 Nationals qualifier. At the 2022 Level 10 Nationals, she tied for third with her dynamic Yurchenko full on vault and placed 10th in the all-around. She had another top-three finish on vault from the 2019 Level 10 Nationals, where she also finished fourth on floor.

Cecilia Cooley is from New York City and trained at Gotham Gymnastics. She brings exciting difficulty and consistency, especially on bars and beam. She twice qualified for Level 10 Nationals, tying for third on beam in 2022. At the 2022 Region 6 Championships, she won the all-around title and placed in the top three on vault, bars and beam.

Ava Mabanta is the younger sister of DU junior Bella Mabanta and most recently trained at Twin City Twisters in Minnesota. She is a former international elite gymnast, twice competing at the TopGym Competition in Belgium. As a Level 10 gymnast, she qualified for DP Nationals three times and, like Cooley, tied for third on beam in 2022. She also tied for third on vault in 2019 and added back-to-back fourth-place finishes on beam in 2018 and 2019.

Kiley Rorich calls Charlotte, North Carolina, home and trained at Southeastern Gymnastics. In 2020, she won the all-around title at the prestigious Nastia Liukin Cup and added a win on bars. She is a threetime Level 10 Nationals qualifier, most recently tying for fourth on bars and placing fifth in the all-around in 2021. She missed much of the 2022 season with an injury but is expected to compete for DU in 2023.

PRESEASON COACHES’ POLL

Denver enters the 2023 season ranked No. 13 in the WCGA Preseason Coaches’ Poll, marking the sixth consecutive season that DU will begin the year ranked inside the top 13 nationally.

DU will face each of the last two NCAA National Champions in 2023 in Oklahoma (2022) and Michigan (2021), both of which appear in the top four of the preseason poll. In total, seven of DU’s opponents appear in the preseason rankings.

2023 OPPONENTS & SCHEDULE

Denver opens its 2023 campaign at home with its first Power-5 meet of the year against Penn State and Texas Woman’s, which is followed by back-to-back road meets, beginning with a trip to Michigan with Fisk, which is in its inaugural season in 2023. DU then travels all the way to the West Coast for a quad meet at Oregon State with Sacramento State and Brown before returning home to host Oklahoma on January 29.

February begins with two more home meets, starting with a quad meet against George Washington, Pittsburgh and Air Force, and then a dual against West Virginia. Denver makes the trip down I-25 for a Friday night meet at Air Force with UC Davis on February 17 and closes the month at Iowa State on February 24.

DU’s final regular-season home meet is set for March 5 against Towson before Denver closes the regular season at Nebraska on March 11 — a meet that will also feature Air Force for its third meeting against DU in 2023.

Denver begins its postseason with the Big 12 Championship, hosted by West Virginia, on March 18 in a return to the site of the team’s first-ever Big 12 title (2021).

NCAA Regionals returns to Magness Arena for the first time since 2011 with DU hosting the four-day competition on March 30 - April 2. Nine teams will compete with two berths to the NCAA National Championships on the line at the end of the weekend.

2023 BIG 12 CONFERENCE OPPONENTS & SCHEDULE

2023 NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS & SCHEDULE

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

Ames, Iowa | Cyclones | Big 12 Head Coach: Jay Ronayne 2022 Final Ranking: 25th 2023 Meetings: February 24 at Iowa State March 18 at Big 12 Championship All-Time Record: 27-8-0 Last Meeting: March 19, 2022, at Big 12 Championship Denver won 197.250-196.100

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

Norman, Oklahoma | Sooners | Big 12 Head Coach: KJ Kindler 2022 Final Ranking: 1st 2023 Meetings: January 29 in Denver March 18 at Big 12 Championship All-Time Record: 9-46-0 Last Meeting: March 19, 2022, at Big 12 Championship Oklahoma won 198.200-197.250

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

Morgantown, West Virginia | Mountaineers | Big 12 Head Coach: Jason Butts 2022 Final Ranking: 33rd 2023 Meetings: February 12 in Denver March 18 at Big 12 Championship All-Time Record: 18-6-0 Last Meeting: March 19, 2022, at Big 12 Championship Denver won 197.250-196.650

AIR FORCE ACADEMY

Colorado Springs, Colorado | Falcons | MPSF Head Coach: Jennifer Green | 2022 Final Ranking: 54th

BROWN UNIVERSITY

Providence, Rhode Island | Bears | GEC Head Coach: Brittany Harris | 2022 Final Ranking: 59th

FISK UNIVERSITY

Nashville, Tennessee | Bulldogs | Independent Head Coach: Corrinne Tarver | 2022 Final Ranking: n/a

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

Washington, D.C. | Colonials | EAGL Head Coach: Margie Foster-Cunningham | 2022 Final Ranking: 39th

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Ann Arbor, Michigan| Wolverines | Big Ten Head Coach: Bev Plocki | 2022 Final Ranking: 8th

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA

Lincoln, Nebraska | Cornhuskers | Big Ten Head Coach: Heather Brink | 2022 Final Ranking: 38th

OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

Corvallis, Oregon | Beavers | Pac-12 Head Coach: Tanya Chaplin | 2022 Final Ranking: 17th

PENN STATE UNIVERSITY

University Park, Pennsylvania | Nittany Lions | Big Ten Head Coach: Sarah Brown | 2022 Final Ranking: 40th

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Panthers | EAGL Head Coach: Samantha Snider | 2022 Final Ranking: 43rd

SACRAMENTO STATE UNIVERSITY

Sacramento, California | Hornets | MPSF Head Coach: Jennifer Green | 2022 Final Ranking: 58th

TEXAS WOMAN’S UNIVERSITY

Denton, Texas | Pioneers | MIC Head Coach: Lisa Bowerman | 2022 Final Ranking: 49th

TOWSON UNIVERSITY

Towson, Maryland | Tigers | EAGL Head Coach: Jay Ramirez | 2022 Final Ranking: 34th

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS

2023 Meetings: Feb. 5 in Denver; Feb. 17 at AFA; March 11 at Nebraska

2023 Meeting: January 21 at Oregon State Quad

2023 Meeting: January 13 at Michigan Tri

2023 Meeting: February 5 in Denver

2023 Meeting: January 13 at Michigan

2023 Meeting: March 11 at Nebraska

2023 Meeting: January 21 at Oregon State

2023 Meeting: January 8 in Denver

2023 Meeting: February 5 in Denver

2023 Meeting: January 21 at Oregon State Quad

2023 Meeting: January 8 in Denver

2023 Meeting: March 5 in Denver All-Time Record: 99-4-0 Last Meeting: February 27, 2022, in Denver (Denver won 196.475-194.650)

All-Time Record: 1-0-0 Last Meeting: January 20, 2006, in Denver (Denver won 195.400-182.650)

All-Time Record: 0-0-0 Last Meeting: n/a

All-Time Record: 6-0-0 Last Meeting: February 16, 2020, in Denver (Denver won 197.425-194.900)

All-Time Record: 3-6-1 Last Meeting: January 11, 2019, at Alabama (Denver won 196.275-196.025)

All-Time Record: 10-23-0 Last Meeting: March 13, 2022, in Denver (Denver won 196.800-195.750)

All-Time Record: 7-9-0 Last Meeting: March 13, 2022, in Denver (Oregon St. won 196.875-196.800)

All-Time Record: 8-3-0 Last Meeting: March 5, 2022, at Penn State (Denver won 197.075-195.225)

All-Time Record: 3-2-0 Last Meeting: March 10, 2019, in Denver (Denver won 197.675-194.200)

All-Time Record: 8-0-0 Last Meeting: January 19, 2019, in Denver (Denver won 196.175-190.150)

All-Time Record: 24-1-0 Last Meeting: February 21, 2021, at Oklahoma (Denver won 196.875-193.650)

All-Time Record: 4-0-0 Last Meeting: January 29, 2017, at West Virginia (Denver won 195.900-194.775)