The 2007 season was the defining moment for the University of Denver gymnastics team and head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart’s nine-year tenure. The Pioneers finished second at the North Central Region Championships on their home floor, earning DU’s second-ever appearance at the NCAA National Championships. A fantastic performance at Nationals gave DU the best finish in school history (10th) and an amazing individual performance by Jessica López gave DU its first three-time All-American. The charge for Kutcher-Rinehart and her team is not to rest on its laurels and repeat the feat.
“We had a great season last year, it was exciting for the team and the University,” Kutcher-Rinehart said. “We lost four tremendous individuals whose experience and leadership will be sorely missed. But we need to turn the page. This is a new year, and a new team; we’re in a good situation to build upon our success. I’m really pleased with the direction of the program.”
This season, DU returns 18 of 24 routines from 2007 and is looking to keep the momentum going from that eye-opening campaign. The Pioneers return 10 gymnasts and add five newcomers in 2008 and are anxious to see how their hard work and an off-season of training with a new face on the coaching staff correlates to meets. Nilson Savage joined Kutcher-Rinehart’s staff in June after the departure of John Figueroa.
“Nilson will be a tremendous asset to our team,” Kutcher-Rinehart said. “He brings experience in both domestic and International recruiting as well as great technical expertise in club and collegiate coaching. We’re excited to get started.”
DU will get a test right off the bat when the Pioneers open the season at the Cancún Classic Jan. 5, a meet Savage’s company Classic Events began and runs each year and that has become of the best early season meets on the collegiate schedule. There are two sessions of the Cancún Classic, DU will compete in Session 2 against Minnesota, Texas Woman’s University, and LSU, who finished just in front of the Pioneers at the NCAA Championships last April.
“I’m really looking forward to Cancún, I think it’s going to be terrific competition, we’re thankful to have the support of administration to go back and compete for a second time,” Kutcher-Rinehart said. “It’s an early test for us, there’s some great teams competing in this meet. This will give us an idea from the first meet of the year what we are doing well and where we need to improve.”
Following the trip to Mexico, DU returns home to host Washington and the annual Alumni Reunion on Jan. 12 before taking on Auburn on Jan. 20. The Pioneers then go back on the road for consecutive meets, the first a quad meet at Texas Woman’s in suburban Dallas followed by a trip to Big 10 country to take on Illinois.
“We always love to reconnect the present and our past with the alumni meet. Washington will be a great home opener for us. Auburn offers us a great opportunity to compete against a tough SEC team and we always look forward to this kind of challenge,” Kutcher-Rinehart said.
DU then hosts another pair of home meets, the first a quad meet with Oklahoma, Utah State and Air Force. Oklahoma finished ahead of the Pioneers at last year’s NCAA Championships and annually have one of the top programs in the country. The Pioneers then host Ball State, where former DU gymnast Katie Andrews is a graduate coach.
“I’m looking forward to competing against Oklahoma on our home floor and in a quad-meet atmosphere,” Kutcher-Rinehart said. “They are an extremely tough team and it will be an exciting meet for our fans.”
The Pioneers return to Lincoln, Neb., to take on the Cornhuskers on Feb. 23, DU’s first visit to Nebraska since 2005. Nebraska was a Super Six team in 2007 and finished sixth in the country. DU then travels to take on Utah State on Feb. 29.
“You really can’t get a much better meet than Nebraska,” Kutcher-Rinehart said. “They finished sixth in the country and are obviously a great measuring stick for us. The meet comes in the middle of the regular season and gives us a good opportunity to see where we stand heading into the stretch of the season.”
DU’s final two home meets of the year follow when the Pioneers host Pitt and Texas Woman’s, who has another DU alumnae on its coaching staff in former Pioneer Gretchen Goerlitz. DU’s annual Senior Night competition will feature Arizona of the Pac-10 on March 15. DU then closes out the regular season with a return trip to Ball State and its annual season-ending competition at Air Force on Monday, March 24.
The Regional championships will take place on April 12 at various locations and the National Championships will be hosted in Athens, Ga., and hosted by Georgia. Athens is the same place DU made its first appearance at the National Championships in 2001.
Seniors
DU ended the 2007 season with three seniors and entered this year with four, thanks to Paige Schuster (Loveland, Colo.) earning enough college credits to graduate this spring and deciding to make 2008 her final season at DU. Joining Schuster are the returning seniors, Sasha Sullivan (Glen Allen, Va.), Courtney Butler (Naperville, Ill.) and Sierra Bertholomey (Albuquerque, N.M.). Schuster, Sullivan and Bertholomey will all serve as captains in 2008.
Schuster will be expected to contribute to DU’s lineup on vault and bars and Sullivan added a new bar release this preseason and is expected to be in DU’s lineup in all four events, as she was in eight meets last season. Butler’s scores on vault and bars will be relied up heavily once again in 2008, and Bertholomey has been training floor this fall in hopes of cracking the lineup.
“Paige has had a wonderful fall of training and I expect to see her in the lineup this winter,” Kutcher-Rinehart said. “Sasha adding this bar release her senior season is really a testament to her dedication to gymnastics. Courtney has had one of the best preseason training on the team and I think she has a real chance to be an All-American on her two events. Sierra is our behind the scenes leader and I’m optimistic she will see action on floor for us this season.”
Juniors
DU’s junior class features four student-athletes and will be a major part of the Pioneers’ success in 2008. López anchors the class after she became the first gymnast in school history to become a three-time All-American when she finished in the top eight on uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise in her first NCAA Championships. After qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Games last summer, López will be a huge cog in DU’s machine this season.
“Jessica looks fantastic,” Kutcher-Rinehart said. “She’s upgraded her skills and difficulty and this is probably the strongest and most confident she has looked since she’s been here. She saw at Nationals what it takes to be in the event finals and to win a national championship and she has the ability to do that.”
DU’s other juniors, Nikki Brown (Louisville, Ky.), Lauren Garan (Cos Cob, Conn.), and Liz Meals (Gibsonia, Pa.) figure mightily in the Pioneers’ lineups this season. Brown has been a consistent bars and beam worker for DU and hopes to crack the floor lineup this season. Garan is returning from a torn Achilles injury last season but is determined to return to DU’s lineup and Meals has had her strongest preseason of training since her arrival on campus and is ready for the season.
“Nikki is doing some of the best gymnastics I’ve seen from her, she’s upgraded her bar routine and I expect to see her in the floor lineup this season,” Kutcher-Rinehart said. “Liz looks the strongest she’s ever looked. Her commitment to training is paying off now and she’s put herself in a very good situation. Lauren is a success story. She’s done a great job training beam, floor and vault and she is unwavering in her desire to be a part of this team’s success.”
Sophomores
The Pioneers return just two sophomores in 2008 but they are good ones, as the two contributed on five events all last season. Kelley Hennigan (The Woodlands, Texas) was a consistent competitor on vault and balance beam last season and is expected to help anchor a Pioneer vault lineup that lost two of the better vaults in the country to graduation last season. Ellen McCarthy (Aurora, Ontario) competed three events for DU last season and has put a lot of time in the gym to improve on already solid routines.
“Ellen looks fantastic. She’s upgraded her bars and her beam looks as good as ever. I expect her to compete on all three events for us. As always, we expect great things from Kelley on beam this season. I’m also very excited to see how she will respond to being a more important part of the vault lineup.”
Freshmen
DU’s biggest class of athletes in 2008 is the freshman class, which features five student-athletes from varying backgrounds that the coaching staff hopes will offer immediate contributions in 2008. Kristina Coccia (Bethlehem, Pa.) is a four-time JO Nationals qualifier from Parkette’s Gymnastics and Amanda Johanson (Park City, Utah) is a five-time Utah state champion. Also coming in is Danielle Kirchhof (Norwood, N.J.) a national qualifier for Galaxy Gymnastics, the same gym that gave the Pioneers Garan in 2005. Taylor Sanford (Omaha, Neb.) is a two-time all-around Nebraska state champion and last but not least, the Pioneers added Annamari Maaranen (Tampere, Finland), a two-time Finland all-around champion and who became the first Finnish athlete in 44 years to qualify for the Olympics when she secured her spot in the 2008 Games last summer.
“We expect good things out of this freshman class,” Kutcher-Rinehart said. “There are some good mentally and physically gifted gymnasts in this class and they’ve all worked very hard in the fall to prepare themselves for their first collegiate seasons. I think all five have the ability to contribute this season and help us achieve our goals.”
