DENVER – The University of Denver gymnastics team is currently ranked No. 23 nationally, according to the Week 9 Road to Nationals rankings released Monday. The ranking comes after the Pioneers registered a score of 196.100 in a recent meet against No. 12 Utah on March 1.
This week’s rankings are the third to be determined using the newly adopted National Qualifying Score (NQS) formula. The NQS calculation now incorporates all of a team’s meets – with a maximum of five home meets factored in – before dropping the highest and lowest scores and averaging the remainder. This differs from the previous system, which used a straight season average for the first six weeks of rankings.
Denver’s current NQS stands at 196.288, calculated from the following scores: 196.950 (away at Arizona State), 196.600 (home vs. Arizona), 196.575 (home vs. Stanford), 196.525 (home vs. Iowa State), 196.100 (home vs. Utah), 196.000 (away at West Virginia), 195.925 (away at BYU), and 195.850 (away at Texas Woman’s Tri).
Within the team rankings, Denver holds a No. 25 ranking on vault (49.013), improving by a quarter tenth of a point, No. 21 on bars (49.058), No. 24 on beam (48.967), and No. 13 on floor (49.321). The vault ranking improvement followed a season-high score of 49.175 against Utah, while the bars ranking also saw an improvement after matching a season-high of 49.150 in the same meet.
Senior Cecilia Cooley remains a nationally ranked individual competitor, tied at No. 25 in the all-around with a score of 39.295 and tied at No. 23 on floor with 9.905. Cooley did not compete in the all-around during the March 1 meet against Utah, but maintains her national ranking. An out-of-bounds deduction during her floor routine prevented an improvement to her NQS on that event.
The new NQS formula impacts only team rankings and postseason selections. Individual rankings continue to be determined using the previous formula, taking the top six scores with a minimum of three away meets, dropping the high score, and averaging the remaining five. To qualify for NCAA Regionals, teams must include a minimum of nine total meets, five away meets, and a maximum of five home meets in their NQS calculation.
Denver is scheduled to compete against Air Force in two meets within four days. The first is a tri meet hosted by Air Force with San Jose State on Friday, March 6, at 7 p.m. MT. The second meet will be held in Denver against Air Force on Monday, March 9, at 5:45 p.m. MT. Only the Friday, March 6, meet will contribute to the Week 10 Road to Nationals rankings; the Monday, March 9, meet will be reflected in the Week 11 rankings.
