The Pioneers Gymnastics team posted another win over Iowa State and West Virginia in week 7 on 2/18/24. In what West Virginia Athletics called their Beauty and the Beast meet, fans were treated to women’s gymnastics and men’s wrestling simultaneously in the WVU Coliseum. It was a cute concept and brought both wrestling and gym fans out for the same event. WVU executed the event well, and the gymnastics portion was streamed on ESPN+.
Team scores were: Denver 197.35, Iowa State 195.675, and WVU 195.25.
Week 7 of the NCAA gymnastics season is also the time when National Qualifying Scores (NQS) are first calculated. Next week the NQS will be used to determine ranking. After the first 7 meets of the year, Denver sits in the #10 spot for NQS rank. Official Week 7 rank is #7, but watch for that to fall unless DU has a huge week 8.
Current NQS scores are as follows:
- Oklahoma 198.150
- LSU 197.685
- California 197.645
- Kentucky 197.560
- Utah 197.485
- Florida 197.435
- Michigan 197.390
- Michigan State 197.325
- Alabama 197.300
- Denver 197.260
- Missouri 197.100
- UCLA 197.090
- Auburn 196.965
- Ohio State 196.955
- Arkansas 196.950
NQS scores are calculated by taking the top 6 scores (if at least 3 of them are away meets), dropping the top score, then averaging the next highest 5 scores. At this point, four of Denver’s top 6 scores are at home meets, so they must drop their lowest home score to only use 3 home meets in the NQS calculation. They are also dropping the season high 198 score.
Denver has only one more home meet this season, and four remaining away meets in the regular season. These four away meets will be huge opportunities to raise the team’s NQS. Hopefully they continue building the consistency.
In West Virginia, the team showed more of its depth in making lineup changes that allowed rest for some teammates still nursing injuries. We saw a few new faces put up good scores. The fact that the team still hit 197.35 looks great for DU on the road to nationals.