DENVER – Four University of Denver gymnasts landed on the 2026 Big 12 Gymnastics Preseason Team, the conference announced on Thursday.
Seniors Mila Brusch, Cecilia Cooley and Kiley Rorich, and junior Maddison Reidenbach combined for five total spots on the preseason team, doing so across three events. Brusch and Reidenbach were named on vault while Cooley and Rorich each did so on bars. Cooley also added a nod on floor.
Denver’s four honorees and five total honors are the second most in the Big 12, behind only Utah. The four DU gymnasts on this year’s team are only one fewer than last season, which was the first year that the Big 12 Conference named a preseason team for gymnastics.
Cooley leads the Denver contingent with two honors, doing so on bars and floor. Last season, she finished with DU’s second highest floor NQS (9.860) and holds the second highest bars NQS (9.865) among Denver’s returners from 2025. She owns career highs of 9.925 on bars and 9.900 on floor, and owns a third 9.900+ career high on beam.
After missing the 2024 season with an injury, Cooley competed on bars, beam and floor in nearly every meet a season ago and is expected to contend for the all-around this coming season.
Brusch earned a place on the vault preseason team a season after winning a share of the Big 12 Conference title on the event. Twice in 2025, she scored a career-high 9.900 with her Yurchenko full including at the Big 12 Gymnastics Championship to tie atop the podium. Her vault NQS of 9.845 from a season ago is second among returning gymnasts to the DU roster in 2026.
She has competed on vault in every meet over the last two seasons and regularly competes in the floor lineup. Ahead of the 2026 season, she has begun training bars and is expected to contend for lineups across all four events this year.
Rorich was named to the preseason team on bars and is DU’s top returning gymnast on the event based on NQS a season ago (9.870). She owns a career high of a near-perfect 9.975 on bars and was a runner-up on the event at NCAA Regionals in 2025. The 2023 WCGA Postseason All-American on the event has appeared in Denver’s bars lineup in all but five meets of her career thus far and has done so on floor in all but two meets over the last two seasons.
She has started training vault – a front handspring front pike half – for the first time in her collegiate career and has regularly trained beam for the last two years.
Reidenbach landed on the vault preseason team after competing an upgraded Yurchenko 1.5 in 2025. She scored a near-perfect 9.975 on the event on her way to earning Big 12 Event Specialist weekly honors in February 2025 and finished the year with DU’s second highest NQS on the event (9.855).
In her first two collegiate seasons, she has competed in the full DU lineup on every event but bars but made exhibition appearances on that event last season. This preseason, she has trained all four events and is expected to content for the all-around in 2026.
All four Denver gymnasts are first-time Big 12 preseason honorees.
This is the second season that the Big 12 has named a preseason gymnastics team. As determined by coaches’ nominations and a subsequent vote, the top six all-arounders and top six gymnasts on each event earn places on the preseason team. Coaches cannot vote for gymnasts from their own team.
The University of Denver gymnastics team begins its 2026 season when it hosts Stanford on Sunday, January 11, at 1:45 p.m. MT in Magness Arena. DU’s Big 12 Conference opener is set for January 24 at West Virginia.
Fans can get their first look at the Denver team at the annual Crimson & Gold Intrasquad on Sunday, December 21, at 1:45 p.m. MT in Magness Arena. Admission is free.
2026 BIG 12 GYMNASTICS PRESEASON TEAM
All-Around
Abigayle Martin, Arizona*
Kimberly Smith, Arizona State*
Kylie Eaquinto, BYU
Scarlett Sonnenberg, BYU
Avery Neff, Utah*
Makenna Smith, Utah*
Vault
Abigayle Martin, Arizona
Mila Brusch, Denver
Maddison Reidenbach, Denver
Ashley Glenn, Utah*
Avery Neff, Utah
Karleigh DiCello, West Virginia
Uneven Bars
Reese Grolla, Arizona State
Cecilia Cooley, Denver
Kiley Rorich, Denver
Frederique Sgarbossa, Iowa State*
Makenna Smith, Utah
Ella Zirbes, Utah*
Balance Beam
Abigayle Martin, Arizona
Reese Grolla, Arizona State
Brynlee Andersen-Broekman, BYU*
Avery Neff, Utah
Ana Padurariu, Utah
Camie Winger, Utah
Floor
Emma Strom, Arizona*
Kimberly Smith, Arizona State
Cecilia Cooley, Denver
Noelle Adams, Iowa State
Haylee Hardin, Iowa State*
Makenna Smith, Utah
* Unanimous selection
TICKETS:
Tickets for the 2026 University of Denver gymnastics season are now on sale and can be purchased online, by calling 303-871-4625 or by visiting the Ritchie Center Box Office.
