Jessica Hutchinson has the Olympics in her blood. But to become an all-time great at the University of Denver, she had to forge her own gymnastics path.
Hutchinson’s mom, Silvia Mitova, and grandmother Maia Mitova were both Olympians for Bulgaria. And her grandfather Zarko Mitov was an Olympic coach. Hutchinson competed for the Bulgarian national team when she was younger, only to decide that going the collegiate route would be best for her.
“When I made the decision to pursue NCAA gymnastics rather than competing for Bulgaria and doing elite (level competition), that was when I was like, ‘OK, my journey isn’t going to look the same as theirs, because I’m not trying to go to the Olympics. And that’s OK,’” Hutchinson said. “I was trying to figure out what I wanted for myself, because I needed to do that.”
University of Denver gymnast Jessica Hutchinson speaks with head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart during practice at the University of Denver in on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
As her record-breaking senior season underscored, Hutchinson made the right choice.
This year, the all-around star became the first DU gymnast to earn four first-team regular-season All-America honors in one season. She also notched a pair of perfect 10.0s on floor — matching a feat from last year while again emulating her mother’s Olympic routine — and twice tied the Denver all-around record score of 39.825.
“I’ve worked as hard as I possibly could for almost 20 years in this sport, so this is the season where I could say to myself, ‘I’ve done everything I could. Now, let’s just enjoy it,’” Hutchinson said. “It felt like I was competing with freedom this year, and to see that pay off with big moments and team success has been awesome.”
It was last year when Hutchinson first made the decision to copy parts of her mom’s floor routine from the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. At first, she was reluctant to do so, simply because “my mom’s style is so different from mine, especially with her dancing.”
But in the end, she decided to take her mom’s routine and inject bits of her own personality into it. The decision was emblematic of her gymnastics career overall: She will always be known as the daughter of Silvia Mitova, who now runs a renowned gymnastics center in Zieglerville, Penn.
However, Hutchinson clearly has her own brand of finesse in the gym, separate from her mom.
“It was a lot of trial-and-error of trying to figure out exactly what works best,” Hutchinson said. “Overall, it’s obviously worked out well, even though it was definitely something where I wasn’t sure how it was going to go until I did it (in competition).”
Hutchinson is DU’s headliner going into regionals this weekend in Burbank, Calif., where the Pioneers will attempt to earn consecutive trips to the NCAA National Championship for the first time since 2007-08.
The Pioneers are currently ranked No. 6, the program’s second-highest ranking entering regionals behind the No. 5 spot they held in 2019, when they went on to become an NCAA National Championship finalist for the first and only time in program history.
“Last year, we had the mindset of, we hope we make it to nationals,” Hutchinson said. “But now, that’s our expectation: We’re going to nationals. We’ve planned our school schedules around that fact. And last year, our margin of error at regionals to make it to nationals was pretty small. It was like we needed to be perfect at regionals to make it to nationals.
“This year, we just need to be us.”
University of Denver gymnast Rylie Mundell works on the beam during practice at the DU in south Denver on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Following the lead of Hutchinson, fellow senior captain Rylie Mundell (Big 12 Event Specialist of the Year) and freshman all-around sensation Madison Ulrich (Big 12 Newcomer of the Year), 2024 is the latest glitzy chapter in the program’s 50-year history. More than half of that has come under the direction of 26th-year head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart, who built the Pioneers into a perennial contender despite DU competing against much bigger schools.
Before Kutcher-Rinehart’s arrival in 1999, DU gymnastics was already on the map, having captured Division II national titles in 1982 and ’83 before moving up to Division I the next year. But Kutcher-Rinehart, a former college gymnast at Florida, took the program to the next level.
Under her direction, DU’s made 25 consecutive appearances at NCAA Regionals (minus the 2020 COVID year) and had at least one individual qualify for NCAA National Championship 23 straight times, including six team berths. In each of those berths, the Pioneers were the lone non-Power 5 school to qualify.
Along the way, Kutcher-Rinehart out-recruited traditional powers for gymnasts such as Hutchinson and 2023 graduate Lynnzee Brown, who is one of two Pioneers to win an NCAA individual national title. The coach uses the school’s academics, as well as her program’s tight-knit, family feel, as a selling point.
And she already has DU’s next step in mind.
DENVER, CO – APRIL 3: University of Denver gymnast Madison Ulrich speaks with head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart during practice at the University of Denver in on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
“When we first got here, there were probably 300 fans in the stands if we were lucky, so it’s been fun for us to see the growth of collegiate gymnastics nationally, but also here in Denver,” Kutcher-Rinehart said.
“It’s great that we’re a consistent competitor in regionals every year … but we need to start being consistently qualified as a team at nationals every year. Once that happens, then we can take that next leap.”
This season, DU gymnastics topped the home attendance record it set last year, drawing an average of 4,712 across five meets at Magness Arena.
The Pioneers reset the program record book for their highest national qualifying score overall (197.825) and on bars (49.510) and floor (49.530). Plus, DU broke its mark for the highest road and postseason score (197.975 at the Big 12 Championships), in addition to earning two of the three 198+ scores in program history.
“A lot of things came together this year in measurable ways, which has been great as we honor the legacy of our 50th season and contribute to our celebration of that,” Rylie Mundell said. “… It’s been a really landmark year in so many ways, and we’re excited to finish it off on that same positive note.”
NCAA Gymnastics postseason at a glance
University of Denver gymnast Madison Ulrich adjusts her hair and she and teammates look in the mirror before being addressed by the coaching staff during practice at the DU in south Denver on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Where DU sits: The Pioneers are ranked No. 6 and take on No. 9 UCLA, No. 22 Arizona State and Washington in Session I at Haas Pavilion on Friday at 2 p.m. Session II features No. 3 California, No. 14 Auburn, No. 19 Stanford and San Jose State/Southern Utah. Both sessions will be broadcast on ESPN+. The top two teams from each regional second-round session advance to the regional finals.
NCAA Regional Finals: Sunday’s session begins at 6 p.m., and is also on ESPN+. The top two teams advance to the NCAA National Championship.
NCAA National Championship: Thursday, April 18 through Saturday, April 20, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, on ESPN2 and ABC.
NCAA National Championship favorite: Oklahoma is the top-ranked team in the country and has won five of the last seven titles. As such, the Sooners are the overwhelming favorite to capture their third straight crown. But the other top seeds — No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Cal, No. 4 Florida and No. 5 Utah — could push them.
DU gymnasts to watch: Sr. Jessica Hutchinson (all-around), fr. Madison Ulrich (all-around), sr. Rylie Mundell (vault and bars), sr. Bella Mabanta (vault/beam/floor), soph. Mila Brusch (vault), sr. Rosie Casali (all-around), soph. Kiley Rorich (bars/floor), jr. Momoko Iwai (bars/beam/floor), jr. Mia Hebinck (bars/beam), sr. Abbie Thompson (beam/floor).