DENVER, CO – APRIL 3: University of Denver gymnast Jessica Hutchinson chalks her hands with teammates during practice at the DU in south Denver on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. 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.
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. 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.
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.“It was a lot of trial-and-error of trying to figure out exactly what works best,” Hutchinson said.
Following the lead of Hutchinson, fellow senior captain Rylie Mundell and freshman all-around sensation Madison Ulrich , 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.
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.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.