Feb. 16, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
This Week: The eighth-ranked Iowa women’s gymnastics squad will travel to Normal, IL, Saturday, to compete against the Illinois State Redbirds and Illinois-Chicago Flames. Competition will begin at 7 p.m. at the Horton Fieldhouse.
The Redbirds: The Redbirds are 2-8 this season with wins over Northern Illinois and Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Losses came against Ball State (twice), Central Michigan, Michigan State, Kansas State, Ohio State, Illinois and Seatheast Missouri State. Illinois States’ top all-arounder is freshman Whitney Albright.
The Flames: The Flames are 2-8 this season and on a two meet winning streak. Illinois-Chicago has wins over Ball State and Southeast Missouri State, and has losses against Arizona, Florida, North Carolina State, Michigan State, Illinois, Arkansas, West Virginia and Minnesota. The Flames are led by Alyson Cacciatore and Veronique Meunier.
School Records Smashed: Iowa set a new record team score last weekend, posting a 197.15. This breaks the previous record of 196.8 set at Illinois last season. Senior Alexis Maday broke the school all-around record with a 39.75 against Maryland. The previous record was 39.65, which had been accomplished on five occasions.
Five Records Broken This Season: The GymHawks have broken five school records this year. The team total and individual all-around were smashed last weekend. Iowa has also broken the floor and vault records. Individually, Alexis Maday topped the bars record.
Noteworthy Against Maryland: Alexis Maday won vault, bars, floor and the all-around, and tied for second on beam. Stephanie Gran tied for second on bars with a 9.875 and Liz Grajewski placed second on floor. On vault, Kortny Williamson finished second and Beth Dilick and Liz Grajewski tied for fifth. The GymHawks tied the season-best bars score with a 49.3.
In The Rankings: Iowa moves up one to eighth in the latest GymInfo Poll. The GymHawks are also ranked on all four individual events. Iowa is sixth on floor, seventh on vault, 10th on bars and 16th on beam.
Three Individuals Ranked: The GymHawks have three individuals ranked in the GymInfo poll. Alexis Maday is ranked fifth in the all-around with an average of 39.585. Maday is also ranked sixth on bars, 11th on vault and 14th on beam. Stephanie Gran is ranked 15th in the all-around and tied for 21st on floor. Kortny Williamson is ranked 15th on vault.
Big Ten Rankings: Iowa is ranked first in the Big Ten Conference by total season average. The GymHawks are also ranked first on vault, bars and floor, and ranked third on beam. On floor, the Hawks have four individuals ranked, including Stephanie Gran at fourth, Liz Grajewski at fifth, Alexis Maday at sixth and Kortny Williamson at ninth. Additionally, Maday is ranked first on bars, beam and the all-around, and second on vault.
Quoting Coach Lorenzen: “We’re fortunate to have some great Division I programs like Illinois State within easy travel distance, especially after two far away meets in a row. Both Illinois State and Illinois-Chicago are strong programs with lots of history, and it should be a great competition. It will definitely be a test for us because we’re going to have some significant lineup changes due to ongoing illness and injury issues.”