Nov. 29, 2004
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THIS WEEK — The University of Iowa men and women’s gymnastics teams will compete in the Black & Gold Intrasquad meet Saturday in the Fieldhouse. Competition is set to begin at 2 p.m. There is no admission charge.
MEN’S SEASON PREVIEW — The Hawkeye men will begin their season in January as the eighth ranked team in the country. Iowa returns 12 letterwinners from a squad that finished fourth at the 2004 Big Ten Championships. Although the Hawkeyes failed to advance to the NCAA Championships, junior Linas Gaveika and sophomore Michael Reavis garnered all-America honors on three events. Gaveika was named all-America on parallel bars and horizontal bar, while Reavis was an all-American on vault. Dunn is also expecting strong contributions from what he says could be the best recruiting class in years. Curtis Kleffman, Tom Buese and Jacob Becker join a Hawkeye squad that will look to improve on last year’s achievements.
HEAD COACH Tom Dunn — Head Coach Tom Dunn is in his 25th year at Iowa. He has compiled a 187-79-2 record. In 1998, Dunn was named Big Ten Coach of the Year and CGA Central Region Coach of the Year. He has led the Hawkeyes to 18 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships. Iowa has competed at the NCAA meet 18 of the past 21 seasons. Dunn has also helped 29 individuals to 58 all-America honors and 19 gymnasts win 31 Big Ten titles.
WOMEN’S SEASON PREVIEW — The GymHawks return 10 letterwinners and add four newcomers to the roster. Juniors Liz Grajewski and Tiffany Kwan will lead the team as co-captains, while senior Annie Rue adds three years of NCAA Championship experience. Newcomers for the GymHawks are Katie Burke, Natalie Padilla, Amanda Rudolph and Ally Zipse. All four could make an immediate impact to the GymHawks’ strength.
The GymHawks have a tough schedule ahead, as they start the season at the Super Six Challenge against Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Arizona and Penn State. Iowa will also travel to Denver, Minnesota, Michigan and Auburn.
HEAD COACH Larissa Libby — Larissa Libby begins her first season as Head Coach of the GymHawks. Last season, Libby served as Associate Head Coach after three years as an assistant. Libby has already made a lasting impact on the GymHawks as the team’s choreographer and beam coach. The top 10 school beam performances have all been under her guidance, including the school record of 49.425.Libby coached four gymnasts to score a 9.9 or higher on beam in 2004. She also guided sophomore Danielle Legeai to tie for second on beam at NCAA regionals last season.