Jan. 4, 2005
IOWA CITY – THIS WEEK — The eighth-ranked University of Iowa men’s gymnastics team will travel to Chicago, IL, Saturday to open its 2005 schedule at the Windy City Invitational. The meet will begin at 7 p.m. in the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Physical Education Building.
THE COMPETITION — The Windy City Invitational will feature six nationally-ranked teams, including Illinois (2nd), Ohio State (4th), Michigan (7th), Iowa (8th), Minnesota (9th) and Illinois-Chicago (11th).
LAST TIME AT WINDY CITY — The Hawkeyes opened their 2004 season with a fourth-place finish at the Windy City Invitational. Linas Gaveika led the Hawkeyes with a second-place finish in the all-around (53.500), placing second on the pommel horse (9.550) and 10th on horizontal bar (9.0). Michael Reavis placed second on vault (9.350) and finished sixth in the all-around (52.250).
SCOUTING THE HAWKEYES — 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.
NATIONAL RANKINGS — The Iowa men’s gymnastics team is ranked eighth in the GymInfo pre-season Coaches Poll. The Hawkeyes are ranked fifth in the highly competitive Big Ten conference.
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.
QUOTING COACH DUNN — “We’re really anxious to get started and see where we stack up in the Big Ten Conference. The Windy City Invite serves as an early season conference championships for us.”