April 4, 2006
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THIS WEEK — The seventh-ranked University of Iowa men’s gymnastics team finish their 2006 season in Norman, OK, at the NCAA Championships Thursday thru Saturday. The three day event will take place in the Lloyd Noble Center at the University of Oklahoma.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS — The NCAA Championships consist of 12 teams divided into two pre-qualifying rounds on April 6. The Hawkeyes will compete in session I at 1 p.m. Team finals are on Friday at 7 p.m. and event finals will be Saturday at 7 p.m. The top three teams from each pre-qualifying session will advance to the finals session. The top three all-around competitors not on one of the qualifying teams, plus the top three individuals on each event not already qualified on a team or as an all-around competitor, will advance from each pre-qualifying session to the finals session.
COMPETING TEAMS — The teams qualifying for the team competition are: Oklahoma, Stanford, Ohio State, Illinois, California, Penn State, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Minnesota, William and Mary and Temple.
IOWA IN NCAA HISTORY — The Hawkeyes have finished in the top five 15 times. Iowa’s only NCAA title came in 1969. If the Hawkeyes advance to the team championships, it will mark the 36th time the program has done so. Iowa has crowned 12 individual champions in the history of the program, with the most recent being Michael Reavis in the vault in 2004.
LAST YEAR AT THE NCAAS — Reavis became Iowa’s 12th NCAA champion as he was crowned vault champion. With a score of 9.55, he became Iowa’s second champion on vault.
IOWA TAKES THIRD AT BIG TENS — The Hawkeyes are coming off a third place finish as host of the Big Ten Championships. Reavis was crowned floor exercise champion scoring 9.775. Matt Beiler came in second on rings (9.437).
NATIONAL RANKINGS — In the latest GymInfo ranking (March 28) the Hawkeyes remained ranked seventh nationally.
QUOTING HEAD COACH Tom Dunn — “The team is ready for the NCAA Qualifier. It is always difficult at this point in the season to balance hard work and rest, but I think we’ve done a good job and we head to Norman, Oklahoma with everyone willing and able. Our goal is to make the NCAA Final Team competition on Friday after just missing the cut in 2004 and 2005.”
HEAD COACH Tom Dunn — At the 2006 Big Ten Championships, Head Coach Tom Dunn was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second time, once before in 1998. Coach Dunn is in his 27th year at Iowa. He has compiled a 210-99-2 record. In 1998, Dunn was named College Gymnast Association Central Region Coach of the Year. He has led the Hawkeyes to 17 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships. Iowa has competed at the NCAA meet 17 of the past 22 seasons. Dunn has also coached 30 individuals to 62 all-America honors and 21 gymnasts to 33 Big Ten titles.