Jan. 22, 2007
THIS WEEK — The Iowa men’s gymnastics team will compete against Illinois-Chicago Saturday in the UI Fieldhouse. Competition will begin at 2 p.m. At the Windy City Invite on January 13, the Hawkeyes beat the Flames, 198.4-196.15.
LAST TIME OUT — At Michigan last weekend, Iowa scored 208.0 as the Wolverines won the meet scoring 217.8. Hawkeyes freshman Jonathan Buese won the all-around competition, scoring 50.5, while Curtis Kleffman placed second (48.3). Kleffman won the pommel horse, posting a 9.35. On rings, Jonathan Buese and Jacques Bouchard tied for second, scoring 9.45.
LAST YEAR AGAINST ILLINOIS-CHICAGO — Iowa beat Illinois-Chicago, 208.25-200.8 in Chicago. The Hawkeyes won every event except still rings. Graduate Michael Reavis took first in four events. Geoff Reins placed first on vault (9.55) and Kleffman finished first on pommel horse (9.35).
SERIES RESULTS AGAINST ILLINOIS-CHICAGO — The Hawkeyes are 37-4 all-time, against the UIC Flames.
LIVE STATS — Live stats are available when the Hawkeyes take on the Flames online at hawkeyesports.com.
SCOUTING THE HAWKEYES — Iowa returns 10 lettermen from 2006 when it finished with an 8-10 overall record and third-place finish as host of the BigTen Championships. All-American Kleffman will lead the Hawkeyes. Jonathan Buese, Dusty Cranmer, Danny Kuklinski, Joel Snyder and Reid Urbain are all newcomers to the 2007 roster. Kleffman and Bryan Bourland are the 2007 team captains. Jacques Bouchard returns as team leader on rings, scoring an Iowa best 9.5 last season.
HEAD COACH Tom Dunn — In his 28th year at Iowa, Head Coach Tom Dunn, has recorded a 211-99-2 record at Iowa. In 1998 and 2006, Dunn was named Big Ten Coach of the Year and College Gymnastics 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 32 individuals to 64 all-America honors and 20 gymnasts to 32 Big Ten titles.
HAWKEYES RANKED IN PRESEASON POLLS — The Iowa men’s gymnastics team is ranked fifth in the GymInfo poll.
QUOTING HEAD COACH Tom Dunn — “The team made good progress from week one to week two of the season. In week three, I expect even greater progress as we have the advantage of performing at home on our own equipment and with what I hope will be a very biased crowd.”
NEXT COMPETITION — The Hawkeyes stay at home to compete against Minnesota on February 4. Competition begins at 2 p.m. in the UI Fieldhouse.