Iowa Competes At Iowa State Tonight

Feb. 22, 2008

IOWA CITY – The 24th-ranked University of Iowa women’s gymnastics team will compete at Iowa State tonight at 7 p.m. For fans that cannot make the trip to Ames, live stats will be available at Iowa vs. Iowa State Livestats

Competition will take place at Hilton Coliseum. Iowa will return home Sunday to face Michigan State and Illinois at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 1 p.m.

Iowa is ranked 24th nationally with a 4-3-1 record, while junior Jenifer Simbhudas is ranked sixth in Big Ten vault rankings with an average 9.8 and fifth in conference beam rankings with a 9.7 average.

Iowa’s high team total in 2008 is 195.400. Simbhudas earned a co-Big Ten Player of the Week honor after a strong performance against Ohio State. She earned a career-high 39.3 in the all-around as well as a first place on vault (9.825) and floor (9.875), and a tie for second on bars (9.825) against the Buckeyes.

Other Hawkeyes to watch include Kara Pinjuv, Katie Burke, Brandi Loffer and freshmen Houry Gebeshian and Rebecca Simbhudas. Gebeshian has had a strong freshman campaign, earning a season-best 9.9 on beam against Ohio State. Burke, coming off a 2007 NCAA Championships appearance, is once again a team leader, consistently having some of Iowa’s best scores on each event.

For pictures of Iowa’s first two home meets against Illinois and Ohio State, please visit Iowa Photo Gallery

The Hawkeyes will hold their annual Pink Meet in honor of raising Breast Cancer Awareness March 7th, hosting Iowa State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 7 p.m. This year’s Pink Meet is especially important as 2008 marks the fifth year that Iowa Assistant Coach Talya Vexler has been in remission from breast cancer.

Click HERE for the Big Ten Network home page.