Feb. 24, 2009
IOWA CITY-
THIS WEEK
The No. 11 ranked University of Iowa men’s gymnastics team will travel to Champaign, IL, to face No. 5 Illinois. Competition is slated to begin at 7 p.m. at Huff Hall.
TEAM RANKINGS
The Hawkeyes head into the weekend ranked 11th, according to the GymInfo weekly poll, released Feb. 23. Illinois is currently ranked No. 5.
LAST TIME OUT
The Hawkeyes fell to defending national champion and top-ranked Oklahoma 354.25 to 336.00 Saturday in Norman, OK. Iowa posted one new event record and tied another one. Junior captain Jonathan Buese placed second on the horizontal bar with a 14.50, crushing his previous record (13.70). Senior Geoff Reins tied his previous record on vault with a 15.95. Sophomore Ben Ketelsen placed fourth on pommel horse (14.05) and Reid Urbain grabbed fifth place on rings (14.35).
LAST YEAR AGAINST ILLINOIS
Iowa was defeated by the Fighting Illini last year in Iowa City on senior day by a close margin, 349.80 to 349.40. As a team, the Hawkeyes won three of the six events and captured two individual first place finishes. Geoff Reins grabbed a first place on vault with a 16.15. Reid Urbain placed third on rings with a 14.65, while Joel Snyder placed second on horizontal bar with a 14.25.
HEAD COACH Tom Dunn
In his 30th year at Iowa, Head Coach Tom Dunn, has recorded a 213-112-2 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.
QUOTING COACH DUNN
“Despite competing a little short handed, we had our best performance of the year last week. If we can get healthy and continue to improve we have the potential to be competitive in Champaign.”