April 2, 2009
- 2009 NCAA Gymnastics Regional information
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IOWA CITY, IA – Iowa women’s gymnastics Head Coach Larissa Libby was named Coach of the Year for the NCAA North Central region Thursday, as voted on by the NACGC/W Coaches Association.
Libby, who was named Big Ten co-Head Coach of the Year last year, guided Iowa to a 10-5 record this season, giving her back-to-back 10 win seasons. The GymHawks went 10-4-1 in 2008. This year, Iowa was 2-2 in the Big Ten, with wins over Illinois and Michigan State and 7-3 against ranked opponents.
In her five seasons as the head coach at Iowa, Libby has compiled a career record of 40-51-1.
“This has been the most rewarding year for me as a coach, but also the most challenging,” Libby said. “This award is reflective of the team, no question. This team has worked extremely hard in their pursuit of perfection and they will never quit, no matter what happens.”
Iowa persevered through a difficult North Central region this season. In addition to North Central foes Minnesota, Denver and Iowa State, Utah (top seed in West) and Southern Utah (fifth seed in South Central) also were selected for post-season regional competition. The GymHawks swept the season series with Iowa State this year for the first time since 1992, but lost a late season dual meet to Minnesota.
This Saturday, Iowa hosts the NCAA North Central regional, which the GymHawks have qualified as the sixth seed. It is their second straight trip to regionals and third time since 2005. They will be joined on the Carver-Hawkeye Arena floor by Florida, UCLA, Minnesota, Denver and Iowa State. Competition will begin at 6 p.m.