Men's Gymnastics / December 2, 2010

Hawkeyes To Showcase Men's and Women's Squads

Dec. 2, 2010

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa men’s and women’s gymnastics teams will showcase their talents at the annual Black and Gold Intrasquad meet Dec. 4 inside the UI Field House. Women’s Head Coach Larissa Libby and first year Men’s Head Coach JD Reive will display their 2011 squads beginning at 2 p.m. (CT). The meet is free admission and open to the public.

Libby’s GymHawks are coming off another impressive season that yielded a third place finish at the Big Ten Championships. Seniors Rebecca Simbhudas and Houry Gebeshian will be Iowa’s anchors in 2011. Both student athletes were named first team all-Big Ten, as Gebeshian won the league title on beam and Simbhudas was named All-American on beam. The Hawkeyes will return 11 letterwinners from last season and welcome in three new faces. Freshmen Tesla Cox and Nicole Pineau, along with sophomore Maya Wickus, are new to the program this season.

“The Black and Gold is an opportunity for family, friends and media to get a rough preview of what this year’s team has to offer before we begin competition,” said Libby. “My staff has worked incredibly hard to get the girls strong and in shape to handle the regular season. An intrasquad meet like the Black and Gold will be a good gauge for what we need to work on.”

On the men’s side, the JD Reive era will begin as Reive was named the seventh head coach in the program’s 82-year history following the retirement of former coach Tom Dunn last season. Reive was an assistant coach at Stanford, where he led the program to four top-three team finishes and won an NCAA Championship in seven seasons with the Stanford. First-year assistant coach Brad Virkler will be coaching the Black team, while Dmitri Trouch will coach the Gold team in his 15th year as an assistant coach at Iowa.

Reive will inherit a squad that finished with a 6-11 overall record last season. Senior Mike Jiang will look to lead the Hawkeyes this season after claiming NCAA All-American honors with a seventh place finish on pommel horse. Iowa will bring back 10 letterwinners from last year’s team. Matt McGrath also returns, who had an outstanding freshman season a year ago with a trip to the NCAA Championships on vault. Sophomore Zach Cazabon will also return after reaching the NCAA Championships on parallel bars. Newcomers to this year’s team will be freshmen Lance Alberhasky, Angelo Bronzino, David Dyckman, Brandon Hill, Samuel Wright, and transfer student-athlete Javier Balboa.

“I am very excited to get the season started and get the athletes out in front of judges and a home crowd,” said Reive. “I am also anxious to see who will step into the leadership role of what is a very young team. This is also a great opportunity for the team to be reminded of what all the hard work is truly for – getting out there and representing the Black and Gold.”

To see a video preview of the Black and Gold Intrasquad from the women’s team, click HERE

Black Team