Dec. 4, 2010
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IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa men’s and women’s gymnastics teams made their 2010-11 season debut at the annual Black and Gold Intrasquad Saturday afternoon. The Hawkeyes, divided into coed teams, competed inside the UI Field House in front of nearly 500 fans. The black team was able to edge out the gold team with a final score of 494.23-486.65.
“Today was great,” said men’s Head Coach J.D. Reive. “They did what I expected them to do. I can’t expect more than they do in practice and the majority of them did that. A couple of them showed up and did a little more, which was fantastic, and a couple of them didn’t handle the nerves as well as they wanted to. It’s early in the season and we have plenty of time to improve.”
Hawkeye wrestling Coach Tom Brands and Liang Chow, trainer of Olympic gold medalist and Iowa native Shawn Johnson, were guest judges for the women’s events. Additionally, Shawn Johnson was in the crowd Saturday to take in the action from the first meet of the year.
“It’s hard on me,” Brands said about his experience. “It’s not easy. I like to take things serious because I know it’s important to these girls, but at the same time this was a lot of fun. The team did a great job of educating me on the scoring and I have a newfound respect for the sport.”
“We had a huge turn out today so that was really exciting,” said Head Coach Larissa Libby. “I think there were people from the university here today that didn’t know we had competitive gymnastics at this level, but that’s what we live for. It was so exciting to have Coach Tom Brands come in and judge. Also having Chow here with a whole other level of gymnastics brought in an even different crowd. It was great to see so many people who care about both men’s and women’s gymnastics.”
The women’s team will begin its regular season with a road trip to East Lansing, Mich., to take on Michigan State, Michigan and Western Michigan Jan. 7. The men’s team will kick off its season Jan. 15 at the Windy City Invitational in Chicago, Ill.