Jan. 25, 2012
THIS WEEK: The No. 14 University of Iowa men’s gymnastics team will compete against the University of Illinois-Chicago for the second time this season when they meet on Jan. 28. The match will begin at 5 p.m. (CT) inside the UIC Physical Education Building.
SCOUTING UIC: The No. 12 Flames edged out Iowa at the Windy City Invitational to start the season, placing fifth as Iowa placed sixth. In its last competition, UIC fell to No. 8 Minnesota 339.400-321.300. Illinois-Chicago has three ranked gymnasts.
LAST TIME OUT: The Hawkeyes were defeated in their home opener by second-ranked Illinois, 352.300-326.200, inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa had four top-three finishes, three of which came by junior Javier Balboa. Balboa placed third on parallel bars (14.800) and high bar (14.000), and tied for third on vault (14.600). Senior Zach Cazabon led Iowa on pommel horse with a third place finish. Cazabon set a team season high score with a 13.800 on the event. Freshman Mitchell Landau tied for fourth on parallel bars (14.300) and junior Matt McGrath also placed fifth on rings (14.500).
BALBOA’S BIG DAY: Balboa was 2.25 points away from tying the program record on all-around, set by Curtis Kleffman in 2008. After finishing outside the top-six on his first three events, Balboa had three consecutive top-three finishes to place fourth on all-around (84.200). Balboa has competed on all-around in both meets this season.
IN THE RANKINGS: The Hawkeyes are ranked 14th by GymInfo. Iowa also has two ranked individuals: Balboa on parallel bars (7th) and all-around (17th), and Gryshayev on rings (19th).
BIG TEN NETWORK: The Hawkeyes will have three televised meets this season on the Big Ten Network. Iowa’s home meet against Minnesota and Nebraska on Feb. 11 will be televised live at 7 p.m. (CT). Iowa’s meet at Minnesota on March 3 will be televised on tape delay at 3:30 p.m. (CT) on March 10th. Both days of the Big Ten Championships, hosted by Iowa April 6-7, will be televised live at 7 p.m. (CT).
HEAD COACH JD Reive: JD Reive is in his second season at the helm of the program after a record-setting season his first year at Iowa. Six gymnasts punched their ticket to the NCAA Championships under Reive’s guidance. Iowa also broke four team records and five individual records. Reive came to Iowa after serving as an assistant coach at Stanford from 2003-10, where he helped coach 44 All-Americans.
UP NEXT:Iowa will have two weeks off before returning to action Feb. 11, hosting No. 8 Minnesota and No. 9 Nebraska inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Start time is set for 7 p.m. (CT).