April 10, 2012
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Committee announced on Tuesday that the University of Iowa men’s gymnastics team was one of 12 squads selected to compete at the 2012 National Collegiate Men’s Gymnastics National Qualifier.
The Hawkeyes enter as the No. 11 seed, and will compete in one of the two prequalifying sessions held April 19 at Lloyd Noble Center on the campus of the University of Oklahoma. The Hawkeyes will compete in the first session at 2 p.m. with No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Stanford, No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Ohio State, and No. 10 Nebraska.
The following session at 7 p.m. will consist of No. 1 seed Oklahoma, No. 4 Illinois, No. 5 Minnesota, No. 8 California, No. 9 Temple, and No. 12 Air Force.
Seven of the 12 qualifying teams are from the Big Ten Conference. The seven teams include: Penn State, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska, and Iowa.
The top three teams plus the top all-around competitors, and the top three individuals on each event not already qualified, will advance from each pre-qualifying session to the finals. The final competitions are April 20-21 at Lloyd Noble Center.
Six Hawkeyes advanced to the NCAA Championships last season, with Matt McGrath earning All-American honors on vault.