March 25, 2013
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa women’s gymnastics team has been selected to compete in NCAA Regional competition for the sixth-straight year under head coach Larissa Libby. The GymHawks were one of just 36 teams to receive an invitation to regional competition at one of six different sites.
Iowa will join No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 11 Stanford, No. 14 Penn State, No. 22 Washington and Southern Utah in the Norman, Okla., regional. Competition will begin at 4 p.m. (CT) on Saturday, April 6, in the Lloyd Noble Center.
“I am excited,” said senior Emma Stevenson. “It is a great region with tough competition. We definitely have a shot. If we put up our best routines, anything can happen. A lot of good things have been happening in the gym. We are very motivated.”
“We are competing against the best teams in the nation,” said senior Maya Wickus. “As a team, we are looking to have our best meet of the year.”
The NCAA also announced the rotation schedule for each regional. Iowa will start on bars then rotate to the beam, floor and vault, with a bye before floor.
The top two teams, event winners and top two all-around competitors not on an advancing team will qualify to the national championships in Los Angeles, Calif., on April 19-21, hosted by UCLA.
“We are very excited and honored to be selected,” said Libby. “We are evenly matched with a lot of the teams at this regional. If we are on our game, there is good chance we could advance. We have 12 days to get better. We are really excited about the opportunity and that we put ourselves in a position to be selected.”
Libby has led Iowa to seven NCAA postseason appearances in nine seasons. Iowa posted a 194.600 and finished fifth at the Seattle Regional last year.