Feb. 14, 2015
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa women’s gymnastics team fell to Illinois on Saturday afternoon, 196.975 to 196.375, inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The score marked a season best for the team, replacing their previous score of 195.725 against Maryland on Jan. 30 inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
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“I have mixed emotions right now because they were so close,” said head coach Larissa Libby. “If we had done what we normally do, who knows what could have happened. But I thought they were incredibly impressive.”
Eight GymHawks earned a total of 10 career bests to highlight the competition. Leading the pack was Senior Sydney Hoerr with a pair of bests on vault (9.800) and bars (9.875). Registering her own pair of career bests was sophomore Angel Metcalf, posting scores of 9.900 and 9.825 on vault and floor, respectively. Rounding out the season best list were sophomores Ashleigh Edlin, Caroline McCrady, Mollie Drenth, and freshmen Ashley Fischer, Melissa Zurawski, and Nikki Youd.
Iowa started the night on vault, which resulted in five of the 10 individual season bests and a team best score of 49.200. The score replaces their previous record of 49.000 set at No. 20 Ohio State. Metcalf lead the GymHawks posting a career best score of 9.900 and taking second place overall. Edlin also made her mark on vault tallying a score of 9.875 and finishing fourth place overall.
“You have to give credit to this team because they step up their game week in and week out. I am so proud of them,” said Libby. “I know that people have counted us out and underestimated us. So I love that they keep putting up big numbers.”
Iowa followed close behind Illinois 147.400 to 147.800, going into the final rotation. The GymHawks closed the night on floor where Hoerr posted a score of 9.900, good enough to take second place overall in the event. Metcalf followed, tallying a season best score of 9.825 and taking fourth place overall.
“The best teams in the country are scoring 196. I think they are going to start making people look at them,” said Libby. “I think we have a lot more to give and we definitely made some mistakes. But we will go back, fix them and keep moving forward.”
They GymHawks return to action on Saturday, Feb. 21, when they travel to Denver, Colorado, to take on the Denver Pioneers and BYU Cougars in a tri-meet. The meet is slated to begin at 7 p.m. (CT) inside Hamilton Gymnasium.
