Feb. 20, 2016
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The 24th-ranked University of Iowa women’s gymnastics team defeated Towson on Saturday night, 194.150-191.800, inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Two senior GymHawks — Alie Glover and Opua Calucag — ended their careers on a high note, as Iowa collected the title on every event.
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“I am certainly disappointed,” said UI head coach Larissa Libby. “It is something I expected. It is that time of the year and if you look around, even the greatest teams in the country went down this weekend. You get to a point and you have a lull. It is bad timing for us. Falls are going to happen, but we didn’t take the stand after the falls.
“More than anything, our character always shines through. Tonight wasn’t fun for them, but that is part of the learning process. It has been awhile since they had a meet where everything went wrong. I think they will be a far better team because of this. We have to evaluate what went wrong and adjust.”
Ten GymHawks earned a total of 16 top five finishes to highlight the competition. Leading the pack was junior Mollie Drenth who finished at the top of the podium on vault (9.800), beam (9.875) and all-around (38.725), and second on floor (9.800). Drenth claimed the all-around title for the seventh consecutive meet.
The Hawkeyes started the night on vault, where they claimed the top five awards for the event. Drenth led the charge with a 9.800 and a first place result, while freshman Rose Piorkowski finished second overall with a 9.775 mark. Senior Alie Glover took second (9.750), freshman Nicole Chow took fourth (9.700), and sophomore Nikki Youd finished fifth with a 9.675 effort.
Junior Lexi Mura paced the GymHawks on bars, earning a career-high 9.850 and collecting her first event title of the season. Junior Angel Metcalf followed her teammate with a score of 9.800, good enough for second place overall.
Iowa closed the night on floor, posting a team score of 48.775. Sophomore Lanie Snyder took first place overall in the event after earning a 9.825. Sophomore Melissa Zurawski and Drenth followed closely behind their teammate, each tallying a 9.800 and tying for second place overall.
The GymHawks travel to Denver, Colorado, for a quad meet against Denver, South East Missouri and Illinois-Chicago on Saturday, Feb. 27. The meet is set to begin at 7 p.m. (CT) inside Hamilton Gymnasium.
