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IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa women’s gymnastics team was selected for the Corvallis, Oregon NCAA Regional on Monday. The GymHawks will compete on Thursday April 4, at 5 p.m. (CT).
The meet will be a dual against Arizona. The winner will advance to session two of round two on Friday and compete against Florida, Oregon State, and Stanford.
Session one features Denver, Boise State, Washington, and Southern Utah.
The top two teams in each of Friday’s sessions will advance to the regional final on Saturday. The top two teams, the top all-around competitors, and the top event specialist on each event, who are not on an advancing team, from each regional will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships on April 19-20 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Four GymHawks qualified as event specialists, including senior Nicole Chow and freshman Jax Kranitz on uneven bars, junior Clair Kaji on beam and floor, and freshman Lauren Guerin on floor.
“We thought it was going to be Michigan or Oregon. Either way we were at peace with both decisions. For us, it didn’t matter where we went there was some upside to all of it,” head coach Larissa Libby said.
“The best part of going to Oregon is we’ve done it. We’ve done the travel, the time change, and the venue,” Libby stated.
“Everything is set up a little bit better than we hoped. Arizona is an excellent team. One thing we have taught our team, is never look past the first moment and never under estimate your opponent.” Libby said. “It’s going to be who brings it the most on that day. We will be bringing everything we’ve got.”
The GymHawks are one of 36 teams to qualify for the NCAA Regional competition at one of four different sites. To qualify, teams must have a top-36 regional qualifying score (RQS). Iowa’s current RQS is 195.705, which ranks them 32 in the country, according to the latest Road to Nationals Poll (March 25).
Libby has led Iowa to 15 consecutive NCAA Regional appearances since 2005, with 12 team and three seasons of individual representation.
Follow along on hawkeyesports.com/wgymlive for live scores. For tickets and more information, go to NCAA.com/wgymnastics.