IOWA CITY, Iowa — The ninth-ranked University of Iowa women’s gymnastics team set a season-high team score in a 196.125-189.300 victory over Texas Woman’s University on Friday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes won all four events and the all-around.
Junior JerQuavia Henderson shared the vault title (with sophomore Adeline Kenlin) and won floor for the second straight meet, while Kenlin won the all-around for the first time this season. Senior Clair Kaji took the top honors on beam, while senior Allyson Steffensmeier won on bars.
The Hawkeyes enjoyed a strong night with 14 gymnasts setting season-highs and two tying career bests. The team had season-best performances on vault and floor.
QUOTING HEAD COACH LARISSA LIBBY
“I liked the intensity. It’s hard to drive yourself when there is nobody in the stands, but we live in the Midwest and snowstorms are going to happen. They have taught themselves to drive their environment, and I couldn’t tell the difference between last week when there was a lot of people to this week.
“The intensity for me was a big thing. We made a lot of mistakes, but good mistakes, I call them. I felt like the team did a good job being intentional in every single landing. We still have lots of room to grow, but it’s such a blast to be out here with them and I remember a time when we weren’t close to getting scores we get now. I am very proud of them.”
VAULT
Iowa set a season high of 49.150 on vault with five scores of 9.800 or better. Henderson and Kenlin tied for first place with 9.850s with Kenlin’s score tying a career-best for the fifth time. Junior Linda Zivat and senior Lauren Guerin both scored a 9.825 with Zivat’s being a career-best and senior Bridget Killian set a new season-high with a 9.800. Sophomore Kendall Laplante made her season debut, scoring a 9.675.
BARS
The Hawkeyes took the top three spots on bars, scoring an overall score of 48.500. Steffensmeier set a new season-best with a score of 9.875 to win the event title. Senior Mackenzie Vance and senior Carina Tolan tied for second place, both scoring a 9.825. Tolan’s score was a season-best. Senior Clair Kaji set a new season-high with a 9.725, while Kenlin scored a 9.250.
BEAM
The GymHawks scored a 49.125 on beam with four gymnasts either setting or tying season-highs. Kaji tied her season-best of 9.900 to take the event title. Kenlin was the runner-up with a 9.850. Sophomore Aubrey Nick tied her career-best scoring a 9.825 to take third place and senior Allie Gilchrist and Killian both scored a 9.775 to set season-highs.
FLOOR
Iowa posted a 49.350 to set a season best on floor, taking the top three spots. For the second week in a row, Henderson was the event winner, scoring a 9.900. Zivat and Guerin tied for second place, both scoring 9.875s. Zivat’s score was a career-best. Kenlin, Greenwald, and Killian all scored a 9.850, which is were season-bests for all three gymnasts.
ALL AROUND
Kenlin won all-around for the first time this season, posting a season-best score of 38.800.
The Hawkeyes will return to action Monday, traveling to Minneapolis to compete in a tri-meet against Minnesota and UCLA. The event is set to start at noon (CT) and will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.