IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa women’s gymnastics team will continue its postseason in Raleigh.
The Hawkeyes were selected for the NCAA Raleigh Regional on Tuesday morning during the 2022 NCAA Selection Show on NCAA.com. The GymHawks will compete on Thursday, March 31 at noon (CT) at Valvano Arena at Reynolds Coliseum on the campus of North Carolina State.
“I am pleased, I love North Carolina, it’s a great gym, great atmosphere,” said head coach Larissa Libby. “We’re there with a lot of people we know. I think the parity across the country is tough, every bracket is hard and it’s anybody’s game on any given day. You have to do the job regardless, no matter where you go.”
Iowa will compete in Session 2 against No. 6 LSU, No. 11 Missouri and the host Wolfpack. The third session features No. 3 Michigan, No. 14 UCLA and Maryland. Towson and North Carolina will compete in a dual on Wednesday to enter the third session.
“We’re with a lot of people that are exciting to watch,” said Libby. “I think we have a good shot, we measure up quite well. We left a good impression after Big Tens and our ladies’ minds are in a good place. They’re ready to go.”
The top two teams in each of Thursday’s sessions will advance to the regional final on April 2. 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 14-16 in Fort Worth, Texas.
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 of 196.585 ranks 22nd in the latest Road to Nationals poll.
Libby has now led Iowa to 21 consecutive NCAA Regional appearances (as a team and/or individuals) during her Hawkeye tenure. The 2022 season is Libby’s 18th as Iowa’s head coach and 22nd overall with the program.
The Hawkeyes were third at last week’s Big Ten Championships, finishing with a 196.950 – the third-best score in program history. Senior Lauren Guerin shared the floor title for a second consecutive season.
All session (and individual session) tickets for the NCAA Raleigh Regional are available at www.gopack.com.
