IOWA CITY, Iowa – The 15th-ranked University of Iowa women’s gymnastics team scored a 196.875 to tie with No. 18 Minnesota on Friday night inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. 196.875 becomes the seventh-best score in program history. Six gymnasts set or matched their career highs, and four tied or set new season highs.
The Hawkeyes tied for first place in all four events, with Adeline Kenlin placing in the top three overall on bars, beam, and floor. The Iowa City native scored a 9.900 on beam to tie her season-high and tie for first. She posted a 9.875 on bars to set a new season-high and tie for first, and tied her career-high, 9.925, on floor for the second week in a row to place third overall.
For the fourth time in her career, JerQuavia Henderson scored a 9.975 on floor to tie for first place, and Linda Zivat set a new career-high after scoring a 9.975 on vault to take first place overall and tie for third place in program history.
VAULT
The GymHawks had a hot start, scoring a 49.375 on vault to set a new season-high and tie for the fifth-best vault score in program history. Three Hawkeyes tied or set career-highs, and one gymnast set a new season-high. Zivat posted a career-high 9.975 to take first place overall, and Allison Zuhlke tied her career-high, 9.875, to tie for third place. Freshman Karina Muñoz scored a 9.850 to tie her career-high and tie for sixth place with Henderson. Kendall LaPlante set a new season-high after posting a 9.825, and Gianna Masella scored a 9.750 to help give the Hawkeyes a .200 lead heading into bars.
BARS
Iowa posted a 49.025, as Kenlin tied for first place after scoring a 9.875 to set a new season high. Kareena McSweeny tied her season-high 9.800 to tie for sixth with her teammate, Muñoz. Marissa Rojas and Zuhlke both scored a 9.775 to tie for eighth overall, and LaPlante posted an 8.350.
BEAM
The Hawkeyes finished a 49.150 score on beam, as Kenlin tied for first place overall after tying her season-high score of 9.900. Aubrey Nick scored a 9.875 to tie for third place overall, and Alexa Ebeling posted a 9.800 to tie for sixth with Rojas. Henderson tied for ninth place with a 9.775, and Zuhlke scored a 9.750.
FLOOR
Iowa went into the final event down by .30, and scored 49.325 with Henderson and Kenlin scoring a 9.975 and 9.925, respectively to come back and tie with the Gophers. Zivat placed fifth overall after scoring a 9.875, and freshman Bailey Libby scored a 9.825 to place eighth overall. Muñoz posted a 9.725, and Nick posted a 9.600.
QUOTING HEAD COACH LARISSA LIBBY
“Walking out here and seeing all the fans in the stands was an energizer. It’s been hard on the road for our young team. This team is so good, and they don’t even know how good they are. We haven’t really had the hype from the crowd, so we created our own hype while we were away. We just have to remember that when we come out you can be hyped up, but you better know where you are. I’m okay with our mistakes and they’ll train through those types of things, but what they did to come back knowing we were making mistakes and how they went to work was amazing. I can’t say enough about Adeline Kenlin and JerQuavia Henderson at the end anchoring us on floor.”
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes head back on the road, traveling to Lincoln, Nebraska on Monday, February 6th. The meet is set to start at 8 p.m. (CT) and will air on the Big Ten Network.
