The Iowa women’s gymnastics team took second place in the tri-meet against No. 7 Denver and BYU at the Hamiliton Gymnasium in Denver over the weekend.

“It takes a lot of composure to start there, and we had a fall first person up,” head coach Larissa Libby said in a release. “It was tough. They were two really great teams, and so being the one that was out of conference was hard.”

The Hawks had five gymnasts finish in the top five of individual events, with two freshmen receiving season-best scores.

The team started steady on beam, posting a 48.900.  Sophomore Angel Metcalf was finished first overall in the event with a score of 9.825. Senior Johanny Sotillo and sophomore Mollie Drenth tied for fourth with a score of 9.800.

Freshman Ashley Fischer posted a season-best score on vault with a 9.825, while Sydney Hoerr led the Hawks with a 9.875 that allowed her to take fifth on floor.

After the third rotation, Denver (147.200) continued to hold first, Iowa (146.925) trailed closely behind, and BYU (146.250) remained in third.

The GymHawks ended the night on bars, where Drenth boosted the team score with a score of 9.825; she took second in the event. Freshman Melissa Zurawski tallied a season-best score of 9.800, which tied her with teammate Sotillio.

“Our kids are improving every day. I think this team is mentally where they need to be to get the job done,” Libby said in a release. “I was really impressed with how they handled themselves in a tough situation. We are really happy we walked away with a high road score, and it’s going to help us next week."

Iowa is scheduled to travel to Davis, California, to take on Cal-Davis on Friday at 7 p.m.

— by Alexandria Griffin