The weekend was a heartbreaker for both Iowa gymnastics teams.
Both squads competed on Feb. 23, with the women traveling to Cedar City, Utah, to take on Southern Utah, and the men defended Carver-Hawkeye against Nebraska. Both final scores were close, but both Iowa teams came up empty-handed.
In Utah, among three GymHawks, Iowa came away with two of the four event titles; junior Nicole Chow and senior Nikki Youd tied for first on the beam, and senior Lanie Snyder secured the event title on the floor, her fourth this season.
The team recorded six scores of 9.800 or better and eight more scores were within 0.025 of that standard.
These results, however, didn’t give Iowa the victory. With less than a full tenth of a point difference, the Thunderbirds won, 195.850-195.775, in a heartbreaker.
The men’s team also faced a tough one, and one thing doomed the team.
The final score for the match was 402.800-398.500, with the Huskers taking the night. With only a little over 4 points difference, the Hawkeyes are kicking themselves because of the 11 points lost in falls.
“Quite honestly, we did some uncharacteristic falls, and those things sort of stayed with us,” said men’s gymnastics head coach JD Reive. “It was split; some guys were great, and then they didn’t get the backup from the teammates that they needed. But that is sport.”
Floor started the troubles, and messy landings plagued the athletes. Pommel horse didn’t go much better, where two of the five competitors had their feet on the floor before the end of their routines.
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Nebraska wasn’t immune to falls, either. Iowa still counted two falls in this event, however, so the opportunity to get a leg up was lost.
Rings ended up being one of the highlights of the meet for Iowa. The Hawkeyes completed their routines, and most stuck the landings with grace, earning big catch-up points.
The parallel bars sunk the score again, even if Nebraska wasn’t all that hot, either.
Both teams pulled their lowest scores on the high bars, Iowa falling twice. What made this event a highlight, however, was the event title-earning performance of sophomore Andrew Herrador in his first time on that bar this season since a back injury.
Of the six events, Iowa earned titles in five: Herrador took high bar, senior Austin Hodges dominated pommel horse, junior Jake Brodarzon claimed rings, and senior Dylan Ellsworth secured the parallel bars.
“I was very happy [with my performance on floor],” said senior Mark Springett, who scored a top-five performance. “I stuck my dismount on the floor, which I’ve never done at a competition. I got out there and got my job done, which is what many of the guys on the team did, and that’s pretty much what it comes down to.”
Looking at the highlights alone, Iowa should have won. But behind the numbers, the falls ruined the Hawkeyes’ chance to defeat the lagging Huskers.
“Honestly, I thought we did well,” Herrador said. “We just lose focus sometimes during routines, and that’s just very detrimental. We weren’t even that far away from them, and we had a lot of mistakes. The quality’s there, just not the consistency.”