The Iowa women’s gymnastics team nabbed its first Big Ten win of the season in Lincoln on Friday, besting No. 25 Nebraska with a final score of 196.350-195.700. The victory was the GymHawks’ highest team score of the season.
With two prior losses to No. 9 Ohio State and No. 20 Minnesota behind them, the Hawkeyes saw themselves through standout beam and vault scores to upset the Cornhuskers, improving to 1-2 on the season.
First-year Aurélie Tran, the current Big Ten Freshman of the Week and a Canadian Olympian, notched an all-around score of 39.325, good for her third all-around title of the season. The GymHawks also took the event title on vault with a career-high 9.925 performance from third-year Karina Muñoz.
This, coupled with four Iowa athletes scoring a 9.875 on beam to tie for the title, was a key component of the GymHawks’ success.
While the beam and the vault were strong-suits for Iowa, the GymHawks also held their own with a 48.975 on bars, thanks to a third-place score of 9.825 from Tran and first-year Sydney Turner.
On floor, third-year Hanna Castillo took second with a 9.875 while Tran tied for third with a score of 9.850.
“I am so proud of this team,” Iowa head coach Jen Llewellyn told HawkeyeSports. “This was an amazing environment with a big crowd, and I was really pleased with the squad. The meet started us off beautifully for us on bars, and I think from there we just built from one routine to the next. Compared to last week, I thought the scores were a little bit tighter, but I think they were pretty fair.”
Up next
Iowa will return home to Xtream Arena in Coralville for its next contest, taking on Rutgers on Sunday, Feb. 9.