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The Daily Iowan
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The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan
The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

Gymhawks open season with third-place finish in Salt Lake City

Fifth-year JerQuavia Henderson returned from injury to lead Iowa on vault and floor.
Patrick Halma, Sports Reporter
January 3, 2026
Clara Jarecke
Gymnasts warm up and prepare for their “mock meet” on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 at the Nagle-Duda Gymnastics & Spirit Squads Training Center. The gymnastics team moved into the new facility in January of 2025. It was built with a five million dollar donation from Mary Lee Nagle Duda and Fritz Duda.

The No. 22 Iowa gymnastics team finished third in their season-opening meet on Jan. 2nd in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a final score of 194.825. The No. 5 Utah Utes finished with 196.625 points, and No. 15 Minnesota finished with 195.475 points. 

This meet marked the opening of the NCAA Division I gymnastics season with performances from all three squads in front of almost 11,000 fans in attendance. Iowa chose to open its season wearing the Beach Belly uniform – debuted in the 2022 NCAA regionals – which featured a glitter-covered stomach pattern. 

Leading the way for the Gymhawks was not one but two competitors. Second-year Aurélie Tran led the team with top scores of 9.850 on bars and 9.800 on beam. 

The second Gymhawk that displayed resilience and leadership in scoring was fifth-year JerQuavia Henderson, who led the team in vault with a score of 9.850 and floor with 9.875. 

This meet marked Henderson’s return to the sport after a two-year hiatus following two Achilles injuries and a personal mental health year. 

“She has grown a lot, done a lot of work on her own, and has continued to be persistent and believe in herself in all that she does,” head coach Jen Llewellyn told the DI earlier this year. 

Both players earned competition recognition, with both tying for third in the overall all-around meet standings with total scores of 39.125 each.

Knowing the team would open the competition on beam, Llewellyn chose to have the GymHawks open each day of practice ahead of Jan. 2 with performances dedicated to beam. Even though the team had committed time during practice for this specific event, the Gymhawks’ beam performance was the team’s lowest-scoring event at the meet. 

Iowa ended the beam segment of the meet with a team total of 48.125 points compared to Utah’s 49.250 and Minnesota’s 48.775.

Many of the beam performances were easily disrupted by early-season nerves. But one GymHawk suffered the most nerves of the group. Utah native first-year Sophie Schriever opened her college career for Iowa in front of thousands of her home-state fans. 

Schriever quickly shook off those nerves, putting up strong scores in her vault, bars, and floor performances. 

“Starting off with a freshman was something incredible to do,” Llewellyn told ESPN Plus after the event. “A little shaky, but I am proud of how they all finished strong.”

The GymHawks would try to battle back in the other three events, finishing second in team scores on vault with 48.950 and bars with 48.925, but the rough start for Iowa was just too big to overcome. 

Up next 

The Hawkeyes now turn their attention to their home opener on Jan. 10 with the annual “Border Battle” against Illinois, Illinois State, and in-state rival Iowa State as opponents.