March 28, 2008

Iowa City, IA (UWIRE) -- The soft afternoon sunlight that pours through the seven large arched windows of the University of Iowa's Field House North Gym is illuminating.

Within the gymnasium's high walls, the air is thick with chalk dust and the chatter and shouts of young women kicked up by a flurry of training by the Iowa women's gymnastics team as it prepares for the Big Ten championships on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Along the east wall, a gymnast runs in measured strides in her vault approach, springing off the table into a flip before landing with a matted thump on her feet. Three balance beams are each occupied by gymnasts practicing their individual flips and handsprings, maintaining a steadied poise on the beams as they clean up their wobbles and slips.

Excellence in competition for Iowa starts here - and the elevation the GymHawks have achieved this season in the arena, soaring to a No. 22 national ranking with a 195.2 average - has been maintained here as well.

"In some ways, it's automatic, because you've done it every week," said junior Jenifer Simbhudas. "But at the same time you can't just relax and think that your body's going to do it automatically.

"Gymnastics is all about being mentally tough, so you've got to make sure that you're mentally tough in there thinking that even though you may be automatic muscle-wise, that you're thinking about it the same way."

Between repetitions, head coach Larissa Libby and her assistants shout encouragement and offer critiques. All of these things are observable to the senses, but the true progress of the team over the 2008 season can't be seen so much by the naked eye as is must have been experienced.

Having completed their best regular season run of Libby's four-year tenure, both she and her gymnasts will tell you this year's squad has been special.

The GymHawks (10-4-1) haven't just put together Iowa's first winning record since 2003-04, they've done it in part by compiling team scores of 195-plus, a feat that has eluded them the past two years and that Iowa had notched just once in 2005.

This season they've done it six times in their last seven meets, during which the high scores have propelled the GymHawks to a 3-1-1 record against Big Ten rivals.

But just coasting on their regular-season performances won't cut it at Big Tens, where Iowa has finished seventh twice and sixth once in the past three years.

"I want them to up their level," Libby said. "I want them to walk into Big Ten championships knowing that they can compete with anybody because they have all year long."

The GymHawks' foremost competition will be host school Michigan, ranked first in the Big Ten with a 196.825 average that places it at a lofty No. 4 in the NCAA. The Wolverines have scored below 196 just once, on the road at Penn State.

Still, the GymHawks have been on the rise since midseason and are poised to break through the 196-ceiling just as they did the 195-ceiling - by focusing on executing their own gymnastics and not on beating another team's reputation.

With a season of confidence under their feet, the GymHawks will try to avoid repeating last year's disaster on beam at the Big Ten championships, where they suffered three falls and plummeted from third place to sixth on that last event.

"Last year, beam was kind of a metaphor for the overall season, where we're almost there but we're not really sure," said senior Katie Burke. "This year, I think beam just reflects our attitude of the entire season - 'We got this, we're on' - and that's going to be our ticket."

(C) 2008 The Daily Iowan via UWIRE