Gymnastics Travels to Iowa to Begin Conference Play

Jan. 12, 2012

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State gymnastics team will open conference action when it travels to No. 25 Iowa on Friday (Jan. 13). The Spartans' first road match will begin at 8 p.m. (EST) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

"Iowa is going to be a very competitive team, but our team just needs to focus on what we can do to get better and not worry about Iowa," said head coach Katie Klages. "In order to improve from last week, we've really focused on hitting our beam routines and our landings.

We will have to adjust at Iowa because it is a different arena, there will be different lighting and different equipment. But our warm up is over an hour long, which gives us the opportunity to make those adjustments."

Michigan State opened the 2012 season at home last Friday (Jan. 6), but fell to No. 16 Washington 193.175-191.875. Sophomore Taira Neal finished tied for first on the vault with a score of 9.850, while senior Daneen Haba and freshman Ashley Noll tied for fourth with marks of 9.725.

Senior Jackie Berg placed second in both the uneven bars and floor exercise, with a score of 9.775 for both events. On the balance beam, sophomore Dani Levi was the top Spartan with a mark of 9.625 and finished fourth all-around with a 38.000 score.

The University of Iowa gymnastics team began its season with a fourth place finish at the Cancun Classic last Friday (Jan. 6). The Hawkeyes earned a team mark of 193.875 and were led by senior Jessa Hansen and freshman Emma Willis.

The Spartans will face No. 13 Penn State and No. 2 Alabama in a tri-meet next week (Jan. 21) in University Park, Pa. at 7 p.m.