Before his team headed off for a three-day tour of Iowa, women’s gymnastics co-head coach Jim Stephenson talked about Friday’s meet with Iowa State and Sunday’s meet with Iowa confidently.
“These are two teams we should easily beat,” Stephenson said.
The first part of Stephenson’s prediction proved to be as prophetic as those of Nostradamus’ inbred second cousin Bubba. The Gophers were beaten by Iowa State 192.375 to 191.050. Minnesota followed that by defeating Iowa on Sunday. Complete results of that meet were not available at press time.
The loss is the first of the season for the seventh-ranked Gophers and is also their lowest team score of the young season.
Despite the loss in their first road meet of the season, senior Mindy Knaeble continued her strong season by splitting the title in the vault with the Cyclones’ Angie Umbaugh. Each scored a 9.70.
Sophomore Judy Cavazos and senior Stacey Batza each scored a 9.70 in the uneven bars and balance beam, respectively. Both scores were good enough for third place.
Knaeble and Umbaugh’s tight competition spilled over to the floor exercise, as the two split second place with scores of 9.85.
Tennis
Gophers sophomore tennis player Martin Michalowski lost in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Singles Championship on Sunday to second-seeded Oliver Freelove of Illinois.
Junior Tom Chicoine, the only other Minnesota player to survive Saturday’s action, lost in his first match Sunday. Neither of the Gophers players were seeded.
The Gophers return to action in three weeks when they travel to take on No. 24 Kansas.