50 Iowa moments since Title IX: Alexis (Maday) Packard earns All-America honors in 3 straight years

Editor’s note: This is 20th in a series counting down the Top 50 moments in Iowa Hawkeyes women’s athletics history in the 50 days leading up to the 50th anniversary of Title IX in June.

The better question for former Iowa gymnast Alexis (Maday) Packard might be what didn’t she win rather than what she did win during her four years at Iowa.

“She pretty much won like all the things that there were to win,” said current Iowa head coach Larissa Libby, who was an assistant coach when Packard was at Iowa from 2001-04.

Packard finished as a three-time first-team All-American, the 2004 Big Ten Gymnast of the Year and a six-time Big Ten champion — all of which were program firsts.

Her three first-team All-America honors came in three different events — vault, uneven bars and floor exercise. She had Big Ten titles in every event possible except for the balance beam.

“The stuff that she was doing then, she could do now, and I think she would still be one of the better ones out there,” Libby said.

Packard’s favorite moment doesn’t have to do with any of those accomplishments, though. It was when Iowa’s coaching staff let her fellow seniors take the coaches’ spots on the floor at the NCAA Championship for her final event as a Hawkeye.

“I had one person in each corner of the floor, and I could see them throughout my entire routine,” Packard said. “It's just one of those moments that I don't think I will ever forget, and I am eternally grateful that the coaching staff agreed to that.”

Packard remains the program record-holder for uneven bars, floor exercise and all-around. She hopes someone “more phenomenal” breaks her records soon.

“I can't believe that they have lasted as long as they have,” Packard said. “I am cheering on every single one of those girls every time I watch them compete. ... The next routine is going to break those records.”

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