No. 24 Iowa State Rally Falls Short at Missouri

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COLUMBIA, Mo - The No. 24 Iowa State gymnastics team posted a strong rally in its final rotation, but could not get past Missouri Sunday at the Hearnes Center. The Cyclones went on to lose narrowly 192.675-192.600 in its season-opening competition. Iowa State senior and reigning Big 12 Gymnast of the Year Michelle Browning won the all-around with a score of 39.025. Fellow senior Celine Paulus tied for first place on beam with a 9.850 effort.

Paulus also put together a very solid floor effort with a near-career-high 9850. The Yorba Linda, Calif., native's career best is 9.875. Browning's 9.800 effort on bars nearly earned her the title as well, just short of the 9.825 winning tally.

Cyclone head coach Jay Ronayne was pleased with the performance the two seniors showed, especially down the stretch of the meet.

"Michelle and Celine are two senior leaders for us, and today they showed it," Ronayne said. "I know that Michelle will continue her winning ways throughout the season and Celine showed that she is right there with Michelle. All Celine had to do was land her vault better, and she may have won the all-around. I know she can do that."

Iowa State (0-1/0-1 Big 12) started off slowly with a team score of 47.950 on bars. Browning's 9.800 was the team high, while sophomore Henrietta Green tallied a 9.750.

"Starting out on bars with some mistakes really threw us off balance because we have been solid on that event in the gym," Ronayne said. "I did not anticipate we would have any problems on bars today. After our second routine on bars we were counting a fall which was not at all what we had planned. Then, I told the team it was time to get back to normal by doing what we do in the gym every day. Everyone needed to take a deep breath to get back to normal. Vault turned out better than we anticipated it would because of that. Overall, I am happy with how we responded, but we still need to fix a lot of mistakes that we saw out there today."

The Cyclones scored 47.825 on vault in the second rotation, with Browning's 9.700 being the top tally for Iowa State. The score left Iowa State behind 96.550-95.775 to the Tigers.

Iowa State started to get things rolling during its third rotation with a 48.525 on floor. Paulus' 9.850 and Browning's 9.825 led the way for the Cyclones.

A team score of 48.300 on beam was nearly enough for the Cyclones to charge past Missouri on the final rotation. Freshman Caitlin Brown (9.775), Paulus (9.850) and Browning (9.700) paved the way for the near comeback victory.

The Cyclones have nearly a two-week break before their next competition. Iowa State will play host to No. 6 Nebraska Jan. 20 at 6:30 p.m. CST in Hilton Coliseum.

VIDEO: Celine Paulus Post-Missouri

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Players Mentioned

Caitlin Brown

Caitlin Brown

Michelle Browning

Michelle Browning

Henrietta Green

Henrietta Green

Henrietta Green

Celine Paulus

Celine Paulus

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