Cyclones Score 195.275 In Beauty And The Beast

AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State gymnastics team earned its highest meet score of the season against No. 1 Oklahoma at the Beauty and the Beast meet Friday night. The 195.275 was fueled by the Cyclones two highest event scores of the season, a 49.200 on floor and 49.025 on the uneven bars. The team-best scores were seen by the fifth-largest crowd in school history, 5,273 fans who showed up to cheer on the Cyclones at the Beauty and the Beast. Iowa State fell to the No. 1 Sooners, who left Ames with a team score of 197.425.

"It's funny how we have an 'L' after this meet, but it's a very positive 'L'," head coach Jay Ronayne said. "As weird as that sounds, we're making strides towards where we need to be. We feel as though we're a top-15 team, we're just not showing it in public yet. We have to get it down; we have to hit all 24 routines. We hit 22 today. Once we hit all of them, then we have a shot at living up to our potential."

Floor Exercise

Friday night's floor routines earned the Cyclones their best score on any event so far this season, a 49.200. For the second week in a row, Haylee Young came out strong for ISU on floor with a 9.900. The score allowed her to tie for second against the number one team in the country. Briana Ledesma was not far off the 9.900 mark with a 9.875 for her routine. Inching in behind her was Hilary Green, who earned herself a 9.850. Courtney Middelkoop performed another great routine to earn a 9.800 from the judges. Rounding off the scoring routines was Kelsey Paz, who brought in a 9.775. Although it wasn't counted in the top-five scores, Casandra Diaz impressed the judges to earn her career-high on the event, a 9.750.

"I was very proud of floor, we had a fall on beam and were able to come back after that," associate head coach Katie Minasola stated. "We came together with a great floor performance overall. Everybody showed off their routines, and had some fun with the crowd. So I thought it was a great ending to a good meet."

Uneven Bars

The Cyclones hit their best bars score of the season so far with a 49.025 against Oklahoma. Young and Sievers brought in the top two scores for ISU with two 9.850's. Right below the top scores was Ledesma with a 9.800. MJ Johnson hit a career-high score with her 9.775 on the event. Competing in the sixth spot and contributing to the season-high team score was Hilary Green with a 9.750.

"Hitting my routine on bars was something that I've wanted to do for the past three weeks," Green admitted. "It felt really good to be able to do that. Just realizing that I need to believe in myself and have faith in myself is what I needed to do. My team has been there for me the whole time, so I do it for them. Once I realized that, it happened. I'm really excited for my team because we have a lot we want to prove. All we have to do is keep working hard and we can show it."

Vault

Iowa State started the meet out on vault, earning their highest score on the event this season with a 48.800. Two gymnasts hit a 9.800 to bring in the top scores for ISU. The top scores came from Young and Sievers, who have held the top two spots on vault in every meet this season. Bringing in the third best score was Paz with a 9.775, followed closely by Kelly Martin with a 9.750. Briana Ledesma and MJ Johnson both scored 9.675 to round off the event for the Cyclones.

"Vault was a solid start for us," Ronayne commented. "It was as good as I expected. We're still working to get those stuck landings. Other than that, our vaults are improving a lot. They're higher, they're better form, they're going farther. So progress is being made by our vault team."

Balance Beam

Falls on beam brought both teams their lowest score of the night, Iowa State's with a 48.250. There were several highlights from the Cyclones, including Sievers' top score for the Cyclones with a 9.825. Diaz had a breakout night, scoring her career-high on the event with a 9.800. Coming in behind her was regular in the lineup, Paz with a 9.725. Young performed an excellent routine that was brought to a 9.700 by a hop on the dismount. Two falls on the event made it so Molly Russ's 9.200 counted in the Iowa State event score.

"I thought our beam routines this week were a lot cleaner and sharper," Minasola said. "We had two falls, we have to get rid of those. Paz started us off with a solid routine with a stuck dismount. Young's routine was beautiful until the dismount, she just wanted that stick a little too much. Everybody showed some polish and poise on the beam today. We just need to get the made routines and finish it off like the rest of the meet."

All-Around

Young took second place at the meet with her impressive all-around score, a 39.250. Kelsey Paz earned her career-high in the all-around with a 39.000 to tie for third at the meet.

Up Next

The Cyclones have a quick turn-around this week, traveling to Denton, Texas to face Texas Woman's University on Sunday. The meet will begin at 1:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Casandra Diaz

Hilary Green

Briana Ledesma

Kelly Martin

Courtney Middelkoop

Kelsey Paz

Molly Russ

Haylee Young

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