AMES, Iowa- The Iowa State gymnastics team begins its quest to get back to the NCAA Championships, as the Cyclones face several of the top teams in the nation during the 2007 season, head coach Jay Ronayne announced Tuesday.
“We face a lot of quality opponents,” said Ronayne. “We feel that meeting the best competition is an important part of continuing our quest to be the best.”
The schedule includes three teams that qualified for the NCAA Championships last year, including fifth-ranked Nebraska, No. 10 Oklahoma and No. 11 Oregon State. All but two of the Cyclones' 2007 opponents finished ranked in the top 30 by GymInfo last season.
To start the competitive season, the Cyclones travel to Cancun, Mexico, for the Cancun Classic on Jan. 6. They will face Ronayne's former team, No. 26 Auburn, and No. 30 BYU, in addition to Big 12 opponent No. 14 Missouri.
Iowa State returns to the Midwest to travel to Minneapolis, Minn., on Jan. 13, to take on No. 19 Minnesota. The Gophers will return the trip to Ames on March 2.
Iowa State is scheduled to compete in four head-to-head Big 12 matchups, with the Cyclones playing host to three of those competitions. Iowa State opens Big 12 action at home with Nebraska on Jan. 9, and Missouri on Feb. 3. On Feb. 16, the Cyclones finish their Big 12 home schedule with Oklahoma.
In the month of February, ISU faces four weekends of tough competition. All four meets have teams ranked in the top 25 nationally, beginning with Missouri at home on Feb. 3. Next, on Feb. 9, the Cyclones are at No. 15 Stanford competing with Oregon State and No. 29 San Jose State. The following weekend, ISU plays host to Oklahoma on Feb. 16, followed by an away trip to Champaign, Ill., where the Cyclones will face No. 25 Illinois and Northern Illinois in a triangular meet on Feb. 25.
The Cyclones will spend consecutive weekends on the road at No. 39 Iowa on March 4, and at Nebraska on March 11. The meet in Iowa City marks the first of two Iowa State-Iowa gymnastics meets in the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series.
Returning home for its fifth home meet, Iowa State will host Iowa and Denver in a triangular at Hilton to end the regular season on March 23. The Iowa State-Iowa match up will be round two in the gymnastics event in Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series. The Big 12 Championships will be hosted by hosted by Missouri on March 31.
The NCAA Regional competition begins on April 14, and the NCAA Nationals will be held April 26-28, at Salt Lake City, Utah.
Ronayne is in his first year at Iowa State and his first year as a head coach. The Cyclones are coming off a sixth-place finish at the 2006 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championship, with a 20-4 overall record. They finished the regular season with a perfect 4-0 league record and won the Big 12 Conference Championship. Iowa State used a second-place finish at the NCAA Regional competition to qualify for the National Championship. ISU posted a 196.250 team score, good for a third-place tie, to qualify for the school's first ever “Super Six” appearance. The Cyclones earned nine All-America titles in 2006.
*All rankings taken from 2006 Final GymInfo rankings.
