AMES, Iowa- The No. 13 Iowa State gymnastics team travels north to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday at 6 p.m. ... ISU began the 2007 season with a strong start, taking the Cancun Classic crown last weekend in Cancun, Mexico ... the Cyclones defeated Auburn, BYU and Missouri for the title ... seven-time All-American Janet Anson opened her senior campaign with Big 12 Conference Gymnast of the Week honors for her efforts ... the Cyclone newcomers were impressive in their opening competition, taking first, second or third place honors six times in Cancun.
Live Scoring
Live scoring is available at www.cyclones.com ... highlight "Cyclone Gameday" and click on "Live Stats" ... or click on "Live Stats" in the calendar section on the homepage.
About Minnesota
Minnesota is ranked 21st in the preseason coaches poll and opens its season on Saturday against Iowa State ... the Gophers return 11 letterwinners from the 2006 Big Ten champion squad ... co-head coach Jim Stephenson was a member of Iowa State's men's gymnastics national championship teams in 1971 and 1973 ... Stephenson and his former teammates were recently in Ames to be honored for their national championship accomplishments.
Cyclones Win Cancun Classic
Iowa State began the season with a first-place finish at the season opener in Cancun, Mexico last weekend ... a host of talented newcomers hit many routines in their first collegiate competition at the Cancun Classic as Iowa State won the competition with a final score of 195.60 ... Iowa State beat No. 20 Auburn (194.150), BYU (194.25) and No. 18 Missouri (192.625) ... Auburn took an early lead at the end of the first rotation, but Iowa State quickly answered claiming the lead in the second rotation ... Ashley Alden and Jade Kvach, a duo of Cyclone seniors, turned in strong routines on beam during the third rotation and finished in a tie for second-place on beam ... each scored a 9.875, a career-high for Kvach ... standout newcomers Katie Sweetin and Megan Barnes also performed well on beam each notching a 9.825 to contribute to the growing Cyclone team lead ... Auburn was forced to count a fall on bars, diminishing all hopes of regaining the team lead ... at the same time, tension for Iowa State mounted after an early mistake on floor, but the following gymnasts, Anna Robey (9.775) and Sweetin (9.825) each hit their routines, followed by Anson (9.90), who nailed the final show to garner first place and solidify the Iowa State victory ... Anson also took first-place on bars (9.85) and second in the all-around (39.10) ... the contest was the first for the Cyclones under head coach Jay Ronayne and the first time ISU has competed at the Cancun Classic.
Anson Earns Big 12 Honor
Senior
Janet Anson was named
Big 12 Gymnast of the Week for the first time this season and the sixth time in her career ... Anson led the Cyclones to the championship, finishing second in the all-around with a 39.10 score, and first on bars (9.85) and floor (9.90) ... she also placed fifth on vault (9.825).
Conference Champs Honored at Halftime
The 2006 Iowa State gymnastics team was honored by Iowa State fans in a special ceremony at halftime of the Iowa State men's basketball game on Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum ... Athletics Director
Jamie Pollard and Senior Associate Athletics Director Calli Sanders presented the team with its Big 12 Championship rings and helped unveil banners commemorating the program's accomplishments last season ... in 2006, the squad became the first team in ISU women's gymnastics history to appear in the Super Six finals of the NCAA Championship ... highlights include claiming the conference championship (second in program history), Big 12 Gymnast of the Year (
Janet Anson), three All-Americans, as well as a trio of conference and regional champions.
Standout Sophomores
Ashley Kent, the only freshman to compete for the Cyclones last season, continues to turn in impressive scores ... the bars and beam specialist tied for fifth on bars (9.75) and tied for 10th on beam (9.80) at the Cancun Classic ... one of the newest sophomore competitors,
Ceilia Maccani, stood out in her collegiate debut in Cancun placing third (tie) on bars with a 9.775.
BEAMing
Beam was the Cyclones' strongest event in the season opening competition ... they were led by seniors
Jade Kvach and
Ashley Alden's 9.875s, and scored a 49.200, only .10 below the 2006 beam high (49.300) ... in 2006, the beam squad was ranked in the top 10 nationally for seven weeks and as high as second for two weeks in March ... at the end of the season, Iowa State ranked third in the final standings (RQS 49.145) ... beam was the Cyclones' second best team event (best- floor, nationally ranked No. 2).
About the Rankings
Ranking are based on the Pre-Season GymInfo Coaches Poll and did not change this week because about half of the NCAA collegiate teams begin their season this weekend ... next rankings come out on Jan. 15 ... unlike other collegiate athletic rankings, gymnastics rankings are not based on wins and losses or votes ... gymnastics teams are ranked by their meet scores alone... from Jan. 15-Feb. 12, teams are ranked by their season averages ... starting Feb. 19, teams and gymnasts will be ranked by their Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) or regional-qualifying average ... an RQS is based on a team's top six regular-season scores, with three scores coming from away meets ... from these six scores, the top score is dropped and the remaining five scores are averaged to calculate the RQS.
The Future Looks Bright
In last weekend's win, Iowa State newcomers contributed 13 of 24 routines ...
Megan Barnes stole the show, landing a 9.90 first-place vault in the opening rotation ... before Iowa State, the Salt Lake City, Utah, native, was the 2004 regional vault champion and placed second in the event at regionals and third at nationals in 2006 ...
Katie Sweetin (9.825 on beam and floor) and
Anna Robey (9.85 vault and 9.775 floor) also stood out at the Cancun Classic ... each of these young competitors have the potential to improve as the season goes on and will be a bright part of the Cyclones' line-ups.
Up Next
The Cyclones will open Big 12 competition in their Hilton Coliseum debut on Friday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m.... Iowa State faces rival No. 7 Nebraska ... including its win in Ames on Feb. 19, 2006, ISU is 6-3-1 in its last 10 meets with Nebraska, and 3-1 in the last three years when competing at home ... the Huskers (195.20) placed second at the Super Six Challenge in Fayetteville, Ark., on Jan. 5 ... junior Emily Parsons was named the inaugural Big 12 Conference Event Specialist of the Week on Jan. 9.
Season Tickets on Sale
Season tickets for Iowa State's 2007 gymnastics home meets are now on sale ... the Cyclones will face a series of tough competitors again this season ... home matches include Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Denver and Iowa ... the cost for the Cyclones' five regular-season meets at Hilton Coliseum is $30. Tickets can be purchased by calling 888-ISU-CYCLONE or online at Cyclones.com.
Season Preview
Read the Cyclones' 2007 Season Preview
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