ISU Hosts Missouri in Next Big 12 Meet

AMES, Iowa- The No. 11 Iowa State gymnastics team continues Big 12 Conference competition at home in Hilton Coliseum on Friday at 7 p.m. as the Cyclones play host to No. 22 Missouri ... after a week off, Iowa State is rested and ready for action ... in ISU's the last meet, the Cyclones were edged out by Nebraska, 195.725-195.325, on Jan. 19, at Hilton Coliseum ... senior Janet Anson won her second all-around title of the season (39.125) with second-place finishes on vault (9.875) and floor (9.900) ... on vault, freshman Megan Barnes took third-place with a 9.875 ... Jasmine Thompson competed in the beam line-up for the first time this season and posted a 9.800 and also scored a season-high on floor (9.825) ... she was honored with the Mari-Rae Sopper Outstanding Performance Award ... Iowa State holds a top-20 ranking in every event for the second week in a row ... seven-time All-American Anson is tied for second place in the individual national rankings on floor after a trio of 9.900s in the opening three meets.

Who: No. 11 Iowa State vs. No. 20 Missouri
Where: Hilton Coliseum
When: Friday at 7 p.m.

About Missouri
No. 20 Missouri has improved six spots in the past two weeks in the GymInfo Top 25 rankings ... the Tigers will close out their Big 12 regular-season schedule in Ames ... on Jan. 26, Missouri lost to Nebraska, despite posting several season bests ... NU took the meet by a score of 196.800-195.00, a season-high score for each school ... the Tigers opened on vault and scored a season-high 48.950, led by sophomore Adrianne Perry's personal-best 9.925 ... Mizzou looked strong on floor as well, scoring a 48.850, led by Perry's 9.90, her second career-high of the night as she finished second on vault and floor, and third on bars and in the all-around ... in the individual national rankings, junior Katie Kluga is ranked 40th on beam (9.775) with a season-high score of 9.80, while Perry ranks 44th in the all-around with a season average of 38.842.

The Series
The last time ISU faced Missouri was at the Cancun Classic on Jan. 5 ... Iowa State won the event (195.600), and Missouri placed fourth (192.725) ... Missouri leads the all-time series against the Cyclones' 41-33 ... although, ISU is 30-3 against the Tigers in the last 12 years ... the last time Iowa State lost to Missouri was when Iowa State finished fourth and MU placed third at the Big 12 Conference Championship in Columbia, Mo., on March 29, 2003.

On the Web
Live Video and Live Scoring: Watch the Cyclones compete against Missouri live on the "Clone Zone," the athletics department new premium content video subscription package. Those who have already signed up for Clone Zone to watch gymnastics can access the webcast here, simply login when prompted and enter username and password. Fans watching the meet on the Clone Zone are encouraged to view Live Scoring for continuous scoring updates (please refresh Live Scoring page often, as it will not update automatically).

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Record Crowd
A new attendance record of 3,429 was set on Jan. 19, vs. Nebraska ... this record beat previous crowds for the ISU vs. NU rivalry (3,141 on March 5, 2006, and 2,716 Jan. 23, 2004) and the crowd at the NCAA North Central Regional (3,214) on April 8, 2006.

Missouri to Host Big 12 Championship
The 2007 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship will be Saturday, March 31, at 7 p.m. in Columbia, Mo., at the Hearnes Center ... tickets are on sale through the Missouri Athletic Ticket Office Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ... tickets can be purchased by phone at 1-800-CAT PAWS or at the gate 1 ? hours prior to the meet ... prices are $8 for Reserved, $5 for Adult General Admission and $3 for Youth/Senior General Admission.

Nebraska Snaps Home Streak
Iowa State was edged out by Nebraska, 195.725-195.325, on Jan. 19, at Hilton ... the Huskers ended a 18 home-meet winning streak for the Cyclones, a record spanning over three years ... since the 2003 season, ISU is now 21-2 at home ... Minnesota and BYU are the only other teams ISU has lost to at home since 2000.

Cyclones' Beam Team Ranked No. 1
Iowa State is ranked No. 1 in the North Central Region and in the Big 12 Conference ... ISU also ranks fifth nationally in the GymInfo rankings ... Iowa State has been led by seniors Jade Kvach and Ashley Alden and recently, by sophomore Jasmine Thompson ... Thompson turned in an impressive 9.800 in the first beam routine of her career against Nebraska ... at Minnesota, Alden (9.825) won the event and in Cancun, Kvach and Alden both scored 9.875 ... the team score at the Cancun Classic was 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).

Cyclones in the Top 15

Individually, senior Janet Anson is tied for second on floor (9.90) in the national polls, tied for first in the region and holds the top-ranking in the conference ... Anson also holds the top all-around score in the league (39.150) ... Megan Barnes shares the No. 12 spot on vault (9.867) nationally, and is third in the Big 12 ... senior Ashley Alden's 9.842 beam score is first in the conference, third regionally and tied for tenth in the nation.

About the Rankings
Ranking are updated each Monday and are based by meet scores alone, unlike other collegiate athletic rankings that are based on wins and losses or votes ... from Jan. 15-Feb. 12 gymnastics teams and individuals 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.

Up Next
Next week, the Cyclones travel west to Stanford, Calif., and face tough competition of No. 5 Stanford, No. 16 Oregon State and San Jose State ... the meet begins at 9:30 CST ... the last time Iowa State competed against OSU was in the first round of the NCAA Championship, where ISU topped the Beavers 196.250-195.150 on the way to Iowa State's first NCAA Super Six appearance ... the Cyclones have not competed against Stanford since 1991 and have never competed against SJSU.

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 Friday's meet vs. Nebraska and the upcoming Missouri, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Denver and Iowa meets ... 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

Players Mentioned

Ashley Alden

Ashley Alden

Janet Anson

Janet Anson

Megan Barnes

Megan Barnes

Jade Kvach

Jade Kvach

Jasmine Thompson

Jasmine Thompson

Jasmine Thompson

Sponsors

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