Iowa State at Illinois Sunday

AMES, Iowa- The Iowa State gymnastics team travels to Champaign, Ill. to face No. 24 Illinois and unranked Northern Illinois Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. ISU (7-3, 2-2 Big 12) looks to rebound after an uncharacteristic performance against then-eighth ranked Oklahoma last Friday. The Cyclones got the night off to a good start scoring 49.025 on vault and 49.050 on bars, but had to count falls on beam and floor to end the night. Individually, Janet Anson took her fourth all-around title of the season, scoring a 39.375. She led the Cyclones with a season-highs on beam (9.90) and floor (9.925). Anson took first place in both events, earning just the second beam title of her career. Anson's floor score of 9.925 was the 10th of her career and also the 25th time she has scored over 9.90 in the event. Jasmine Thompson also turned in a great all-around performance last week, scoring a season-high 39.225 with 9.825s on vault, bars and floor. She finished second in the all-around, tied for second on bars and tied for third on floor.

Who: No. 10 Iowa State vs. No. 24 Illinois and Northern Illinois
Where: Huff Hall, Champaign, Ill.
When: Sunday at 2 p.m.

About Illinois
Last week, No. 24 Illinois (3-4, 3-1 Big 10) beat No. 18 Michigan State, 194.700-193.925 ... the score was the Fighting Illini's top road score of the season and it marked the third time the Illini have upset a higher ranked Big Ten opponent this season ... the Illini also posted their top floor score of the season (48.775) ... freshman Nicole Cowart won her second all-around title of the season, scoring 39.025 ... earlier this season, she set career-bests on vault (9.875), balance beam (9.775) and in the all-around (39.125) [earlier] ... she is ranked 28^th nationally in the all-around ... in the South Central Regional rankings she is fourth overall, 11th on vault, bars and beam ... Cara Pomeroy also leads Illinois with the team's season-highs on bars (9.875) and beam (9.90) ... Julie Crall holds Illinois' top score on floor with a 9.850 in the meet against Iowa.

About Northern Illinois

Northern Illinois (4-4, 0-2 Mid-American) scored a season-high 193.525, last week in their loss to No. 11 Denver ... Northern Illinois put together its best team totals of the season on bars (48.800), balance beam (48.875) and floor exercise (48.600) against Denver ... the Huskies are led by sophomores Leah Johnson and Jennifer Naughton ... Johnson took second place in the all-around last week scoring a season best, 38.900 ... Naughton recorded the team's highest individual event score of the season, tying her career high with a 9.875 on beam ... she tied for second place against DU... on Friday, NIU competes against conference foe Ball State ... as of Monday, NIU had only competed in five meets and was not eligible for GymInfo rankings this week.

On the Web
For links to live scoring and live video, fan should choose “Live Stats” in the calendar section on the homepage ... this link directs you to the Illinois website ... scroll down to the orange box called “fightingillini.com Live Coverage” under Sunday, Feb. 25, where the “Iowa State, N. Illinois Women's Gymnastics meet” is listed ... fans can choose “watch” to view video of the meet by subscribing to CSTV video access or fans can choose “live stats” to view live scoring.

The Series

The last time [Iowa State faced NIU] was at the Iowa State Triangular in 1995 ... ISU finished first beating NIU, 191.025-189.550 ... the Cyclones and Illini are tied in the all-time series record, 4-4 ... the Cyclones have won the last four meetings including winning, 194.100-191.650, last season on Jan. 13, in Ames ... the last time Iowa State lost to Illinois was in 1989.

Cyclones Hold at No. 10 Nationally

The Cyclones are ranked tenth for the second consecutive week in the latest GymInfo polls ... they hold a regional qualifying score of 195.120 ... ISU remains second in the North Central Region and third in the Big 12 Conference rankings ... for the sixth consecutive week, Iowa State holds a top-20 ranking in each event.

Up Next

Next week, the Cyclones host No. 26 Minnesota on Friday, March 2, at 7 p.m., for the second of two meets against the Gophers this year ... the Cyclones beat Minnesota on Jan. 13th in Minneapolis, 194.525-194.400.

Players Mentioned

Janet Anson

Janet Anson

Jasmine Thompson

Jasmine Thompson

Jasmine Thompson

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics