ISU Sets Season High, Beats Iowa & DU

AMES, Iowa- Senior Janet Anson won three individual events (vault, beam and floor) and placed second on bars en route to her 17th career all-around title to lead the 17^th-ranked Iowa State gymnastics team to a first-place finish Friday night at Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones scored a 196.700, their highest score of the season on senior night, and finished ahead of 16^th-ranked Denver (195.700) and third-place Iowa (194.500). The Cyclones posted their highest floor score this year, scoring a 49.325, and scored a 49.000 or higher on all events for the first time this season.

“We couldn't have planned [the meet] any better,” said head coach Jay Ronayne of his team's strong performance. “You could feel it in practice and in then in warm-ups. It was the exact same thing so it was no surprise. You knew it was coming.”

Anson won the vault with a 9.925, her second highest vault score of the season. Sophomore Jasmine Thompson took second place with a score of 9.850, to help the Cyclones to their third-best team vault score of the season (49.150).

Freshman Nikki Dilbert had a standout night, scoring season-highs on all four events. Her top score was a 9.850 on bars, which was good for a fourth-place tie with teammate Katie Lasher. Anson finished second and tied her personal best on bars with a 9.90. DU's Jennifer Lopez won the event with a 9.950.

On beam, Anson (9.875) and fellow senior Jade Kvach (9.850) took first and second place, respectively, to lead the Cyclones, each notching their second highest score of the season. Ashley Alden returned to Iowa State's beam line-up and sparked the Cyclones to a 49.000 team score, their third best all season.

Entering the last rotation, Iowa State held a 147.375-146.575 lead over Denver, and a one-and-a-half point lead over Iowa (145.875).

Iowa State closed out the night with a stellar performance on floor. The Cyclones swept the podium with scores all above a 9.90. ISU posted its highest event total of the evening (49.325) behind Anson's 9.950, Katie Sweetin's 9.925 and Thompson's 9.90. Anson won the event, her seventh floor crown of the season. Sweetin and Thompson each scored season-highs, and finished second and third, respectively.

“From start to finish it couldn't have been any better,” said Ronayne. “Success breeds success, and once you get the ball rolling there's no turning back. Emotion can go one way or the other. It can crash and burn because it means so much, but they handled it like the seasoned veterans they are and they put it all together.”

Anson stole the show in her final performance for the Cyclone crowd at Hilton, scoring a 9.950, her best routine of the season and a tie for her career-high.

“I couldn't ask for anything more from our team,” said Anson. “It was fun. It was emotional. It was exciting and it was everything I could ask for.”

The Cyclones' trio of Anson (39.650), Thompson (39.250) and Dilbert (39.250) finished in the top three places in the all-around, each scoring a season-high.

With the win, Iowa State is now 46-21 all-time against Iowa and has defeated the GymHawks in 27-of-the-last-28 meetings. ISU has swept the series with Iowa the last four consecutive years and claimed two more points in the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk series tonight. The series score is now 11-8 in favor of the Hawkeyes.

The Cyclones will compete in the Big 12 Conference Championship next Saturday in Columbia, Mo. Iowa State will compete against No. 7 Nebraksa, No. 10 Oklahoma and No.18 Missouri.

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Players Mentioned

Ashley Alden

Ashley Alden

Janet Anson

Janet Anson

Nikki Dilbert

Nikki Dilbert

Jade Kvach

Jade Kvach

Katie Lasher

Katie Lasher

Katie Sweetin

Katie Sweetin

Jasmine Thompson

Jasmine Thompson

Jasmine Thompson

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