CYber CYd with Jay Ronayne

Iowa State head coach Jay Ronayne writes this week's CYber CYd two days before the Cyclones travel to Iowa City for the NCAA North Central Regional. Ronayne gives an in-depth look at regionals and why Iowa State feels it has a number of advantages at the competition.

CYber CYd with Jay Ronayne

Hello Cyclone fans!

Two days from now we will be competing in the 2009 NCAA North Central Regional Championship in Iowa City at 6 p.m. We have an opportunity to extend our season two weeks further if our team finishes in first or second place. We would then move on to the NCAA Finals in Lincoln, Neb. It would be a great accomplishment because only 12 teams in the country get that honor every year. I have been thinking about what a trip to the NCAA Finals would mean to our team. It has been a goal of ours since we began this campaign back in August. We would like to represent Iowa State proudly, as we capitalize on the momentum we have gained by peaking at the end of the season. We train to be our best at this time of the year, and it has shown. We had our season-high score a little less than two weeks ago at the Big 12 Championships and have scored a new season high in three of our past four competitions. We are ready to go out there and give it everything we have Saturday to take Iowa State to its fourth NCAA Finals trip in school history.

We will be facing an uphill climb Saturday. Our competition, UCLA, Florida, Denver, Minnesota and Iowa are all very good gymnastics teams. We are seeded fifth in the six-team field. We are the underdogs. We know this and accept the challenge. We love a challenge.

We will also try to take advantage of all the positives that are in our favor. We are competing in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which we are extremely acquainted with. We will have a ton of ISU fans in attendance to help cheer us on. Travel is relatively easy for us compared to the rest of the field (excluding Iowa, of course). We also have drawn the best possible rotation for us. We start the meet on vault, which is great for us because it is just like a home meet. We feel very comfortable starting on that event. We are also competing during the last rotation, which is an advantage to us. Since there are six teams competing on four events, it means two teams are on byes (not competing) during each rotation. So that means two squads will be sitting and watching the rest of the teams compete during the last rotation. We feel that we want to be deciding our own fate during the last event and not watching helplessly by the sidelines.

Anything can happen in the world of college sports, especially gymnastics, and that's one of the reasons we all love it so much. Come on out and help us make our fourth trip to the NCAA Finals. I'll see you in Iowa City Saturday.

GO CYCLONES.

Iowa State University Athletics

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