No. 23 ISU Starts Season Tonight

01.08.2010 | Gymnastics

By: cyclones.com

AMES, Iowa--The No. 23 Iowa State gymnastics team begins its 2010 campaign tonight at 7 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum against Wisconsin-Stout.

Cyclone Notebook
? The No. 23 Iowa State gymnastics team begins its 2010 campaign by playing host to Wisconsin-Stout Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum.
? Iowa State is in its 40th season of gymnastics. The Cyclones have a 401-450-4 all-time record.

Last Time Out
? The 23rd-ranked Iowa State gymnastics team tallied one of its best scores of the season with a 195.650 April 4, 2009 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena at the NCAA North Central Regional. In the end, the Cyclones had to settle for third place behind No. 6 Florida (196.775) and No. 7 UCLA (196.625). ISU downed No. 20 Denver (195.600), No. 18 Minnesota (193.775), and host Iowa (193.625) in the process.

Three Cyclones Set to Make Debut
? The three-gymnast class of Elizabeth Stranahan (Atlanta, Ga.), Jessica Rizzi (Downers Grove, Ill.) and Rebecca Ellis (Brighton, N.Y.) are set to debut for ISU.

Ronayne Signs Six for 2011 Campaign
? New faces will be aplenty in 2010-11 on the Iowa State gymnastics squad, as Cyclone head coach Jay Ronayne added six gymnasts from all across the map for next year's campaign.
Henrietta Green (San Bernadino, Calif.), Milan Ivory (Marietta, Ga.), Hailey Johnson (Covina, Calif.), Megan McDonald (Woodbridge, Va.), Camille Santerre-Gervais (Saint-Lazare, Quebec) and Michelle Shealy (Snellville, Ga.) are set to become members of the incoming class in 2010-11.

Cyclones Hit Hard by Injuries
? A squad that appeared to be loaded with experience heading into the 2010 campaign will now lean heavily on its youth. Seniors Megan Barnes (knee), Nikki Dilbert (elbow) and Katie Sweetin (achilles) were seriously injured in preseason training. Barnes is the only Cyclone who could possibly return to action this season.

ISU Looks to Continue NCAA Regional Run
? The 2009 Cyclone gymnastics squad qualified for the program's 13th consecutive NCAA Regional. ISU will look to make its 14th straight regional appearance in 2010.

Bartgis Named Assistant Coach
? Former University of Pittsburgh assistant coach Jessica Bartgis joined the Iowa State gymnastics staff as an assistant coach. Bartgis joined Iowa State after a three-year (2006-09) stint at Pittsburgh where she was named the 2007 NCAA Northeast Regional Co-Assistant Coach of the Year. The Frederick, Md., native focused on vault and floor at Pitt and oversaw Dani Bryan, who won the league vault crown in 2007. Bartgis had four other gymnasts earn all-league recognition on vault during her tenure at Pittsburgh. Bartgis was additionally the co-recruiting coordinator for the Panthers.

A Trio of Big 12 Champions
? Iowa State had three gymnasts win a share of conference crowns at the 2009 Big 12 Championship. Megan Barnes was a co-winner on beam with a score of 9.900, Jasmine Thompson took home a piece of the beam title (9.850) and Ceilia Maccani equaled the league top honors on bars (9.850).

Cyclones Smash Season-Attendance Mark
? The Cyclones set a new season-attendance record in 2009, by having a total of 16,242 fans attended ISU gymnastics competitions, bettering the previous record by over 4,000. The new mark eclipsed the previous benchmark of 12,052, set during the 2006 campaign.

ISU Ranked 19th in 2009 Final Poll
? Iowa State's strong finish at the NCAA North Central Regional propelled the Cyclones to a No. 19 ranking in the country in the final GymInfo rankings.

ISU Has League-High Nine Earn Academic Honors
? The Iowa State gymnastics team garnered the most Academic All-Big 12 recipients in 2009, as nine Cyclones were honored. ISU was also the only Big 12 school to have all of its honorees receive first-team honors. The following Cyclone gymnasts were honored: Megan Barnes (nutritional sciences), Nikki Dilbert (health and human performance), Ashley Kent (nutritional sciences), Ceilia Maccani (health and human performance), Anna Robey (advertising), Jennifer Salfen (biology), Katie Sweetin (marketing), Melanie Tham (journalism and mass communication) and Jasmine Thompson (journalism and mass communication).

Nine Cyclones Earn Scholastic All-America Honors
? Iowa State had nine gymnasts earn National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACG/W) Alpha Factor Scholastic All-America status in 2009.Jennifer Hornbaker, Ashley Kent, Melanie Tham, Jasmine Thompson, Megan Barnes, Jasmine Swyningan, Nikki Dilbert, Anna Robey and Ceilia Maccani were the Cyclones who received the honor.