Cyclone Gymnastics Team Takes First at Tri-Meet

SHREVEPORT, Louisiana- The Iowa State gymnastics team earned a season-high event score on vault on their way to taking first place at a tri-meet against Centenary and Texas Woman's University Saturday in Shreveport, Louisiana.

The Cyclones earned the top-three individual scores and the best team scores of the meet on vault, bars, and floor. Iowa State earned a meet score of 194.725 to take first place, Texas Woman's earned a 191.550 to take second, and Centenary came in third with 190.275.

“It's nice to have two wins,” head coach Jay Ronayne said. “It's a nice to know that we have a lot more room for growth and that we're coming back to Hilton Coliseum next week.”

Vault
Meaghan Sievers earned a new personal best on vault with a 9.875 against Centenary and Texas Woman's University. The freshman earned the team's highest score on the event for the sixth-consecutive meet this season. Briana Ledesma also earned a career-high, earning a 9.825 on vault. Kelsey Paz (9.800), Sydney Converse (9.775), and Kelly Martin (9.675) also contributed on the event, bringing the team score to 48.950. This earned the Cyclones their highest team vault score this season.

Volunteer assistant coach Danielle Guider:
“I thought vault went pretty well. Kelsey started us off very strong with a great vault and at the end of the line-up Sydney stuck a vault, Briana had an awesome vault, as well as Meaghan. I thought it was great overall, but we can still work on our landings.”

Floor Exercise
Haylee Young performed a great routine for the Cyclones on floor, earning a team-high for the meet with 9.875. Briana Ledesma continues to be a strong contributor this season, recording a 9.825 to take the second-highest score. Kelsey Paz earned a 9.800 and Courtney Middelkoop and Meaghan Sievers brought in 9.725's. Iowa State earned an overall team score of 48.950 on the event, their best of the night.

Assistant coach Kristen Maloney:
“I thought they did pretty well on floor. There was one dispute on a start value that we didn't get, but overall I think they did pretty well.”

Uneven Bars
Meaghan Sievers brought in the highest score on uneven bars for the second week in a row, scoring a 9.850 on the event. Hilary Green bounced back from a fall last meet to record a 9.825. Sophomores made an impact on the team score, with Young, Paz, and Ledesma all contributing for a 48.850 uneven bars team score.

Head coach Jay Ronayne:
“We didn't start on fire, but I wasn't unhappy with the way they performed. We could have hit a couple more handstands, but over it was pretty good. I wasn't upset with the way we started, but I wasn't happy with the way the scores ended up coming up. But that has nothing to do with the athletes.”

Balance Beam
Sydney Converse tied her career-high on beam against Centenary and Texas Woman's University with a 9.850, tying for first place at the meet. Alex Marasco continues to be a consistent contributor on the event, earning the second-highest score with 9.825. Hilary Green earned a 9.725 in her second meet competing on the event this season, her new career high. Meaghan Sievers and Haylee Young also contributed to bring the team score to 47.975.

Assistant coach Katie Minasola:
“I was really proud of the way Sydney started us off with another 9.850 routine, it was beautiful. We had a few missed connections and got a little antsy on a few of our routines. But overall, we had five made routines. Haylee's was a bit of a fluke. It's definitely not the score we're looking for, we could definitely have better routines. Hopefully next week at home with our double-meet weekend we can bring our best routines.”

All Around
Meaghan Sievers and Kelsey Paz both competed all-around, earning a 38.775 and 38.550, respectively. Sievers took second place all-around at the meet after earning her career-high vault score and placing first on vault and bars. Kelsey Paz earned fourth place all-around at the meet with third place finishes on floor and vault.

Up Next
The Cyclones will be hosting two meets next weekend in Hilton Coliseum. The first will be a tri-meet on Friday Feb. 19, featuring Air Force and Minnesota. The meet will begin at 6:30 p.m. On Sunday, Iowa State will be hosting a quad meet with Nebraska, NC State, and UW-La Crosse. The meet will begin at 2:00 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Sydney Converse

Hilary Green

Briana Ledesma

Alex Marasco

Kelly Martin

Courtney Middelkoop

Kelsey Paz

Meaghan Sievers

Haylee Young

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics