Iowa State University Athletics
Iowa State University
Arizona State
Cyclones Defeat Sun Devils in First Meet of the Season
01.06.2017 | Athletics, Gymnastics
AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State gymnastics team took home an important win at Friday's Beauty and the Beast meet. The pressures of the special event along with it being the first meet of the 2017 season didn't faze they Cyclones as they fought their way to a 193.850-191.800 win over the Arizona State Sun Devils.
 Three new faces to the roster made their way into the lineups in Molly Russ, Casandra Diaz, and Laura Burns. Russ made an impressive start to her collegiate career with a tie for second place on beam. Iowa State veterans also left their mark at the meet, with junior Haylee Young taking over first place on bars, beam, floor, and the all-around competition.
"Starting with a win is a huge confidence builder," head coach Jay Ronayne remarked. "Getting freshmen out there for the first time, and doing very well is a great thing. The veterans are reminded of how good they really are and that the hard work they've put in pays off. They have the potential to be really good this year, and I think that's what they're all going to walk away from this building tonight with."
Uneven Bars
Junior Haylee Young introduced a double layout to her uneven bars routine for the 2017 season. The new addition helped Young take first place in the event with a 9.800. The Cyclones had several strong routines on the event, including sophomore gymnast MJ Johnson. Johnson scored a 9.750 on the event to take second place on the event. Freshmen Laura Burns performed her first routine as a collegiate gymnast on bars, coming in strong with a 9.725. Briana Ledesma and Meaghan Sievers both contributed on the uneven bars to bring the Iowa State event team score to a 48.650.
"The execution on bars by almost everyone was about what we expected," head coach Jay Ronayne explained. "We left some landings out there, which surprised us. We expected at least three stuck landings. We had a few little hops and steps, which are each a tenth of a point. That added up really fast. Other than that, we expect bars to be our best event this season."
Vault
The Cyclones started off their first meet of the season on vault, bringing back some strong veterans to the event. Unsurprisingly, NCAA Championship qualifier Meaghan Sievers led the team on the event with a 9.825, earning first place at the meet. Junior all-arounder Haylee Young came in with the next-highest score for the Cyclones with a 9.750. Kelsey Paz and Briana Ledesma both scored 9.675's and MJ Johnson recorded a 9.600. Iowa State finishes the event with a 48.500 overall team score.
"Vault was really good," sophomore Meaghan Sievers said. "I think I picked up where last year left off and I'm happy to have that as a baseline and continue to improve."
Balance Beam
Young continued her impressive meet with a first place finish on balance beam, earning herself and the Cyclones a 9.850. Freshman Molly Russ competed a great routine to tie with sophomore Meaghan Sievers tie for second place at the meet with a 9.775. Another freshman, Casandra Diaz contributed to the team score with a 9.550 along with Kelsey Paz who earned a 9.500. They Cyclone's efforts combined to bring home a team event score of 48.450 on balance beam.
"I was really excited to go out and compete on beam," Molly Russ stated. "To have my teammates there cheering me on was awesome. They're so supportive. When I finished the routine and looked over and saw them cheering was amazing. It was the best thing ever."
Floor Exercise
In the final routine of the meet, Young earned the highest score from either team with a 9.875 on floor. Another impressive performance on floor came from junior Briana Ledesma, who earned the Mari-Rae Sopper Outstanding Performance Award with her 9.825. Casandra Diaz contributed to the team score as a freshman with a 9.650, followed closely by Hilary Green with a 9.300. Courtney Middelkoop also contributed to the team score with a 9.300, bringing the final team event score to a 48.250.
"Floor was really fun tonight," Haylee Young said. "I really love my new routine, it was actually Milan Ivory's old music. She was my teammate in Georgia, and I always loved her performance on floor. To bring that back into Hilton Coliseum is really special to me, just because I always admired her so much. Plus it's just really fun to perform."
All Around
Haylee Young competed as an all-around gymnast for the Cyclones at Friday's Beauty and the Beast meet. Her first place finishes on the uneven bars, floor, and balance beam helped her earn an all-around total of 39.250, earning her first place at the meet.
Up Next
The Cyclones return to Hilton Coliseum next Friday to host a tri-meet against Towson and Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The meet will be shown live on Cyclones.tv and will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
