Cyclones Earn Season-High Score At No. 6 Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama - The Iowa State gymnastics team had their best meet of the season on Friday at No. 6 Alabama. The Cyclones earned new season-high event scores on vault and uneven bars to help secure their 196.600. The score marks the first time and Iowa State gymnastics team has scored at or above a 196.600 since the 2014 Big 12 Championships, and the first time since 2007 the score has been hit in the regular season. The team showed up in front of 10,063 fans, the largest crowd the team has competed in front of this season. Haylee Young earned the Cyclones' best score on every event to earn a brand new career-high all-around score of 39.525. At the end of the meet, the Cyclones came in just behind Alabama 197.100-196.600

"It's nearly the meet we've been chasing all year," head coach Jay Ronayne said. "We're looking for 24 hit routines, we're looking for 24 stuck landings, and it's the closest we've been to that this season. It's really what we need at this time of year, and it's the time we should be hitting our best scores. I'm very pleased with tonight's performance."

Vault
Iowa State earn its second season-high of the night on vault in the second rotation with a 49.250. Haylee Young led the way for the score with her career-high 9.900. Returning NCAA Qualifier Meaghan Sievers came in close behind Young with a 9.875 on her vault. Sydney Converse competed on vault for the first time this season after an injury from the fall, bringing in a new career-high with a 9.850. Junior Kelsey Paz also earned a 9.850 to tie Converse for the third-best ISU score of the night. Kelly Martin rounded out the scoring with a 9.775 for her vault.

"It was amazing to hit my career-high in my first appearance this season," Converse stated. "I wasn't even sure if I would make it to vault this season. To make it during the regular season was everything I wanted, knowing I've worked so hard to get up to this point. To get my career high was just icing on the cake."

Uneven Bars
The Cyclones started the meet off strong by scoring their season-high on the uneven bars with a 49.200. Young led the team with a 9.875, her career-high on the event. Sievers brought in the next-best score for ISU with a 9.850, tying her season high. Sophomore MJ Johnson also earned a career-high with a 9.825 on the event. Three other gymnasts, juniors Paz, Hilary Green, and Briana Ledesma, also scored a 9.825 on the event to help the Cyclones to their season-high score.

"I think we just had to start out with the confidence that we have in the gym," Sievers said. "Being able to nail a routine like I do in practice was an awesome feeling and I think all of us were just ready to go after that."

Floor Exercise
Iowa State competed on floor during the third rotation, scoring 49.150 to take the lead over Alabama going into the final rotation. Young earned the highest score for ISU for the third-straight rotation with her 9.875 on floor. Ledesma earned the next-highest score with a 9.850, followed closely by Courtney Middelkoop with a 9.825. Juniors Green and Paz rounded out the scoring for the Cyclones with two 9.800's.

"I think we did really well on floor," Ledesma said. "It wasn't our best, but it was still a great floor run. We kept the energy up. It was so amazing to compete in that arena, I thought it was amazing."

Balance Beam
The Cyclones competed on balance beam in the final rotation, coming out of the third with the lead over Alabama, 147.600-147.450. The situation was extremely familiar to last week's Iowa meet, but this time the team held it together to score a 49.000, showing their ability to keep calm under pressure. Young led the team again with a 9.875 on beam. Sievers brought in the next highest score for the Cyclones with a 9.800. Three gymnasts hit a 9.775 on the event to round out the scoring with Paz, Converse, and Casandra Diaz all earning the score.

"I'm very proud of our beam squad," associate head coach Katie Minasola said. "After we had such a great meet, but our beam wasn't our best I was so proud of them to just relax and do their beam routines. It's not even what we normally do, but they stayed focused, they handled adversity, and they came out rocking with a pretty good score. We even still have room for improvement. Going into Big 12's with that confidence boost will be very good for them."

All-Around
Haylee Young took first place on the all-around at the meet, earning the Cyclones' best score on every event to record a new career-high all-around score with a 39.525. Meaghan Sievers took second place at the meet, tying her career-high with a 39.275. Kelsey Paz took third place to sweep the all-around for Iowa State with a 39.250.

Up Next
The Cyclones will begin their post-season schedule at the Big 12 Championships next Saturday. The Championships will take place at a neutral site, Frisco, Texas and will begin at 4:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Iowa State will be competing against Oklahoma, West Virginia and Denver at the meet, which will be broadcast live on FloGymnastics.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Sydney Converse

Casandra Diaz

Hilary Green

Briana Ledesma

Kelly Martin

Courtney Middelkoop

Kelsey Paz

Meaghan Sievers

Haylee Young

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics