Iowa State University Athletics
2024 Season Recap: Gymnastics
04.23.2024 | Gymnastics
The Lead
Iowa State completed its first season under head coach Ashley Miles Greig with a 10-18 overall record and a 2-2 Big 12 record. Based on their NQS, the Cyclones qualified for the NCAA Postseason and were placed in the Gainesville Regional. ISU earned its second-highest postseason score ever in the opening round, defeating Clemson in a duel meet before advancing to the second round. It was the 26th time Iowa State had qualified for the NCAA Postseason.
ISU finished ranked number 29 in the Road to Nationals rankings – a 15-spot jump from its finish last season. In fact, Iowa State made the largest improvement by any gymnastics team across all divisions this season. The 15-spot improvement is the largest turnaround in program history.
Key Storylines
- Iowa State drew the largest gymnastics only crowd in school history, as 4,797 fans piled into Hilton Coliseum to watch the Cy-Hawk meet this season.
- The Cyclones recorded eight 196-plus scores on the year after earning just one in 2023.
- Iowa State's 10 victories this season are tied for the most since it won 20 in 2018.
- In the season-opening meet and the first action of the Ashley Miles Greig Era, ISU tallied its highest season-opening score (195.825) since 2004.
- Against No. 26 BYU on January 19, Iowa State earned a 196.900 score – a season best. The 196.900 slots in as the 19th-highest meet score in program history and also the highest home score since March 17 of 2006.
- Being the 29th-ranked squad in the ISU's individual events stacked up like this: Vault – 30, Bars – 42, Beam – 34, Floor – 34.
- ISU saw its Road to Nationals weekly rankings peak in late January, as the Cyclones climbed to as high as 19. The team's highest individual event score, vault, peaked at 11 on Jan. 22.
- Iowa State earned its highest vault score against BYU on Jan. 19 when the squad earned a 49.350. It was the team's highest vault score since 2021 and is tied for the eighth-highest vault score in program history.
- ISU's highest score on bars also came against BYU when it dropped a 39.250.
- The Cyclones hit their stride on beam at the right time, earning their best beam score of the season in their final meet – Round two of the Gainesville Regional. In Gainesville, ISU tallied a 49.350 which made it the program's highest beam score since 2017 and tying it for the 14th-highest output in school history.
- Iowa State's highest scoring event of the season, floor, saw a peak score of 49.400 when the team competed in Florida's quad-meet.
- ISU saw its athletes achieve 9.9 or higher scores 32 times this season. That's the ninth most in a single season in program history. Overall, ISU had nine such scores on beam, five on vault, three on bars and 15 on floor.
Individual Achievements
- Freshman Noelle Adams claimed three Big 12 Newcomer of the Week awards this season. She joined Michelle Shealy (2011) as the only Cyclones to earn the award three times on the year. Adams had 13 event titles to her name this year, as she participated in three events: vault, beam and floor. She earned the team's highest beam score of the season at Southern Utah, 9.925, which ties her with 32 other scores for the second-highest mark in school history. Noelle's highest individual event score came in the Utah State quad-meet when she notched a 9.950 on floor; also a team-high on beam. Overall, Noelle accounted for 14 of Iowa State's 9.9-plus scores this season, the most on the team.
- Senior Lauren Thomas was this year's AAI nominee. She earned career highs on both bars (vs. BYU) and beam (vs. Illinois State) in back-to-back meets at Hilton Coliseum.
- Junior Josie Bergstrom performed on both vault and beam for the Cyclones. Bergstrom recorded a 9.925 on vault at Boise State this season, making it the team's highest vault score of the year. Her 9.925 on vault was the 26th time an ISU gymnast recorded that score.
- Senior Loganne Basuel was a bars specialist for the Cyclones, competing exclusively on the event throughout the season. Loganne claimed the highest score among all Cyclones with a 9.925 against Iowa in the Cy-Hawk meet. Basuel is tied with 40 other 9.925s for the second-highest bars score in program annals.
- Freshman Ella Schell Competed in three events across her first year of collegiate competition. Schell recorded a 9.950 on floor at the Utah State quad-meet, tying her with Adams for the highest individual score by any Cyclone this season. Both Schell and Adams are now tied for the seventh-highest floor score in program history. A 9.950 on floor has been achieved 39 times prior to this season.
- All-around junior Hannah Loyim recorded a personal best score of 39.425 against BYU and competed as an all-arounder 10 times this season.
- Senior Laura Cooke competed on both floor and bars for the Cyclones, earning a season-high of 9.9 on bars against BYU.
- Senior Kaia Parker burst onto the scene in her final year of competition, as she competed on both vault and floor. She had four 9.9-plus scores on the year with all four coming on floor. She earned a pair of 9.925 floor scores which are personal bests.
- Madelyn Manternach and Rachel Wilke started to hit their stride in the latter half of the season, as both achieved 9.900 routines late in the year. Wilke scored a 9.9 on beam at the Big 12 Championships while Manternach scored a 9.9 on floor at the NC State quad-meet.
Players Mentioned
