Beauty and the Beast Primer: Simpson

Who: No. 36 Iowa State (2-5, 0-1 Big 12) vs. Simpson (1-2, 0-2 WIAC)

Where: Hilton Coliseum (14,267) – Ames, Iowa

When: Friday, Jan. 24, 2025 – 7 p.m.

Leading Off: Following a two-meet road trip to Utah, Iowa State returns to the confines of Hilton Coliseum Friday evening to host Simpson in the ninth edition of Beauty and the Beast. The Cyclone gymnasts will compete against the Storm while the wrestling team squares off with Oklahoma simultaneously.

The Cyclones had some real standout performances over the weekend, as freshman Haylee Hardin had a breakout meet at the Wasatch Classic. The rookie from Wichita Falls, Texas, put forth a pair of 9.9 scores on vault and floor, winning both events. ISU jumped back into the top 36 following its Utah meet last Friday.

Simpson is in its third season of women's collegiate gymnastics and has started the season averaging a 187.5 score per meet. Last time out, Simpson took the team beam title against conference foe UW-Whitewater.

Storylines:

Iowa State's freshmen have impressed in limited opportunities so far this season.
- Haylee Hardin claimed a floor title against Brown/Iowa, the first of her career.
  - She has three titles in her freshman season.
- Rachel Goldstein made her collegiate debut at Utah, competing on bars.
- Frederique Sgarbossa had a top-three finish against LSU in the opener.
  - She made her debut on vault at Utah.
ISU ranks highly in vault (23) and beam (20).
All five Cyclone newcomers have competed this season.
A testament to her hard work and improvement, Bergstrom-Te Slaa now competes all-around for the Cyclones after starting off as an event specialist in college.
A short-handed Iowa State recorded its lowest score of the Ashley Miles Greig tenure in the season-opener at LSU.

From the Notes:

Iowa State returned 10 gymnasts from last year's squad that made the largest improvement in the country.
- ISU added four freshmen and one transfer for a team of 15.
Both Noelle Adams and Bergstrom-Te Slaa were named to the Big 12 Preseason Gymnastics team.
Iowa State's 10 victories this season are tied for the most since it won 20 in 2018.
Sophomore Noelle Adams claimed 14 event titles last year in her freshman campaign. Those 14 titles were the third-most in program history by a first-year gymnast.
As a team, ISU claimed 17 event titles last season.
2025 will mark the first year that Iowa State competes in a conference schedule, as the additions of Arizona, Arizona State and Utah put the conference at seven teams.

Switching Sides to Simpson:

Kaelyn Tally earned a pair of event titles in Simpson's season opener, claiming wins on both vault and floor.
- Olivia Hedary also claimed a title in the opener, winning beam in a tri-meet against Winona State and Greenville.
The Storm is currently ranked 74 in Road to Nationals.
- The team's strongest event so far this season has been beam.
Storm coach Emily Barrett Payne is in her third season with Simpson.
- She was a four-year member of the Denver gymnastics team.
- Was a Big 12 All-Tournament Team recipient in 2016.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Noelle Adams

Rachel Goldstein

Haylee Hardin

Frederique Sgarbossa

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics