Cyclones Earn Season-High Beam Score in Quad Meet

AMES, Iowa-The Iowa State gymnastics team earned a season-high team score on balance beam to take third place at Sunday's quad-meet against Nebraska, NC State, and UW-La Crosse. Sophomore Haylee Young led the team on all four events, earning first place on beam while tying her career high with a 9.900 and recording a career-high 39.450 in the all-around, ISU's highest all-around since Celine Paulus recorded a 39.500 in 2012.

Despite strong performances on floor and vault, the Cyclones finished the meet with a 194.900, coming in third after NC State (195.450), Nebraska (195.350), and placing above UW-La Crosse, who finished with 192.900, a school record for the team.

“I'm very pleased the way our team stepped up,” head coach Jay Ronayne said. “It was a very tiring weekend, and they were able to handle it very well. They handled it like veterans even though we're a really young team. So I'm very please with the way they were able to respond to adversity and still get some good gymnastics again.”

“They could've leaned on excuses, but I haven't heard any,” Ronayne continued. “They're a very competitive team, and I'm happy to see them acting like competitors.”

Balance Beam
The Iowa State gymnastics team earned their highest beam score of the season at Sunday's quad meet with a 49.025. Haylee Young earned the team's highest individual score for the season with her routine, earning a 9.900. This tied her career high and was the first time she's scored a 9.900 since last January. Meaghan Sievers also put up a great score, recording a 9.825 on the event. Sydney Converse and Alex Marasco both recorded 9.800's and Sammie Pearsall contributed a 9.700 to help the team earn their highest score of the season.

Assistant coach Katie Minasola:
“I was very happy with our performance on beam today. We fixed a few things, and we had a fall but the girls rallied and came through with a great score. There's definitely still more to fix, and I'm excited for our next away meet so we can bring it all together.”

Floor Exercise
Haylee Young earned the Cyclones' highest score on the floor exercise with a 9.875. Briana Ledesma came close behind her with the second-highest score, receiving a 9.850. Kelsey Paz impressed the judges to record a 9.800, and Meaghan Sievers earned a 9.750 for her floor routine. Courtney Middelkoop contributed a 9.675 to help bring the team score on the event to a 48.950.

Assistant coach Kristen Maloney:
“Floor went okay, it wasn't our best, but it wasn't bad. They were definitely a little tired from Friday. I thought overall they did really well. The first two were a little short on some of their passes, but the last four did really well.”

Vault
Iowa State started Sunday's meet strong with five out of six gymnasts earning a 9.750 or above on vault. Haylee Young led the team with a 9.825 on the event, followed closely by Briana Ledesma who recorded a 9.800. Freshmen Meaghan Sievers and Kelly Martin both contributed 9.775, Martin's highest score on the event of her career. Also contributing to the team vault score was Sydney Converse, who earned a 9.750 to bring the team score to 48.925.

Volunteer assistant coach Danielle Guider:
“I was happy with vault. We had a lot of controlled landings, which was an improvement from Friday. Sara led us off with a strong vault and Haylee had a nice vault as well.”

Uneven Bars
Sophomore Haylee Young led the Cyclones on the uneven bars, earning a 9.850 for her routine. Meaghan Sievers brought in the next highest score on the event, recording a 9.800. Sammie Pearsall hit her routine to score a 9.750, and MJ Johnson earned a career-high 9.700. Despite a fall on her routine, Hilary Green was able to contribute a 8.900 to help the Cyclones to a 48.000 on the event.

Head coach Jay Ronayne:
“We had two routines that didn't go the way we wanted them to. Score-wise, we ended up counting a point off of the team score, which is a huge deal. It was clearly a tough thing to recover from mentally, but the team was able to pull it together going to beam and get the job done. That was really cool to see.”

All-Around
Two gymnasts competed in the all-around competition for Iowa State on Sunday. Haylee Young earned second place at the meet with a 39.450, the highest all-around score of her career. Meaghan Sievers took the next highest spot in the meet, earning third place overall with a 39.150.

Up Next
The Cyclones will be travelling to Champaign, Illinois next weekend to take on the University of Illinois. The meet will be next Friday, and will begin at 7:00 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Sydney Converse

Hilary Green

Briana Ledesma

Alex Marasco

Kelly Martin

Courtney Middelkoop

Kelsey Paz

Sammie Pearsall

Meaghan Sievers

Haylee Young

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