Career-High Scores Earn ISU Win At Tri-Meet

AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State gymnastics team took home their second and third wins of the season Friday night in Hilton Coliseum against Towson and UW-Oshkosh. Career-high scores from individuals helped lift the Cyclones over their opponents and earn a final team score of 194.275. Towson earned a 193.075 for second place, with UW-Oshkosh posting a 184.025.

Two career-high scores came on floor where two juniors impressed the judges with note-worthy routines. Briana Ledesma earned her career high with an outstanding 9.925 on the event. Kelsey Paz also wowed the crowd with her high-energy routine, earning a 9.875. These two performances, plus first place finishes on every event brought the Cyclones their first-place finish on the night.

"Tonight was an improvement from last week," head coach Jay Ronayne admitted. "It's still frustrating to not hit 24 routines, because that's really our goal. It comes down to not leaving routines out there. On floor we had three routines that had big scoring potential that got left out there. And that's just something we have to work on."

Floor Exercise
Ledesma took first place at the meet while hitting a career-high routine to earn a 9.925, the best score from a Cyclone since Young's 9.925 at last season's meet against Iowa. Another career-high earned the second highest score for the Cyclones as Paz earned herself a 9.875. Young also performed an incredible routine, but a small misstep took her score down to a 9.825. Courtney Middelkoop brought in the next highest score for Iowa State with a 9.575, followed by Russ with 9.550. This brought the team score on the event to a 48.750.

"It felt amazing," Ledesma said about her career-high routine. "I'm so happy I got to hit it here in Hilton Coliseum, because there's no better place to be."

Vault
The Cyclones started the meet with a strong performance on bars, improving on their overall team score from last meet with a 48.750. Meaghan Sievers brought in the highest score for the Cyclones with a 9.800, earning first place at the meet on vault. Coming in right behind her was Haylee Young with a 9.775 on her routine. Both Paz and Kelly Martin earned 9.750's for their vaults. Also contributing to the final score was MJ Johnson with a 9.675.

"Overall I think we looked great on vault," Sievers stated. "I look forward to seeing how we improve and where out scores are out throughout the season."

Uneven Bars
Haylee Young earned first place on the uneven bars with a 9.875. The next highest score on the even came from Sievers, who recorded a 9.800. MJ Johnson and freshman Lauren Burns came into the next two spots with a 9.750 and 9.725, respectively. The last to contribute was Paz, who earned herself a 9.650 on the event. The team's efforts added up to a 48.750 on the event.

"Bars went awesome," Young commented. "We had five out of six stick. We had one mistake, but we were able to pick it up after that. I think that just shows how great our bars team is.

Balance Beam
Beam was the Cyclone's lowest scoring event of the night, coming in at 48.025. Sievers earned the best score on the event of the night with a 9.775. This earned her first place at the meet on the event. Freshman Molly Russ brought in the next best score with a 9.725. Paz stayed consistent for Iowa State, earning a 9.700 in the first routine of the rotation. Another freshman to contribute to the team's score was Casandra Diaz, who earned a 9.550. Young and Johnson brought in the other two Cyclone scores with 9.275's.

"I thought we had a couple good routines," assistant head coach Katie Minasola commented. "We definitely could improve on our consistency. A couple girls were a little cautious, especially Cassie (Diaz). MJ (Johnson) made her debut in the lineup, missed a skill connection but stayed on the beam. So we have to work on the consistency and confidence. Haylee (Young) had an uncharacteristic fall, but the other routines I was very pleased with. And Meaghan (Sievers) came out with a win so I'm happy there."

All Around
Paz and Young both competed in the all-around for the Cyclones, taking home first and second in the meet, respectively. Paz earned a 38.975 for her all-around score, while Young earned a 38.700.

Up Next
The Cyclones will be traveling to Tucson, Arizona next weekend to take on the Arizona Wildcats in their first road meet of the season. The meet will take place next Saturday night at 5:00 p.m. central time.

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Players Mentioned

Casandra Diaz

Briana Ledesma

Kelly Martin

Courtney Middelkoop

Kelsey Paz

Molly Russ

Meaghan Sievers

Haylee Young

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