PRIMER: Iowa State at UNH Quad

Who: Iowa State (1-3, 0-0 Big 12) at New Hampshire (2-1, 0-0 EAGL) vs. Air Force (1-0, 0-0 MWC) vs. Bridgeport (0-2, 0-2 GEC)

Where: Whittemore Center Arena (6,501) – Durham, N.H.

When: Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026 – 1 p.m.

Leading Off: Competing on the road for a third-straight weekend, Iowa State will head to the northeast to square off with host-school New Hampshire, Air Force and Bridgeport. The meet will be ISU's final multi-team event of the regular season.

Last time out, Iowa State placed third at the Border Battle, scoring a 193.425 and defeating Illinois State. The Cyclones improved two whole points from their season-opener at No. 7 Missouri.

ISU will face off with three teams that each began their 2026 campaign last weekend. New Hampshire downed both George Washington and LIU but fell to Maryland. Air Force defeated Winona State, and Bridgeport fell to a pair of GEC foes in Yale and Cornell.

Storylines:

After completing the school's largest single-season turnaround in her first season (finishing 15 places higher in the RTN standings from 2023-24), ISU missed the postseason as a team in 2025 and will look to make it back in 2026.
With the graduation of program staples, ISU's rotations have looked markedly different in 2026. To account for lost production, ISU brought in nine newcomers – two transfers and seven freshmen.
- Of ISU's returners, three individually qualified for the SLC Regional in 2025. Haylee Hardin (7), Noelle Adams (3) and Frederique Sgarbossa (3) combine to account for all 13 returning individual event wins.
- Also new in 2026 is much of ISU's staff. Coach Miles Greig brought in UNH assistant coach Jazmyn Estrella, former OU All-American Ragan Smith and Mary Wise to round out her coaching staff.
Iowa State is one of just two Big 12 programs (Utah) to compete on multiple linear broadcasts this season.
- ISU will host its first-ever televised meet on Jan. 25 against Utah.

From the Notes:

Gaby and Ale Alvarez are the first set of twins to ever compete for Iowa State joining ISU has also had a set of triplets (Katie, Kim and Karen Mazza from 1994-97) compete for the team.
This marks the second-straight season that Iowa State will host five home meets. Prior to last year, the Cyclones hadn't hosted five times in a season since 2019.
Three Cyclones were named to the Preseason Gymnastics Team.
- Noelle Adams (FX)
- Haylee Hardin (FX)
- Frederique Sgarbossa (UB)

Switching Sides to Air Force:

Returning Mountain West Gymnast of the Year Maggie Slife had a solid opening meet for the Falcons as she competed all-around and finished with a 39.425.
In their season-opening meet, AF scored a 49.205 on bars, tying the program's fifth-best finish in the event ever.

Switching Sides to Bridgeport:

UB is coming off its best-ever finish at the Gymnastics East Conference Championships after placing third overall with a team score of 193.150.
Four of the Purple Knights' six All-GEC honorees from a year ago are back, led by senior Abby Kenney, who earned all-conference recognition on every event last season.

Switching Sides to New Hampshire:

Sunday is New Hampshire's home-opener for the 2026 season.
The Wildcats saw a season-opening score of 194.500 last weekend. That was a near 2.5 point improvement from last season's opening meet.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Noelle Adams

Ale Alvarez

Haylee Hardin

Frederique Sgarbossa

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics