AMES, Iowa- The No. 10 Iowa State gymnastics team continues Big 12 Conference competition at home in Hilton Coliseum on Friday at 7 p.m. as the Cyclones play host to No. 8 Oklahoma. Iowa State is ranked in the top 15 in each event, including a No. 4 ranking on beam. The Cyclones are ranked ninth on floor, 12th on bars and 13th on vault. This is the first week that ISU has help a top-15 ranking in every event after in the top-20 for four consecutive weeks.
Admission to Friday's meet is free for Iowa State students, faculty and staff with your ISU Card. The first 1,000 fans to arrive receive free "Cyclone Gymnastics" foam sticks.
Who: No. 10 Iowa State vs. No. 8 Oklahoma
Where: Hilton Coliseum
When: Friday at 7 p.m.
About Iowa State
The No. 10 Iowa State gymnastics team continues Big 12 Conference competition at home in Hilton Coliseum on Friday at 7 p.m. as the Cyclones play host to No. 8 Oklahoma ... last week, the Cyclones took second place at Stanford in a meet with Oregon State and San Jose State ... the Cyclones finished with a season-high 196.075 ... ISU set a team season-high score on vault (49.175), led by senior Janet Anson’s season-high 9.900 ... Anson’s score placed her in a three-way tie for first place ... Megan Barnes took fourth-place honors on vault with a 9.875 ... Anson and fellow senior Katie Lasher were part of a six-way tie for second place on bars (9.875) ... Katie Sweetin led the Iowa State beam team with a season-high 9.900, taking third place ... Anson took third place in the all-around with a season high (39.450) ... Barnes (39.050) and Thompson (39.00) also scored season highs, to contribute to Iowa State’s highest team score of the season.
About Oklahoma
No. 8 Oklahoma took first place over Arizona State and California in Tempe, Ariz., last Friday ... the then-ninth ranked Sooners scored a season-high 196.400, coming off a win against No. 6 Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb., Feb. 2 ... OU is on the fourth of five consecutive road meets ... they will finish this road stretch at No. 26 Iowa on Sunday ... Oklahoma is led by senior All-American Brittney Koncak-Schumann who won the all-around title last weekend, her third of the season ... in the individual national rankings she is tied for 14th on bars and is 20th overall ... she was named the Big 12 Gymnast of the Week two consecutive weeks (Jan. 16 and 23) and again on Feb. 6 ... junior Kiara Redmond was named Big 12 Specialist of the Week on Jan. 31, after scoring a 10.0 on vault against Texas Women’s University ... last week Redmond set a career-high 9.850 on bars, taking second-place honors.
On the Web
Live Video and Live Scoring: Watch the Cyclones compete against Missouri live on the "Clone Zone," the athletics department new premium content video subscription package. Those who have already signed up for Clone Zone to watch gymnastics can access the webcast here, simply login when prompted and enter username and password. Fans watching the meet on the Clone Zone are encouraged to view Live Scoring for continuous scoring updates (please refresh Live Scoring page often, as it will not update automatically).
Not a Clone Zone member yet? For just $8.95 a month or $79.95 annually, fans can view classic games, live events, player/coach interviews, game replays and other features from inside Cyclone athletics.
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The Series
The last time ISU faced Oklahoma was at the 2006 Big 12 Championship last March ... Iowa State won the title with Oklahoma coming in third ... Oklahoma leads the all-time series against the Cyclones, 34-14, although ISU is 12-8 against the Sooners in the last 10 years ... also in the last 10 years, Iowa State is 7-3 at the Big 12 Championship against OU and 5-5 in dual meets, with a 3-2 advantage in home competition ... the last time Iowa State lost to Oklahoma was at the Big 12 Championship on March 20, 2004, in Des Moines, Iowa ... Iowa State took second place, trailing OU by .025 (196.950-196.925).
Anson on “Good Works Team”
Janet Anson was named to the 2007 Big 12 Conference Winter Sports “Good Works” Team in recognition of community service efforts by league student-athletes ... three-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) for ISU athletes ... this year, Anson has participated in numerous community service projects including the Lutheran Services’ in Iowa’s Beloit Center Beloit Blue Sky Days, helping prepare and deliver Thanksgiving food baskets for underprivileged families in Ames, helped deliver presents to children at the Beloit Center for the Adopt-an-Angel Program, was part of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Celebration and helped raise money for Relay for Life ... Anson has also been on the SAAC Community Outreach Committee as a sponsor for YMCA Healthy Kids Day, a project promoting fitness fun for kids ... Anson is a senior from Kansas City, Mo., majoring in health and human performance.
Cyclones Improve to No. 10 Nationally
The 10th-ranked Cyclones moved up a spot in this week’s GymInfo polls after scoring a season-high team score (196.075) at Stanford on Feb. 9 ... they are second in the North Central Region and third in the Big 12 Conference rankings ... this is the first week of the season that Iowa State has held a top-15 ranking on each event, after being ranked in the top-20 for four consecutive weeks.
On the Rise
The Cyclones had 17 season highs at Stanford, including a season-high 196.075 team score ... ISU also scored season bests on vault (49.075) and bars (49.175) ... every gymnast in the bars lineup scored or tied her personal high for the season ... all three all-around competitors, Anson (39.450), Barnes (39.050) and Thompson (39.00), scored season highs ... Season Highs by event: vault (2) Anson and Dilbert; bars (6) Anson, Barnes, Dilbert, Lasher, Maccani and Thompson; beam (2) Sweetin and Tham; and floor (1) Thompson.
Cyclones in the Top 15
Individually, senior Janet Anson is eighth on floor (9.890) nationally, third in the North Central Region and holds the top-ranking in the conference ... Anson is ranked 18th overall, third in the region and first in the conference with an all-around average of 39.245 ... Megan Barnes holds the Big 12’s second-best ranking on vault (9.865) and is third in the region ... entering at No. 24 in the national rankings is Nikki Dilbert ... she has scored back-to-back 9.85s on bars, raising her average to 9.833 ranking her third in the region and fourth in the league.
Cyclones’ Beam Team Ranked No. 1
Iowa State is ranked No. 1 in the North Central Region and in the Big 12 Conference for the second week in a row ... the beam lineup (48.910) is also ranked fourth in the nation ... ISU has been led by freshman Katie Sweetin, seniors Jade Kvach and Janet Anson and recently by sophomore Jasmine Thompson (9.850 vs. Missouri) ... Sweetin holds the top score at 9.900 ... in Cancun, Kvach tied with teammate Ashley Alden for the individual title (9.875) ... the team score at the Cancun Classic was 49.200, only .10 below the 2006 beam high (49.300) ... ISU also scored well vs. Missouri (49.125) despite working without the services of Alden and Ashley Kent who have been sidelined by injuries.
Up Next
Next week, the Cyclones face No. 27 Illinois and Northern Illinois in Champaign, Ill., on Sunday, Jan. 25, at 2 p.m. ... this is the first time ISU has traveled to Illinois since 2004, and the first meet with NIU since 1995 ... the Cyclones are 4-0 in their last four meetings with the Illini.
Courtesy: Athletics Communications
