Sophomore Caitlin Brown got her first chance to compete as an all-around gymnast for Iowa State.

Receiving a 38.875, Brown scored more than two points higher than any other gymnast at Iowa State’s season debut against University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Jan. 6. Brown also tied for first in both vault and floor exercise in that meet.

Soon after her winning performance, Brown received a concussion in practice. She did not compete in the Kent State meet and her return date is still unknown.

“[Brown] is obviously a fantastic performer and a great gymnast,” said senior co-captain Elizabeth Stranahan. “Taking her out of the lineup does hurt and mostly because we know she wants to be there. It gives a chance for a lot of people to step up. It does build confidence, we saw that there were holes that other people could fill.”

Two veterans set out to fill the void left by the injured Brown on the ISU gymnastics team.

Stranahan, along with junior Henrietta Green, helped No. 24 Iowa State in a close meet with Kent State on Jan. 11. The Cyclones (2-0) were down .475 to the Golden Flashes heading into the final rotation.

“We really don’t pay too much attention to scores until that last event just to see how close we are,” Green said. “We came out and finished strong. That really helped our confidence.”

Stranahan won the final event — floor exercise — to rally Iowa State to a 193.625-193.575 win.

“I knew they were a good team and I knew we were pretty evenly matched. In gymnastics, you can only worry about what you can do and not the other team,” Stranahan said. “It ended up working out which obviously we’re glad for.”

Green competed as an all-around gymnast for the first time in the meet. She won the title by default but aided in the ISU comeback by receiving second place on floor exercise.

“[Green] has surprised the heck out of me. So she is going to be, if all goes well, a strong factor in the all-around for us which she wasn’t the past two years,” said coach Jay Ronayne.

Green said she hopes to compete as an all-around gymnast more in the future.

“It’s been a goal of mine for a few years, but I haven’t been able to pursue it due to injuries,” Green said. “I’ve been working really hard on it so I hope to continue it in future meets.”