Celine Paulus scored a 9.950 in the vault and scored her career-high in the all-around with a score of 39.250 in a triangular meet with Alaska and No. 15 Denver. 

Paulus has struggled this year with the vault and she has said it is her main focus this year to improve at the event. 

“The work in practice has helped a lot,” Paulus said. “Sometimes it just takes doing it.”

Paulus is now fourth in vault with her performance, falling short of two perfect 10s and a 9.975. 

The Cyclones did not see much effect from the away meet. In fact, they may have prefered some of the equipment.

The team said its focus is not on the crowd or gym, but on themselves and how they perform. 

“I really liked the vault, but that’s not going to make me do a million times better,” Paulus said. 

Fellow senior Michelle Browning said she could have contended for the all-around, but she fell on her floor routine. She finished her night with an all-around score of 38.550.

“To be honest, I just took off the wrong way and wasn’t able to finish off strong,” Browning said. 

Browning won the all-around last week in a win against Iowa and contends for the honor at every meet. 

Lone freshman Caitlin Brown anchored the Cyclones’ beam lineup, a spot that is known for the strongest and most consistent athlete.

Coach Jay Ronayne said he hopes Brown will have an all-around spot some time this year. 

“We’re probably going to be shuffling lineups to see who scores best at what position,” Ronayne said. “I really want to see her do all-around this year. I planned on putting her in bars, but I just haven’t seen enough in practice.”

Putting themselves in a good place to get to the NCAA Championships, Ronayne said the Cyclones need to be able to not count falls — a goal Iowa State has not been able to reach this year. 

“If we continue counting falls every meet, there is no chance,” Ronayne said. “We won’t have the confidence going into regionals that we need. It would be a lucky thing if we qualify if we continue. But I don’t want to do it that way.”