ISU gymnasts host intrasquad competition to showcase competition

Dylan Montz

After months of offseason preparations, the ISU gymnastics team will stage an intrasquad meet Friday, allowing Cyclone gymnastics fans to get a glimpse of the 2012 squad.

ISU coach Jay Ronayne said that after the many months the team has put in with practice, it will be nice to have the intrasquad meet to act as a simulation to an actual competition.

“We’re trying some stuff that is somewhat unique to us, just in the way that we are preparing for meets,” Ronayne said. “We are preparing them to be ready to go with a minimum amount of warmup time and it is something that we need to keep practicing over and over.”

Ronayne also said the team has been learning new skills to implement into their routines that will be performed throughout the season, and that the intrasquad meet will provide a chance to perform them in front of a crowd to provide a pressure situation similar to an actual competition.

Senior and all-around competitor Michelle Browning said she feels that for her this season, nothing can be held back as she enters her final year at Iowa State.

“When it’s your senior year, you realize that this is your last chance to get everything you set out to do when you came to college done, so I think that I have better focus on what I need to do in practice,” Browning said. “The preparations have been similar, but with the new coaches, it has been really good to get a different perspective, and I feel that my gymnastics has been improving in that way.”

Ronayne said that the competition also will provide Cyclone fans a chance to get an early look at some new faces in the ISU lineup such as sophomores Henrietta Green, Megan McDonald and freshman Caitlin Brown.

Browning said the intrasquad meet will be a fun experience for any Cyclone fan whether they are knowledgable about ISU gymnastics or not.

“For people that already know Cyclone gymnastics, then it is a good chance for them to see what we have done since last March or April because we have new routines and new faces competing and that is always exciting,” Browning said. “And for people who haven’t followed Cyclone gymnastics, then it is a chance, for free, to actually have an intimate opportunity to see us.”

The competition will start at 2 p.m. Friday at the ISU gymnastics facility located in Beyer Hall. Admission to the event is free.