The Cyclones demonstrated their ability to remain focused and resilient to adversity Friday at Hilton Coliseum.

Their performances on vault, bars and floor made up for a few mishaps on beam, and Iowa State walked away with a win over Minnesota.

“They attacked it, and that’s just what I asked them to do — go out there and attack routines,” said coach Jay Ronayne. “There’s nothing to hold back and, joking, I was saying it was dollar night — everyone paid a dollar to get in, so give them five dollars worth of entertainment — and that’s what they did.”

The team had an improved vault performance from last week, moving up from a 48.350 to a 48.700. However, when the Cyclones (6–5) hit the next rotation, the gymnasts raised the bar even higher.

Seniors Ceilia Maccani and Jody McKellar both scored 9.875 on bars, which was a career high for McKellar. Jacquelyn Holmes also notched a season-high 9.825 that helped the team end the rotation with a season-high 49.150 on bars.

The momentum the team had on bars didn’t carry over to the next rotation on beam, however.

Senior Megan Barnes, who is recovering from a torn PCL, and Maccani fell off the beam during their performances. The team is allowed to drop one score per rotation, but it was forced to count one of the falls.

“I was disappointed, definitely, because my spot being first up is to set the tone,” Maccani said. “Setting the tone with a fall isn’t what I wanted to do, so I’m definitely going to get back in the gym and nail flight after flight after flight so it doesn’t happen again.”

Ronayne explained that it is easy to let someone else’s fall affect the other gymnasts on the rotation.

“It’s hard not to think ‘Gosh, she fell, then if somebody else does then we count a team fall,’” Ronayne said. “The hardest part is just to block that out and do the routine you do in the gym 10 times every day.”

After the slips on beam, the team rebounded with a strong 49.225 on floor exercise. Senior Melanie Tham, who scored a career-high 9.850, said the floor lineup was just trying to be consistent.

“Our assistant coaches say to us that our job is the same no matter what,” Tham said. “So we know that when we go to the floor we’re going to do the same thing every time, and that’s just trying to hit clean routines. It doesn’t really change if we have a bad day on beam — we go to the floor and just try to do the same thing that we do every time.”

Sophomore Michelle Browning led the rotation on floor with a 9.925, and she also won the all-around with a career-high 39.350.

“I thought she was maybe due for some mistakes just because she has been doing such a consistent job,” Ronayne said. “In warm-up she wasn’t as sharp as she can be — she has an ankle that’s hurting a little bit. But she turns it on when it counts and it really impressed me.”

After their rebound effort on floor, aided by Browning, the Cyclones finished the meet with 195.475, topping Minnesota, which tallied 195.200.