The ISU gymnastics team will make some noise at the NCAA Regional Championship on Saturday – literally.

All season, the Cyclones have made sure they are the loudest team in the gym, and this weekend in Happy Valley, Penn., will be no exception.

“We try to take the offensive by distracting the other team – we try to be as loud as we can and try to make as much a disruption by doing what we do,” said coach Jay Ronayne. “And what we do is hit routines, stick some dismounts and make a lot of noise because we’re happy about it.”

The Cyclones used their team energy to climb to second place at the Big 12 Championship two weeks ago, and they will be relying on each other again at regionals.

“All the other teams in the Big 12 and NCAA aren’t all best friends like we are, and we have a connection that’s past gymnastics – and that just helps,” said junior Jasmine Thompson. “We’re not afraid to cheer for each other – we love each other, and it’s just fun to be there for each other.”

The top 36 teams in the nation qualify for regionals, with six teams placed in each of the six regions. The Cyclones’ region includes No. 1 Georgia, along with No. 12 Auburn, No. 13 Denver, No. 23 Penn State and Brigham Young University.

Iowa State will need any advantage it can get against such a stack of teams.

“We go to meets and surprise people with how loud we are,” said junior Jennifer Salfen. “Even when someone messes up, we still cheer them on and help them through it. We are the distraction team, and it was cool to see all the other gymnasts [at the Big 12 Championship]] watching us when maybe they should have been more focused on their own routine.”

Ronayne said team cheering loudly can subconsciously affect the judges, and often the judge will give a gymnast a higher score because the team reacted to a routine as if it were perfect.

Iowa State will obviously need more than mind games to capture a berth into the NCAA Championship, but the Cyclones are peaking at the right time.

They set a season-high score of 195.775 in their last meet and have had two weeks of practice since then.

To qualify for the NCAA Championship, the Cyclones will need to finish first or second in their region. That will be easier said than done – Iowa State is the sixth seed in its region.

“I like the underdog role, because no one is expecting anything from us, so we have nothing to lose – so we’ll just go out there and give it our best,” Thompson said.