Everyone settles pregame jitters differently. In the gymnastics locker room, the gymnasts and coaches have different ideas of how to prepare for a meet.

“In the locker room, we’re just goofing off, having fun, dancing and just trying to stay happy,” said junior Jasmine Thompson.

Thompson said the team doesn’t have any superstitions, but tries to stay consistent with its pre-meet activities. The same goes for the coach.

“I personally don’t have any rituals that I go through, other than I like to be left alone,” said coach Jay Ronayne. “Leave me alone a bit for that day because I need to collect my thoughts.”

Thompson said that every night before a meet, the squad gets together to have a team dinner.

“We also make cards for each teammate and exchange the good-luck cards,” said sophomore Anna Robey. “It’s just something to get us excited and pumped up for the meet.”

Superstitions are as much a part of sports as referees. Hockey players refuse to shave during the time of playoffs, and baseball players won’t step on the foul line when they head on and off of the field.

“I’m not a superstitious guy,” Ronayne said. “In years past, I’ve had teams convince me that I must do certain things because it worked the last time. Everything from wearing no socks from eating the same meal before the meet.”

The Cyclones might need some good luck if they are to get their first win of the year on Sunday. Iowa State takes on No. 11 Stanford in its return to the mat after a two-week absence.

“Taking a week off is a long time because we’re usually back-to-back [weekends],” Thompson said. “These past two weeks, we’ve had good practices, and I think we’re prepared for this coming weekend.”

Iowa State has lost its first three meets of the year, but received its highest score of the season in the last meet against Minnesota.

“We’re dying to get back out there. We’ve been trying to make some improvements as the season’s been going, and we have,” Ronayne said.

Iowa State dropped out of the top 25 rankings this week for the first time since 2003.

“We definitely have to improve our score,” said junior Ceilia Maccani. “We have to hit some more handstands, hit some more landings. Just improve on some things that we’ve been a little shaky on so far.”

The Cyclones have also been hit hard by the injuries this season. All three of Iowa State’s freshmen are out with injuries – two for the whole year.

“We’ve had a ton of physical adversity thrown our way, and we’re trying not to use it as a crutch,” Ronayne said.

Freshmen Jacquelyn Holmes and Alexandra Grant are out for the season with a knee injury and a torn Achilles tendon, respectively.

“If we think about it, we have the team we had last year, minus four seniors that graduated and minus the incoming freshman class,” Ronayne said. “So we have last year’s team without four people.”

Iowa State returns to Hilton Coliseum for only the second time this season. The Cyclones lost their first home meet of the season to Nebraska.

Some fans might recognize a familiar face when the Cardinals come to town. Stanford assistant coach Mike Lorenzen was the head coach for Iowa from 1999-2004. Lorenzen had a 1-11 record against Iowa State during that time.

Sunday’s meet against Stanford starts at 2 p.m. and will be webcast live on Clone Zone.