A 60-degree change in weather proved to be the trick for the ISU gymnastics team.

Despite taking second place at the Stanford quadrangular last Friday, the Cyclones (7-2) finished with a season-high score of 196.075, including a season-high 49.175 on vault. The strong performance propelled Iowa State to No. 10 in the most recent national rankings after two weeks of holding the No. 11 position.

Host team Stanford won the meet with a score of 197.275, moving the Cardinals to No. 3 in the country. Now-16th-ranked Oregon State finished in third place (194.100) and unranked San Jose State placed fourth (193.175).

“We put out our best team score that we’ve had so far this year, so that was really encouraging,” senior Jade Kvach said. “There were a lot of little things that we fixed up for this meet and everyone went out there and put up a good presentation.”

Even with an improved performance by his team, head coach Jay Ronayne, as usual, is the first to point out that the Cyclones have yet to perform at their peak level.

“Overall, it may have been [our best meet], but we expected more,” Ronayne said. “We expected to execute a little better. I was a little disappointed overall on vaulting. We scored fairly well, but two other vaults that day were not performed as well as they have been in practice.”

Looking ahead to this Friday, the Cyclones are opposed by a very familiar face – former ISU head coach K.J. Kindler. After coaching the Cyclones to a Big 12 Championship and a NCAA Super Six Finals appearance last season, Kindler and assistant coach Lou Ball left Iowa State to head up the coaching staff of No. 8 Oklahoma.

Understandably, the ISU gymnasts will be battling with underlying emotions they don’t deal with at typical meets.

“I think it’s going to be interesting emotionally for a lot of people, and it’s definitely going to be something that the audience is going to be wondering how everyone is feeling, and what everyone is thinking,” Kvach said. “We just have to remember that it’s just another gymnastics meet. It’s the same thing we do every weekend, and it’s just another team that’s coming in to compete against us.”

Senior Janet Anson, among others, is taking the “just another meet” approach to heart.

“It’s just another meet, another practice leading up to nationals, regionals [and] Big 12s,” she said. “It will be good to see her, but we’re always going out to win, no matter who we go against.”

Even those that have never been coached by Kindler are beginning to feel the effects of her return to Ames. Freshman Megan Barnes is a member of Kindler’s final ISU recruiting class – a group that came to Iowa State in spite of this summer’s change in coaching staffs.

“I really came to Iowa State for the team and the school, so in general this was the best fit,” Barnes said. “I wanted to come here regardless of her move.”

Ronayne said he was surprised at how quickly the Cyclone gymnasts took to him as their new head coach.

“If I was in their shoes, I might not have accepted change so readily,” he said. “It said a lot about their character and a lot of how they’ve been raised and trained.”

Friday’s meet against Oklahoma starts at 7 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum. Admission is free for students, faculty and staff, with an ISUCard.