After two tough home meets, the ISU gymnastics team is ready to head north.

This time, No. 7 Iowa State (9-2, 3-0 Big 12) takes on No. 20 Minnesota (8-2, 1-0 Big Ten) Saturday night at the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis. Minnesota marks the eighth nationally-ranked opponent in a row for Iowa State.

Coach K.J. Kindler said the gymnasts are looking forward to the trip, but know they can’t take Minnesota lightly.

“Minnesota’s a tough team and is excelling on vault and floor right now,” she said.

“Those are their two strongest events.”

Minnesota averages scores of 48.512 and 48.767 on vault and floor exercise, respectively.

“Those are definitely events we’re going to have to do what we normally do and hit hard,” Kindler said. “They’ve had some issues sticking on bars and beam, but when they hit they’re very, very good.”

Iowa State has been posting high scores of its own. The Cyclones are the only Big 12 team nationally ranked in the top 10 on all four events, led by a No. 5 ranking on floor exercise with an average score of 48.986.

The Cyclones enjoy a No. 9 ranking on all other events, averaging a 49.014 on vault, 48.893 on uneven bars and 48.632 on balance beam.

Kindler said it’s a position she expected her team to be in all season.

“Overall as a team, we really wanted to be ranked somewhere between four and 12,” she said. “We wanted to stay there the whole season and we’re doing a pretty good job of doing that right now.”

Kindler added that strong rankings speak volumes for the team.

“On individual events, if you can show consistency on all four events and be in the top 10 of all four events – that shows a lot about your program,” she said. “It shows that you don’t have a weak area, so that speaks well for our program and what we’ll be able to do in the postseason.”

Iowa State is coming off the heels of a 3-0 sweep in Big 12 dual meets over the last three weeks, all to nationally ranked top 10 teams.

“It feels great, because those are great programs,” Kindler said. “We feel that we’ve definitely been on our ‘A’ game when we’ve been against them. We also know we have to stay on that same path to be successful at the Big 12 championships.”

Kindler expects all four teams to have a great postseason.

“It’s possible all four Big 12 teams make nationals,” she said “It depends on how regionals fall, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see all four go this year.”

To go along with team accomplishments, Cyclone gymnasts have had individual success. An ISU gymnast has earned Big 12 gymnast of the week honors the last two weeks, with junior Janet Anson and senior Erin Dethloff both earning the prize. Kindler said she would love to see a Cyclone win it three weeks in a row.

“I can’t predict those things, but it’d be great,” she said. “I think it’s wonderful that they got it two weeks in a row.”

The gymnasts aren’t looking too far ahead, however. Freshman Ashley Kent knows the Cyclones have to take it one meet at a time.

“We know Minnesota is a great team,” she said.

“We just want to go up there and try to get really high scores and hit the best routines we can – so we can hopefully come out on top.”

Kent also said the Cyclones have kept up the strong routines in practice this week.

“We’ve had really good practices this week,” she said. “Everyone’s going out with everything they’ve got and been making everything count, so we’re looking really good this week.”

Senior Krystal Carney said she is looking for her team to improve on their average scores while having fun at the same time.

“Minneapolis is a very nice place,” she said. “We want to improve on our performances last weekend against Oregon State and Nebraska.”

The action starts at 6 p.m. Saturday.