Saturday’s meet against Iowa (0-4) has implications beyond gymnastics for the ISU gymnastics team (4-2). A win over the GymHawks can clinch victory in the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series for Cyclone athletics as a whole.

“We’re excited that we can help Iowa State out and represent Iowa State athletics,” said junior Janet Anson. “We’re just hoping for a good performance so we can help out the school and have everyone proud of sports here.”

Coach K.J. Kindler knows that this is a great chance for her team to earn more recognition.

“It’s a great opportunity for our team and backs up what all the other teams have done this year,” she said. “We’d be proud to be one of the teams of all the teams at Iowa State that have done such a phenomenal job this year.”

Rated No. 15 in the GymInfo National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics rankings, the Cyclones are coming off a winning but error-filled performance against Illinois on Jan 13. The team is confident the two-week layoff has helped them work the kinks out of their routines.

“We’ve really been focusing on working on everything,” Anson said.

“This week, we’ve been taking the little things and working on those. Everyone’s really confident right now and ready to go show them what we got.”

Kindler said she is hopeful the Cyclones will have their strongest showing of the year.

“It feels like we’ve worked out the kinks, but we won’t know any details until Saturday’s over and we’ll see how they respond under pressure,” she said.

After slow starts on floor exercise and balance beam, the Cyclones have been working hard in practice to improve on these events while continuing strong showings on uneven bars and vault.

Iowa State is currently ranked No. 6 on bars and No. 9 on vault and holds rankings of No. 18 on floor and No. 20 on beam.

“I believe that we’ve improved on floor exercise, for sure, and balance beam,” said senior Erin Dethloff. “We’re really excited, ready and pumped to go.”

Kindler is expecting her team to put together the whole package.

“We need to start putting together a full meet instead of two good events and two sub-par events,” she said.

Although the GymHawks are winless this season, Kindler pointed out that they can’t be judged by their record alone.

“Iowa is a great program,” Kindler said. “They’ve been in the top 12 of the nation two of the last four years.”

“I know that their team is well-trained and they know what it takes to be successful because they’ve been there before,” she said. “We’re just preparing for a big battle.”

Besides the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series hoopla, the meet has an added significance. Titled the “Think Pink” competition, the meet will benefit breast cancer research and awareness, and 50 percent of ticket proceeds will go toward the cause. Iowa assistant coach Tayla Vexler was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2003, but has been healthy since August of that year.