With only four routines left, archrivals Iowa State and Nebraska sat in a virtual deadlock, leaving the outcome of the meet up to the teams’ best gymnasts.

Former NCAA all-around champion Richelle Simpson and All-American Kristi Esposito prepared to mount the balance beam for the Huskers and Cyclone All-Americans Erin Dethloff and Janet Anson waited to compete on floor.

Three-fourths of the way through a solid beam routine, Simpson put her hand down on a leap move, saving herself from what would have been a disastrous fall. Esposito tried to recover by posting the night’s best beam score of 9.875, but the damage was done.

Dethloff and Anson capitalized with two dynamic floor routines, scoring a pair of 9.90s.

“We saw a door was open and we took advantage of it,” said head coach K.J. Kindler. “It can be easy to relax on floor, but we were aggressive and didn’t hold anything back.”

When the chalk dust settled, and the scores were tallied, the 10th-ranked Cyclones had upset No. 8 Nebraska 196.925-196.775 to become the school’s first team in almost 30 years to defeat the Huskers in back-to-back seasons.

Traditionally, the Huskers have dominated the Cyclones, leading the all-time series 74-10-1. Nebraska has also gained prominence nationally, qualifying for nationals 13 times and finishing in the prestigious Super Six eight times.

“It was very competitive,” Kindler said. “It’s very intimidating to compete against a team that has a tradition like Nebraska. You have to be on your game, and we were.”

The Cyclones hit season-best team performances on vault (49.525) and floor (49.250) to surpass their previous season-best overall total (195.850) by more than a point.

Kindler said she knew the Cyclones were on when they started off on vault sticking half of their landings, the most they have stuck all season.

Junior Jessica Oney was the first to stick a vault for the Cyclones, tying her career-high of 9.925. She was followed by junior Laura-Kay Powell, who also posted a career-high 9.950, to finish in a second-place tie with Anson on the event.

Coming into the meet, Kindler said uneven bars would be the most critical event for her team to hit, with Nebraska ranking fifth in the nation on the event and averaging team scores almost four-tenths higher than the Cyclones.

In the end, it was the Cyclones’ performance on bars that made the difference. The team posted big scores, topping the Huskers on the event 49.125-49.025, the Cyclones’ biggest margin of victory in an event during the competition.

Dethloff led the team with a 9.875, tying Nebraska’s Desire Sniatynski for first place on the event. Anson, Powell and redshirt freshman Jade Kvach followed in a third-place tie, each scoring a 9.825.

After leading the first half of the competition, the Cyclones finished their third rotation on beam trailing the Huskers by .075. Powell was the only Cyclone to break into the top three, posting a 9.850 to finish in a second place tie with Huskers Emily Parsons and Jamie Saas.

With the meet on the line, Anson and Dethloff’s rally pushed the Cyclones to victory on floor 49.250-49.200, clinching the overall team title for Iowa State.

Despite a tremendous showing from the Huskers, the Cyclones were also able to sweep the all-around competition, with Anson and Powell tying for first with season-high 39.500s, followed in third by Dethloff’s season-best 39.450.