All-around dominance
February 21, 2005
IOWA CITY — The Iowa women’s gymnastics team posted a season-best score during its senior night Saturday with hopes of upsetting intrastate rival Iowa State, but it wasn’t enough to weather a storm of Cyclone success.
No. 8 Iowa State hit 24 of 24 routines to tie its highest road score of the season, routing the GymHawks 195.85-194.15 and sweeping the awards podium in every event.
“We went 24 for 24 for the first time this year,” said ISU head coach K.J. Kindler. “That’s a huge accomplishment.”
Big 12 gymnast of the week Janet Anson said the team’s biggest accomplishment was overcoming poor warmups during the meet to post solid scores in competition.
“We came in here knowing that, just because we win, it doesn’t mean we did our best,” Anson said. “We knew we had to get a good score, too.”
The Cyclones started off with a strong showing on uneven bars, posting several season- and career-high scores.
Redshirt freshman Jade Kvach led the team, posting a career-high 9.875 for first place. Anson hit a season-high 9.85 to follow in second, and junior Erin Dethloff posted a 9.825 to finish in a three-way tie for third with the GymHawks’ Natalie Padilla and Romina Mazzoni.
The Cyclones dominated on vault, despite a string of unstuck landings that held down the team’s final event score.
Anson was the only Cyclone to stick, scoring a 9.925 and taking first place. Dethloff finished in second with a 9.80, and junior Laura-Kay Powell finished third (9.775).
Anson continued the charge in the third rotation on floor, where she topped the competition with a 9.85. Junior Kacey Oiness finished second at 9.80 and Kvach third (9.775).
Iowa State ended the meet on beam with one of its best performances of the evening. Dethloff and Powell both posted season-high scores of 9.90 to tie for first place, while Anson finished up the Cyclone sweep with a season-high 9.825.
The trio also ran away with the all-around competition — Anson first (39.450), Dethloff second (39.225) and Powell third (39.075). Kvach completed the all-around sweep with a 39.00 to finish fourth.
Despite the win, Kindler said, the team will continue to focus on fixing minor problems on every event for next week’s matchup against Oklahoma. For now, she said the Cyclones are content that they were able to post a solid road score and improve their season scoring average on the road for a better seeding in postseason qualification.
Iowa State is now 8-1 on the season and picked up its second win against Iowa this season.