They wanted the rest of their team competing with them, but the ISU women’s gymnastics team’s top three all-around competitors capped the season in championship style.

The three gymnasts brought home the best-ever finish by a group of individual Cyclones from the 2004 NCAA National Gymnastics Championship in Los Angeles.

In a single vault, freshman Janet Anson proved again why she was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.

In the preliminary round, Anson nailed a 1 1/2 twisting Yurchenko, the only person in the competition to attempt the difficult vault, which has a “blind” landing because the gymnast lands facing away from the horse.

With a score of 9.925, Anson finished second in her session and qualified for the vaulting event finals.

The performance was good enough for Anson to become the first Cyclone in history to receive first-team All-American honors on vault.

Head coach K.J. Kindler told Anson she would have to complete the 1 1/2 Yurchenko to be competitive for the event finals.

“She stuck it cold,” Kindler said.

“People were incredibly impressed — nobody pulls out that kind of vault in prelims.”

Anson performed two vaults in the event finals, placing sixth and becoming the first-ever Cyclone to place in an event finals.

“Every single event was probably her best effort of the year,” Kindler said. “She was so zeroed in and in the zone. I saw a lot of fire from her that I haven’t seen all season.”

But Anson didn’t stop there. She also finished fifth on floor (9.90) and tied for seventh in the all-around competition (39.325) in the first preliminary session, earning her second-team All-American honors in both events.

Anson became the first Cyclone in history to garner three All-American titles.

Joining Anson was sophomore Erin Dethloff, who busted onto the national scene last season at nationals, by finishing as a second-team All-American in the all-around competition, becoming the first freshman in school history to receive such honors.

Kindler said Dethloff had rock-solid performances on vault and balance beam, completing two of her season-best performances in the events, but had some uncharacteristic mistakes on floor and uneven bars, taking her out of the running in the all-around competition.

Kindler said she was most proud of Dethloff for regrouping after her poor performance on uneven bars.

Kindler said Dethloff quickly regained her composure and turned in one her best-ever performances on balance beam.

The judges agreed, scoring Dethloff with a 9.80 and placing her in a tie for eighth place. The ranking earned Dethloff second-team All-American honors in the event.

Sophomore Laura-Kay Powell also competed as an individual specialist on the floor exercise. Though a small bobble step at the end of her pass cost Powell an extra one-tenth deduction, she still posted a 9.85 on the event and finished in a tie for 16th place in the second preliminary session.

Kindler said she is extremely proud of the way her three competitors finished.

“Those three are definitely competitive leaders for us on the floor,” Kindler said. “They have shown a lot of leadership.”