Iowa State is coming off of its first home win since mid-January and is preparing to face an in-state rival.

After taking down No. 25 ranked Michigan State last Friday with a score of 196.225 to 194.175, Iowa State is set to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes to continue the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk series. 

While this may be a huge meet for the fans, Head Coach Jay Ronayne and his team say this is no different from any other meet.

“As a coaching staff, it’s not that it’s the meet against Iowa, it’s that we only have two regular season meets before the Big 12 Championships,” Ronayne said. “The rivalry is there, we don’t have to help feed that fire. The focus is the next meet and to be better than we have been yet.”

The minor details are something that Ronayne and his coaching staff are placing emphasis on with only a few weeks left until the Big 12 Championships. The Cyclones are competitive in almost every meet and have routinely scored well in all four events.

However, in order to continue to make improvements, consistently working on correcting the little details is what will separate the Cyclones from other top programs in the country.

For Iowa State, the little things are landings. Sticking every landing as perfect as possible is an easy way to pick up points that are frequently missed out on and the bottom line in every meet is to score as many points as possible.

“We are at the point in the season where every team is doing the same thing. We want to be better than we have been yet this year and in order to do that we have to keep fixing the little things that may be reoccurring,” Ronayne said.

The Cyclones have had considerable contributions from newcomers all year long, one being junior Andrea Maldonado, who recently came to Iowa State after competing for the National Gymnastics Team of Puerto Rico.

Maldonado has made her mark on the floor for the Cyclones this season, having scored 9.950 three times in her routines. She recently won Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week after the win against Michigan State.

Her outstanding performances to date has led her to binge ranked sixth in the country on the floor. 

“It means I am doing something good for my team. It means that I am building a legacy for Iowa State and that I get to encourage other people in the future to prove that it is not impossible,” Maldonado said.