The Iowa State gymnastics team fell to 18-6 after losing to Arkansas and Denver on Friday night. Here are three takeaways.

Slow start held the Cyclones back

The Iowa State gymnastics team finished off the 2018 regular season with a 196.075. The Cyclones took third place in the tri-meet behind Denver and Arkansas.

Iowa State had a strong score but were held back with a 48.675 in the opening rotation on balance beam. Senior Haylee Young had the best performance for the Cyclones with a 9.850 but two scores of 9.675 brought the overall score down.

The Cyclones bounced back with their most impressive performance of the night on floor, scoring a 49.325.

Junior Meaghan Sievers had the Cyclones best score on vault with a 9.875. Young and freshman Sophia Steinmeyer added 9.800’s to lead the Cyclones to an event score of 48.900.

Iowa State finished on the bars with a 49.075. Young, senior Kelsey Paz, sophomore Laura Burns and junior M.J. Johnson each scored 9.825’s to finish off the meet.

Haylee Young new career high

The personal highlight of the night came courtesy of Haylee Young. Young had a career 9.950 on floor, the highest score of any Cyclone this season and the highest score of Young’s impressive career on any event.

Young’s 9.950 led the Cyclones on their best event of the night. Young followed senior Briana Ledesma’s 9.900 and Paz’s 9.875 to give the Cyclones one of their best event scores of the season.

Young was an individual qualifier for the Cyclones in the all-around competition at the National Championships. The Cyclones have aspirations to be at the National Championship as a team. If that doesn’t come to be, Young will be one of the strongest contenders to make it back in 2018.

RQS score nearly locked in with regular season over

Friday night was Iowa State’s second highest road score of the season. For the regional qualifying score, which determines the Cyclones regional position, the top three road scores have to be counted.

This score, a 196.075, knocked the 195.575, that the Cyclones put up two weeks ago at Nebraska, off the board. Coach Jay Ronayne said he wanted to be ranked in the top-24 heading into regionals. The Cyclones came into this meet at No. 26 so it appears it won’t be an easy move for the Cyclones to jump into the top-24 and a top four seed.

The Cyclones will begin the postseason next weekend by hosting the Big 12 Championships at Hilton Coliseum where their score will be the final addition to their RQS.