The Iowa State gymnastics team made a statement in its first meet of the season, claiming a quad meet victory over Arizona State, No. 14 Auburn and No. 20 Iowa. Here are three takeaways:

This team is for real

Last season, Iowa State started the season off with a score of 193.850 in a win against Arizona State and didn’t top 195.000 until the Cyclones fourth meet of the season. On Saturday the Cyclones went out in Tempe, Arizona, and put up their best score to start a season since 2007, a 195.125.

Arizona State had the lead after the first rotation with 48.725 with Iowa State in second at 48.650 on the floor exercise, but the Cyclones took the lead after the second rotation and never looked back.

The Cyclones tied their highest score of the meet on vault, a 48.975, highlighted by junior Meaghan Sievers’ score of 9.875. Iowa State followed that up with a 48.525 on beam and another 48.975 on bars on the way to a 3-0 start to the season.

Freshmen will make an impact

Sophia Steinmeyer introduced herself in a big way with an impressive 9.850 on her first collegiate vault, the second of the three events she competed in.

Ariana Orrego was one of four Cyclones to compete in every event for Iowa State, a feat no freshman completed last season. Orrego scored a 9.200 on bars after a slight slip up but remained consistent with three scores over 9.700.

It’s clear these two will play a big part for the Cyclones this season.

The upperclassmen will lead the way

Senior Haylee Young picked up right where she left off last season after competing at the NCAA gymnastics national championships. She had the meet’s highest all-around score, 39.200. Sievers had the meet’s highest score on vault and senior Kelsey Paz had a career high on the balance beam, 9.875, a meet best.

All three competed in the all-around competition and led the Cyclones to upsets of two top-20 teams to kick off a promising 2018 season.