Three Big Takeaways: Iowa State’s best not enough to defeat No. 7 Auburn

Kaia Parker performs in the floor exercise in the Cyclones’ gymnastics meet against the University of Nebraska on Jan. 7.

Christian Royston
January 21, 2022

After dropping the first two meets of the season, Iowa State gymnastics looked to turn things around as they traveled to Auburn, Ala., to take on the No. 7 Tigers Friday.

Auburn is a tough team to face, especially at home, so the Cyclones needed to come out firing on all cylinders. The Tigers were coming off a strong conference win against Arkansas, so the momentum was in their favor.

The Cyclones came out strong on all events, but perfection is necessary against the Tigers. Iowa State put up a fight, but in the end could not keep up with Auburn’s elite performances and fell 195.575-197.350.

Vault and bars continuing to improve

The Cyclones needed to start the meet off with strong performances on the uneven bars, and they did just that.

Career and season highs seemed to be raining down for the Cyclones. Makayla Maxwell led the Cyclones off with a strong 9.825 routine, followed by a career-high score of 9.850 from Ana Palacios.

Freshman Hannah Loyim also earned herself a career-high score of 9.800, followed by a season-high 9.775 by Laura Cooke.

The high scores continued to roll for the Cyclones as they rotated into the vault. Freshman Josie Bergstrom earned herself a career-high for the third meet in a row with a score of 9.850.

Kelsey Boychuk matched her season-high score of 9.800 on the vault, while Emilie Hong followed with a season-high score of 9.850. Maxwell was able to close out the vault rotation with a 9.900.

Although the Cyclones came out hot to start the meet, Auburn proved why they are a top-10 ranked team in the nation. Auburn led 98.625-98.175 at the midway point as the Cyclones moved into their floor routines.

Consistency on the floor

The Cyclones have improved on floor through the offseason and have been working on shaking off the beginning of season nerves through the first two meets. It was clear that the consistency on the floor needed to be improved to match up with Auburn.

The overall score was not as high as the Cyclones would have liked, but it is clear that they are improving every meet.

Boychuk started the Cyclones off strong with a 9.825, followed by Cooke’s routine, which earned her a 9.825 as well. Andrea Maldonado also had a strong performance earning her a 9.875.

Rachel Wilke made her collegiate debut putting up a 9.600 after making just one small hiccup by stepping out of bounds.

Coming off of back-to-back 9.900 scores, the pressure was on for Maddie Diab to continue performing at an elite level. She did just that, securing her third straight 9.900 of the season.

Although there is still room for improvement, the consistency shown during the meet is a good sign going forward.

Landings and small mistakes

One big issue contributing to the losses to start the season has been the small mistakes that need to be ironed out.

Landings have been a topic of focus for the Cyclones. The judges in the 2022 season are looking for perfection and stuck landings, which have been tricky to come by.

There were stuck landings throughout each event, but more consistency in landings overall will help to elevate the Cyclones’ scores.

Falls have also plagued the Cyclones throughout the year, as was seen at the Chow’s Winter Classic. As the season progresses, the falls should correct themselves.

The first major mistake occurred on the vault when Loyim took a scary fall. She avoided a serious injury and bounced back to set a new career high score on the balance beam with a 9.850.

The beam continued to be a problematic event for the Cyclones, as Sophia Steinmeyer and Palacios had falls scoring 9.150 and 9.050, respectively.

It was not all bad news during the beam rotation as Bergstrom made her collegiate debut on the beam with a score of 9.750, and Meixi Semple put up a season-high score of 9.850.

Iowa State competed well, setting a new season-high score of 195.575, but Auburn proved to be too much. The Cyclones will be back home against West Virginia as they look to get things moving in the right direction. The meet is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 28, at Hilton Coliseum.

Results (top five scores are counted):

Uneven bars:

Ana Palacios:9.850

Makayla Maxwell: 9.825

Hannah Loyim: 9.800

Laura Cooke: 9.775

Loganne Basuel: 9.775

Ariana Orrego: 9.600

Vault:

Makayla Maxwell: 9.900

Josie Bergstrom: 9.850

Emilie Hong: 9.850