Thursday April 26 update - Anson's last chance and MMA hits Hilton Coliseum

Hi folks,

As may of you know, senior gymnast Janet Anson competes in the final meet of her career this weekend as a part of individual all-around competition at the NCAA Championship. Here's a full preview I wrote in today's daily, including a list of her past accomplishments (it's very long). About the only title she hasn't held is that of national champion, so hopefully she can finish her career on the highest note possible. Her coaches and teammates have told me that they'd be really surprised if she didn't win at least one event.

Anson faces last chance to be champion

I'll update how Janet is doing throughout the weekend.


Now, for something completely different, Hilton Coliseum will play host to its first mixed martial arts event ever this weekend. Fight Sport Global has partnered with Extreme Contact Fighting to present "Coliseum Carnage 1" on Saturday at 8 p.m. The card includes 17 fights (4 amateur and 13 pro) and features quite a mix of UFC veterans and native Iowans. The event is headlined by fights featuring Des Moines-native Josh Neer, who's defeated Joe Stevenson and Melvin Guillard in UFC and is probably central Iowa's most successful fighter, and Justin Eilers, a former Iowa State football player who's fought a veritable "who's who" of heavyweight MMA competitors and has challenged for the UFC Heavyweight championship.

I'll have a story about the event in Friday's Daily. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Iowa State box office or purchasing from them online. The event is also available to watch on the Fight Sport Global website as a pay-per-view webcast.

For more info, visit Extreme Contact Fighting and Fight Sport Global

Thanks for reading,
Cody

Tuesday April 17 update - NCAA Central Regional recap

Hi readers,

Here's a link to a full recap of Iowa State's highly unusual tie with Oklahoma for second place at the NCAA Central Regional. What's really unique about this situation is that Jay Ronayne has been involved with a tie at Regionals before:

Cyclones miss Nationals

I did some research but couldn't find any other instances of two teams tying for second at Regionals besides what's mentioned in the article. Please post a comment if this is incorrect.

Even with the season over, a number of the underclassmen gymnasts were still working hard on Monday despite practice being optional this week. Janet Anson, ISU's lone representative at Nationals, looked very strong on beam and floor. Ronayne noted that Anson may re-incorporate some more difficult elements into her beam routine.

I should be visiting practice again at the end of this week or early next week, so I'll try to update again soon.

Thanks for reading,
Cody

Thursday April 12 preview - Central Region preview

Hi gang,

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. With the school year winding down, suddenly more tests and prjects are thrown into the picture. Funny how that happens.

Anyway, here's a link to my latest gymnastics article, which can be found in Thursday's Daily. It's a preview of the NCAA Central Region championship in Tuscaloosa, Ala. and details a unique way the Cyclones have motivated themselves in practice over the past couple weeks.

Now or never

Unfortunately, I won't be traveling to the meet this weekend, so I'm unable to provide live coverage. However, live stats should be available on cyclones.com.

In non-gymnastics news, members of the Iowa State Boxing Club are competing at the NCBA Nationals in Reno, Nev. this weekend. The boxing team is comprised of a wonderful bunch of student-athletes and coach Terry Dowd is one of my absolute favorite people on campus. The team, which receives little university funding, regularly hold their own against military schools that require boxing as part of their curriculum, so for them to achieve this much success is pretty remarkable. Here's a couple of articles by Daily reporter Paul Flies detailing the good-and-bad the team encountered in qualifying for Nationals.

Boxers roll with the punches to Nationals and Heavyweight struck with injury for second time

The Gene Chizik-lead ISU football team will also be in action for the first time in the annual spring football game this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Jack Trice Stadium.

Good luck to all the Cyclones this weekend. I'll do my best to update again soon.

Thanks,
Cody

Monday April 2 late night update

The ISU gymnastics team is surprisingly headed to the Central Regional, where they'll have to meet Oklahoma and former ISU coach K.J. Kindler for the third time this year, as well as a highly talented Alabama team. Here's the teams competing in Tuscaloosa on April 14:

Central Region – in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa, host)

Team - National Ranking

1. Alabama - No. 3
2. Oklahoma - No. 10
3. Iowa State - No. 16
4. Michigan State - No. 19
5. Ohio State - No. 21
6. Kentucky - No. 26

I believe most fans thought the Cyclones would be competing at either the North Central Regional in Denver or even the South Central Regional in Tucson. Actually, the South Central Regional would have been a tougher draw than the Cyclones received, but Iowa State would have been the third team no matter which regional they were picked to go to.

On paper, it looks like the Cyclones face an uphill battle to earn one of the two spots for Nationals in the Central region. Having never seen Alabama compete this season, I can't speak to its performance, but the No. 3 ranking says it all. I have seen No. 10 Oklahoma, however, and they a very, very good team. The Sooner have definitely had Iowa State's number this year, defeating them 196.250 - 194.425 in Ames on Feb. 16 and outscoring them by almost 1.5 points, 195.325 to 193.975, at Big 12's last weekend. Still, Iowa State came out firing after their last two week break, posting a season-high 196.700 against Denver and Iowa on March 23. With another two week break before Regionals and fresh motivation from this past weekend's humbling experience, I expect Iowa State to score very well at Regionals. Don't count them out of the running for Nationals quite yet - they certainly have the technical skill and talent to be one of the 12 teams competing in Salt Lake City, but just need to keep the errors to an absolute minimum.

Thanks for reading. I'll try to update again soon. How about the Royals today? Demolishing the Red Sox 7-1, with the bottom of the Royals order doing the most damage. It was fantastic to watch.

Cody Saveraid

Monday April 2 morning update

Good morning and Happy Opening Day,

I have two articles in today's Daily recapping Saturday's Big 12 Gymnastics Championship:

The Good: Anson, Barnes take conference honors



The Bad: Defending champion Cyclones leave Big 12 with season-low score

Iowa State moves down one spot to No. 16 in the latest national rankings. Nebraska moves to No. 6, Oklahoma stays at No. 10 and Missouri stays at No. 18.

Later today, the Cyclones find out which NCAA Regional they'll be competing at. When the location is announced, I'll post an update here.

In other big news, today is Opening Day for many Major League Baseball teams, including the Kansas City Royals, my favorite team. The Royals will be on national TV! ESPN at 1 p.m. vs. the Boston Red Sox. In all seriousness, even though they're in the toughest divsion in baseball, I'm feeling so good about the team right now that I think they'll be closer to a playoff spot than anyone thinks. I'm excited to see the stats Alex Gordon and Ryan Shealy put up this year and David DeJesus is always dependable for a solid year. I am worried about their pitching rotation though - not a lot of depth present.

I'll update again later today. Thanks for reading,
Cody