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

Big 12's Fourth Rotation - Bars

Bars (Fourth Rotation) - 47.900 - A nightmare rotation for the Cyclones leads to a season low score.
1. Ceilia Maccani - 9.850 - Awesome routine. One of her highest Tkachev's of the year.
2. Melanie Tham - 8.525 - She took a hard fall soon after jumping onto the bar, but quickly got back up, only to almost immediately fall again. Very unfortunate break, but I'm sure this freshman will finish her career as a highly decorated gymnast.
3. Jasmine Thompson - 8.250 - Jasmine also fell, and Iowa State has to count a fall. Not how Iowa State wanted to finish the meet at all.
4. Nikki Dilbert - 9.775 - Great routine, slight step on landing, but should score well.
5. Katie Lasher - 9.850 - Fantastic routine. Great way to end her Big 12 career.
6. Janet Anson - 9.900 - Tremendous job on her handstands. Great routine, only a slight bobble upon landing her dismount.

Nebraska (Vault): 49.325 - I missed most of the vaulters, so it would be unfair to make an opinion. Score talks again.
Oklahoma (Beam): 48.825 - The Sooners made up for the tough time on bars here, but it wasn't enough to give K.J. Kindler her second Big 12 title in a row.
Missouri (Floor): 48.000 - The Tigers had to count a fall on floor which kept them from second place.

Final scores:
Nebraska: 196.475
Oklahoma: 195.325
Missouri: 194.450
Iowa State: 193.975 - season low

For how close all the teams were ranked coming in, they finished with much wider scoring gaps than I think anyone expected.

The Cyclones do have some good news on the individual side of things - Janet Anson tied for first with Michele Zabawa on bars and tied for second with Adrianne Perry on vault. She also tied for third on floor exercise and beam.

Emily Parsons of Nebraska won the all-around (39.650), with Anson finishing second (39.550. Oklahoma's Kiara Redmond placed third and Missouri's Adrianne Perry fourth.

In very exciting news, Megan Barnes was selected Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and Janet Anson was picked co-Big 12 Gymnast of the Year with Emily Parsons

Thanks for joining me. Check out my recap article in Monday's Daily.

Cody Saveraid

Big 12's Third Rotation - Vault

Vault (Third Rotation) - 48.875 - Great vaults, but the Cyclones badly needed a 49.
1. Jasmine Thompson - 9.675 - Good routine, but she's had better this year.
2. Katie Sweetin - 9.100 - She fell on her butt upon landing. Iowa State absolutely can't have any more mistakes.
3. Nikki Dilbert- 9.675 - Excellent vault. Just what Iowa State needed. Criminally low score.
4. Katie Lasher - 9.800 - Fantastic vault. ISU's best thus far.
5. Megan Barnes - 9.825 - Excellent vault, one of the meet's best thus far. She's only competing on vault tonight because she's still dealing with a back injury.
6. Janet Anson - 9.900 - Tremendous, tremendous, tremendous vault. The last three vaults have been outstanding.

Nebraska (Floor): 48.925 - The Huskers looked very strong on floor, and are on pace to win it all.
Oklahoma (Bars): 48.525 - I'll be completely honest - I missed all of the Sooners bars routines, so I'll let the score do the talking.
Missouri (Beam): 48.700 - The Tigers almost had a fall or two, but some impressive saves keep them in the race for second.

Barring unprecedented disaster for the other three teams, Iowa State will not be a repeat Big 12 champion and need quite a bit to happen to ensure they don't finish last.

After three rotations, here's where we stand:
Nebraska: 147.150
Oklahoma: 146.500
Missouri: 146.450
Iowa State: 146.075

Big 12's Second Rotation - Floor Exercise

Floor (Second Rotation) - 48.800 - Floor judging is extraordinarily tough tonight and it will be interesting to see how Nebraska and particularly Missouri fare with the judges. These routines were better than the scoring indicates, but this score ties for third-lowest floor score of the season.
1. Melanie Tham - 9.575 - Good routine, would have been great without a stumble forward upon landing the final pass.
2. Nikki Dilbert - 9.625 - Great routine, one of her best floor's this season. Way too low of a score.
3. Anna Robey - 9.700 - Fantastic routine, also probably her best this season and another score that's too low. Admittedly, however, the judges know much more about gymnastics than I do.
4. Jasmine Thompson - 9.800 - Excellent routine, even though she's not employing a poofy hairstyle as I discussed with her this week in practice. In practice, she didn't do anything with her hair and performed great. She said she was actually considering keeping her hair like that for Big 12's. Instead she goes the other extreme and has her hair twisted up in about 12 different spots.
5. Katie Sweetin - 9.800 - Excellent routine, also one of her best this year, which seems to be a recurring theme. If this receives less than a 9.800, than I'm speechless...and thankfully, I'm not.
6. Janet Anson - 9.875 - Extraordinary routine, should have been a 9.9 or higher. This will be tough for any gymnast here to beat, even with the score.

Nebraska (Beam): 48.925 - Michele Zabawa fell off the beam, but her teammates came through for her.
Oklahoma (Vault): 48.975 - The Sooners struggled a bit on vault, but scored well.
Missouri (Bars): 48.850 - The Tigers continued to look very strong on their second event. Keep a close eye on them.

After two rotations, here's where we stand:
Nebraska: 98.225
Oklahoma: 97.925
Missouri: 97.750
Iowa State: 97.200

Iowa State needs their opponents to really struggle in the final two rotations in order to have a shot at third, much less win.

Sorry if I'm moving slower than normal. Things are a bit delayed due to having four teams going at once.

Big 12's First Rotation - Beam

Beam (First rotation) - 48.400 - No other way to put - as a unit, Iowa State struggled here. This was similar to the beam's that haunted Iowa State during the middle of the season. Surprisingly, it was two of three seniors that struggled most. The Cyclones are currently in fourth.
1. Nikki Dilbert - 9.650 - Very good routine, but I don't know if it's her strongest this year. Still, very solid and only helps the Cyclones.
2. Jasmine Thompson - 9.725 - She almost fell on her first flip, but pulled off the most incredible save I've seen all year. I mean, it could possibly be a meet-saving save. Great routine.
3. Jade Kvach - 9.300 - She toppled off the beam mid-way through her routine. Unfortunate. Everything else was very technically sound, but the fall did too much damage to the score. Without the fall, it's a 9.8.
4. Katie Sweetin - 9.800 - Excellent routine. ISU really needed her to step up, and she certainly did.
5. Ashley Alden - 9.350 - Another meet-saving save here. If she would have fallen, it would have crushed Iowa State's chances of winning. Even having to save a fall, this was a decent routine, but the Cyclones needed more. Personally, I think her score was too low, but the judging is always tougher at the more important meets.
6. Janet Anson - 9.875 - Excellent routine and really helps ISU's overall score.

Nebraska (Bars): 49.300 - Emily Parsons looked incredible. Fantastic dismount, one I haven't seen anyone else use all year. The rest of the Huskers looked great as well.
Oklahoma (Floor): 49.000 - The Sooners looked very dominate on floor. Very, very few mistakes.
Missouri (Vault): 48.900 - The Tigers looked very strong on vault. Impressively strong, to be honest. They're certainly in this thing as of now. Missouri's Tiger mascot uniform is ugly and needs to be updated.

Big 12 Championships - Storylines

A bunch of interesting storylines present here tonight:

- Can Iowa State defend it's Big 12 Championship win last year with a completely different squad?
- Can K.J. Kindler win two Big 12's in a row with two different teams?
- Can Missouri, the biggest underdog here, shock everyone and win before a home crowd?

Even on the individual side of things, Nebraska's Emily Parsons has been on an absolute tear this year - can she win three individual championships or will she be derailed by Janet Anson (ISU), Brittany Koncak-Schumann (OU) or Adrianne Perry (MU)?

We'll know in two hours.

See you after the first rotations,
Cody

Big 12 Championships - March 31st

Hi folks,

Here's Iowa State's lineup, as well as each team's rotation order:

Beam (First rotation) -
1. Nikki Dilbert -
2. Jasmine Thompson -
3. Jade Kvach -
4. Katie Sweetin -
5. Ashley Alden
6. Janet Anson -

Nebraska (Bars):
Oklahoma (Floor):
Missouri (Vault):

Floor (Second Rotation) -
1. Melanie Tham
2. Nikki Dilbert -
3. Anna Robey -
4. Jasmine Thompson -
5. Katie Sweetin -
6. Janet Anson -

Nebraska (Beam):
Oklahoma (Vault):
Missouri (Bars):

Vault (Third Rotation) -
1. Jasmine Thompson -
2. Katie Sweetin -
3. Nikki Dilbert-
4. Katie Lasher -
5. Megan Barnes -
6. Janet Anson -

Nebraska (Floor):
Oklahoma (Bars):
Missouri (Beam):

Bars (Fourth Rotation)
1. Ceilia Maccani
2. Melanie Tham
3. Jasmine Thompson
4. Nikki Dilbert
5. Katie Lasher
6. Janet Anson

Nebraska (Vault):
Oklahoma (Beam):
Missouri (Floor):

This is my first trip to the Hearnes Center and it's a very unique building. I really like the bowl shape of arena - should lead to great crowd acoustics. FSN's already started filming some intros to open the broadcast - it's odd to see national television being taped just five feet in front of me. I did see that Janet Anson filmed an interview prior to the meet. Hopefully I won't be shown on TV because I'm dealing with an awkward facial hair situation today - in my rush to leave this morning, I forget to quickly shave.

Everyone looked strong in warmups, though Iowa State did stuggle a bit on vault. The Cyclones finish on bars though, which is their strongest event based on RQS, so a very strong bars performance could potentially win it for Iowa State.

Should be an awesome meet. See you after the first rotation. I'll keep up with the other school's scores as best I can, but with all apparatus' being used at the same time, it's going to be fantastically hectic.

Saturday morning update - March 31

Hi folks,

Just a quick update before I leave for the Big 12 Gymnastics Championship in Columbia, Mo. Here's a link to my preview of the meet in Friday's Daily:
ISU gymnasts set to defend Big 12 Championship

I'll be blogging live during tonight's meet, so join me again then.

Thanks for reading,
Cody Saveraid

Monday March 26 Update

Hi folks,

Here's a link to my article in today's Daily recapping Friday's meet: Sensational Seniors








Other interesting notes from Friday's Senior Night meet:
- Freshman Nikki Dilbert earned or tied season-highs in all four events and the all-around.
- Senior Janet Anson earned or tied three season-highs while winning all but one event.
- In total, six Cyclones combined to earn or tie 13 season-highs
- By defeating Iowa, Iowa State earned two more points in the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk series. Though the Cyclones are still losing the overall series 11-8, Iowa State could still theoretically win with a softball victory and by earning two additional points for academics.
- Senior beam specialist Ashley Alden returned Friday after being out almost two months with an ankle injury. Her return performance was stronger than even she expected.
- Freshman vault dynamo Megan Barnes didn't participate in Friday's meet in order to rest nagging minor injuires. She is, however, expected to compete at Saturday's Big 12 Championship.
- Friday's attendance was 2,403

Iowa State's Senior Night scores
Vault - 49.150
Uneven Bars - 49.225
Balance Beam - 49.000
Floor Exercise - 49.325 - Season high
Total - 196.700 - Season high

Watching Friday's meet, it's clear the Cyclones have a new attitude and are re-motivated for the last half of the season. I'd hate to have to face them at Big 12 Championships or Regionals.

Thanks for reading. Also, Steve Kemp still has spots left for the Big 12 Championship bus trip this weekend, so make sure to contact him as soon as possible if interested.

Cody Saveraid

Senior Night - Final Rotation (Floor Exercise)

Iowa State is definitely having fun right now.

Floor (Fourth Rotation) - 49.325 - An awesome finish to a season high team score

1. Melanie Tham - 9.125 - Her routine was looking great, but she fell to her butt while landing her final pass.
2. Nikki Dilbert - 9.825 - Very good routine. Maybe I'm losing it, but I think she used a few new elements tonight. Regardless if they are old or new, they were effective.
3. Anna Robey - 9.725 - Her first pass was excellent. I actually thought she was going to lose it on her final pass, but she nailed it beautifully. Great performance.
4. Jasmine Thompson - 9.900 - The floor judge really enjoyed this routine as evident by her constant smile. It certainly was one of her best this year and the crowd gave her a huge ovation.
5. Katie Sweetin - 9.925 - Awesome routine. Without a doubt, this is the best floor I've seen her perform this season.
6. Janet Anson - 9.950 - ISU's best gymnast ever finishes her home meet career with one of her best floor routine's ever. If you're a 15-year-old gymnast not named Shawn Johnson, this is the routine you should be looking up to. She received a loud standing ovation.

Denver finished with a 49.125 on bars and Iowa finished with a 48.625 on vault.

Final score: Iowa State - 196.750 - season high
Denver - 195.700
Iowa - 194.450

The night finished with a wonderful video tribute to the seniors, featuring photos of all four of them at different stages of their lives. Lots of photos of them when they were young gymnasts.

Thanks for joining me. I'll be blogging live from next weekend's Big 12 Championship, so join me then.

Thanks for reading,
Cody

Senior Night - Third Rotation (Beam)

Beam (Third rotation) - 49.000 -This is the beam ISU has been wanting for over a month
1. Nikki Dilbert - 9.775 - Excellent routine. She's struggled on beam recently, so her smile upon landing says it all.
2. Jasmine Thompson - 9.750. Another great routine, including a nice fall save.
3. Jade Kvach - 9.850 - Tremendous routine, perhaps her best of the year.
4. Katie Sweetin - 9.200 - This was shaping up to be one of her best of the year, but she took a fall after completing a series of flips in the middle of her return. The dismount looked great, but I think this score will be thrown out.
5. Ashley Alden - 9.750 - After three backflips, she definitely looks recovered. A really impressive return to competition.
6. Janet Anson - 9.875 - Excellent routine. A fantastic end to the first solid team beam in a about a month.

Exhibition - Melanie Tham - Great routine. Both exhibitions have looked great tonight.

Denver earned a 48.850 on vault and Iowa took a 49.075 on floor. Denver is struggling a bit - I honestly wonder if they are affected by the change in altitude? I know it's a Colorado sports team cliche, but you have to wonder, especially considering how well they've scored the past few meets.

One of the Denver coaches was strongly arguing his case to the meet referee following vault. He isn't happy with one of the scores.

After three rotations, it's:
Iowa State - 147.425
Denver - 146.475
Iowa - 145.875

The crowd is loudly chanting "ISU" now.

It's safe to say Iowa State already has this one wrapped up. They have been dominant tonight and they've certainly needed a performance like this. They haven't had all 49's all season, so hopefully I'm not jinxing them by mentioning it now.

Senior Night - Second Rotation (Bars)

Bars (Second Rotation) - 49.275 - Wow, they tore it up tonight
1. Ceilia Maccani - 9.800 - Great routine. Sadly I missed her usually fantastic Tkatchev (the move where she jumps really high off the bar) because a couple Denver gymnasts walked in front of me. It happens.
2. Melanie Tham - 9.675 - Very good routine. She hopped a bit upon landing, but she did a very nice job considering she's not normally in the bars lineup.
3. Jasmine Thompson- Awesome, awesome, awesome. Probably the best landing I've seen on bars this year.
4. Nikki Dilbert - 9.850 - Just tremendous. Iowa State is closing in on another 49.
5. Katie Lasher - 9.850 - Another fantastic routine. She could have extended a handstand or two but otherwise, this was great. She has been working a more difficult dismount in practice, but she didn't use it here tonight. Better safe than sorry at this point in the season.
6. Janet Anson - 9.900 - This was great. Not her best of the year, but still a great routine.

Exhibition - Jen Hornbaker - In the interest of full disclosure, during the fall, Jen actually worked as a copy editor at the Daily, so I've been friends with her since before the season began. A walk-on, she's been working really, really hard in practice, even staying late on occasion. So, to watch her nail this routine, her first routine at a college meet, as well as she did has to rank up with my favorite gymnastics moments of the year. She's very critical of herself, so I believe this is the first time I've seen her smile after finishing a routine all season. I didn't see the actual a score for her routine, but I'm giving her a 10 based on how much she put into reaching this moment. By the way - she's very good at editing articles and has saved stupid errors on our part on more than one occasion.

Denver took a 48.800 on floor and Iowa earned a 48.450 on beam. It looks like they're showing Iowa on the video feed much more than Denver - is this correct? I understand the Cy-Hawk series is important, but from a gymnastics fan standpoint, the people who are actually watching the feed on Cyclones.com are probably more interested in the Denver-Iowa State match up. Am I correct to think this?

After two rotations, here's how it looks:
Iowa State - 98.425
Denver - 97.575
Iowa - 96.750

Senior Night - First Rotation (Vault)

Vault (First Rotation) - 49.150 - Excellent routines all around. An explosive start and the crowd is definitely up for the meet now.
1. Jasmine Thompson - 9.950- Fantastic start. Beautiful rotation and not a hint of a step on the landing. She totally stuck it. Her fan sitting behind me is going nuts. I attribute part of her success to the short pigtails hairstyle she's using tonight.
2. Katie Sweetin - 9.800- Another tremendous vault with the second totally stuck landing of the night
3. Jenn Salfen - 9.775 - Very good vault with just a short step on the landing. This is her first time competing for Iowa State (she's done exhibition before) and she made a good debut. She's a super nice gal and has worked very hard in practice all season. Her goal for the year was to compete on vault so I'm really happy that she had a chance to compete before the season ended.
4. Nikki Dilbert- 9.800 - Great vault, with good landing.
5. Katie Lasher - 9.725 - Excellent vault. She looked like she was about to fall and amazingly stayed on her feet without taking a step. The recovery was the most impressive part of this routine.
6. Janet Anson- 9.925 - Wow....this was spectacular. Near perfect.

Anna Robey really is just an alternate and didn't compete an exhibition routine.

Denver took a 48.775 on beam and Iowa earned a 48.300 on bars to start the meet.

Senior Night - Entrances and other pre-meet tidbits

Before entrances even started, they started playing the Eagles "Hotel California." See, now that's a good song. Plus, when you hear it in an arena, you start to believe there's a chance Vitali Klitschko is coming out for a rematch with Lennox Lewis for the heavyweight title. Yes, I realize there's a chance no one reading this will understand that reference, but I enjoyed it.

Hooray, the fog machine finally worked perfectly! Last time's a charm, I guess.

Tonight is Greek Night, meaning all fraternity and sorority memebers get in free. Problem is, many fraternities are holding spring initiations tonight, so there's actually fewer Greeks here onight than usual. That's unfortunate, but there's still a good-sized crowd here.

The four seniors - Ashley Alden, Janet Anson, Jade Kvach, and Katie Lasher received a special, well-deserved extended entrance.

Mary Ronayne, Director of Gymnastic Operations, just sang a stunning rendition of the National Anthem. Seriously, it was really impressive. She could go on the road and make some bucks covering Celine Dion songs.

A male fan behind me has a serious crush on Jasmine Thompson. The meet hasn't even started yet and I've heard "Yeah, Jasmine!" about five times.

See you after the first rotation for real this time,
Cody

Senior Night vs. Denver and Iowa- Warmups

My ears are currently being attacked by a terrible hip hop song featuring a siren blaring in the background while a singer repeatedly sings "Chicken Noodle Soup..Chicken Noodle Soup." I'm only 22 years old, but I must already be too old for current popular music. What do I know though...I legitimately enjoy 80's hard rock and hair metal. The scary thing is that about five ISU gymnasts knew the dance to the song...

Anyway, warmups are going really well for all three teams and entrances are about to begin. I think they've doubled up on the number of plants and balloons scattered around the arena. Why plants? I've never understood it myself. If someone knows, please let me know.

Here's tonight's ISU lineups. Because Megan Barnes is sitting this one out to rest an accumulation of minor injuries, we have some happily unique lineups tonight. Senior Ashley Alden also makes her return from injury tonight on beam. Being fifth in the rotation after two months of not competing shows that the ISU coaches have a lot of confidence in her.

Also, I'll be sure to comment on tonight's alternates - a reader pointed out that I've failed to comment on them much in the past and I definitely don't want to leave anyone out.

Vault (First Rotation) - -
1. Jasmine Thompson - -
2. Katie Sweetin - -
3. Jenn Salfen - -
4. Nikki Dilbert- -
5. Katie Lasher - -
6. Janet Anson - -
Alternate - Anna Robey -

Bars (Second Rotation) -
1. Ceilia Maccani -
2. Melanie Tham - -
3. Jasmine Thompson
4. Nikki Dilbert -
5. Katie Lasher -
6. Janet Anson -
Alternate - Jen Hornbaker -

Beam (Third rotation) -
1. Nikki Dilbert -
2. Jasmine Thompson -
3. Jade Kvach -
4. Katie Sweetin -
5. Ashley Alden -
6. Janet Anson -
Alternate - Melanie Tham

Floor (Fourth Rotation) -

1. Melanie Tham -
2. Nikki Dilbert -
3. Anna Robey -
4. Jasmine Thompson -
5. Katie Sweetin
6. Janet Anson -

By the way, be sure to sign up for the bus trip if you can. Details to the right.

See you after the first rotation. I might be really wordy tonight, but I have a number of antecdotes to give out tonight. Plus, it's my last home meet too and it definitely feels like a special night.

Thanks for joining me,
Cody

Friday morning March 23 update - includes link to latest article

Hi gang,

Here's the gymnastics article I wrote for today's Daily: Senior Farewell

As usual, I will be blogging live during the meet tonight, so be sure to join me for what should be a unique Senior Night. A number of promotions and fan contests have been organized for tonight's meet, more than I can ever remember happening at one ISU home meet, so it should be a fun night.

Thanks for reading this brief update,
Cody Saveraid