Iowa State Wins Big 12 Gymnastics Title

Lincoln --- Iowa State claimed the top spot at the 2006 Big 12 Women's Gynmastics Championship Saturday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Cyclones, who trailed through three rotations, came on strong in their final event -- the floor -- and passed the host Nebraska Cornhuskers, 196.425-196.275, to take the championship. Oklahoma finished in third place with a 195.350 score, while Missouri rounded out the field in fourth place at 194.850.

“We had won in 2000 and obviously it has been a dry spell since then, but this conference is so darn tough," said Iowa State Coach K.J. Kindler. "Every time we come in here, we feel like any team can come out winners. We are really proud we were able to do that tonight. We were so steady all night."

The title was the second for the Cyclones since the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996. Nebraska won seven of the first 10 league titles, with ISU becoming only the second team with multiple championships, including a win in 2000. The 2004 Oklahoma Sooners are the only other team to win a Big 12 gymnastics title.

The home-standing Huskers came out strong, leading the team event through each of the first three rotations. After a solid set of floor routines in the first event, Nebraska posted the top team score on the vault with a 49.100, including individual medalist Emily Parsons' 9.90 winning score.

Nebraska again posted the top team score in an event -- on the uneven bars -- in the third rotation to put the pressure on the No. 4-ranked Cyclones. The Huskers hit a 49.000 on the event, including a 9.850 from Desire' Sniatynski and Vanessa Meloche. The Husker duo finished in a four-way tie for first place on the event, along with ISU's Erin Dethloff and Oklahoma's Stephanie LoPiccalo.

Iowa State's final chance to clinch the title came on its best event -- the floor. The Cyclones, who entered the meet ranked second nationally in the event, posted a season best for the second straight week and a meet-high with a 49.450 on the floor to move past the Huskers, who finished on beam.

“It was steady-eddy all the way, and we were kind of hitting our events but not doing anything super special until we got to floor," Kindler said. "Before we went to floor I told them ?You are going to have to have the most amazing floor of your careers’ and they said ?We will.’ And they didn’t even hesitate and that’s the way this team has been. We’re so fortunate to have such a great group with us to win this."

The Huskers had four individual champions (including ties) while Iowa State had three. Oklahoma had two titlists, including all-around champion Brittney Koncak-Schumann, whose 39.425 total edged out silver medalists Parsons and Janet Anson of Iowa State, 39.375, for the title.

Individual event champions at the 2006 Big 12 Women's Gymnastics Championship included:

All-Around
Brittney Koncak-Schumann, Oklahoma, 39.425

Uneven Bar
Vanessa Meloche, Nebraska, 9.850
Desire' Sniatynski, Nebraska, 9.850
Stephanie LoPiccalo, Oklahoma, 9.850
Erin Dethloff, Iowa State, 9.850

Vault
Emily Parsons, Nebraska, 9.900
Janet Anson, Iowa State, 9.900

Floor
Kacey Oiness, Iowa State, 9.950

Balance Beam
Emily Parsons, Nebraska, 9.900

 

 

Janet Anson, IowaState

“It’s hard to say (how good it was individually) because I’m always so hard on myself, but on floor, I knew I had to hit a good routine for the team.

 

“We were trailing but you should never count us out. We are a team that will come back and get after some people. We have trained all year long for this meet and to go on. We were ready to go today.

 

“We all can’t stop smiling. No one on this team that made it has ever been a Big 12 (team) champ, and it was amazing. When we all found out it, we all pretty much started crying because we were so happy and excited.”

 

Brittney Koncak-Schumann, Oklahoma

“I’m very excited. It’s a lot of hard work that paid off.

 

“It’s all because of the team. It fell into place (tonight). I think I still have room to improve but I was pretty happy with my performance tonight. It gave us a lot of confidence.

 

“It was not our greatest performance as a team but we came together as a team and had a lot of fun together and we have a lot of heart and I think it will take us far. I have 13 great girls behind me and they push me all the way and I can’t be anything but thankful for having them. Of course I’m excited to win, but I did it for the team.”

 

Emily Parsons, Nebraska

“We knew what the rotation was going to be like before we came into tonight. So we’ve really been working on focusing on hitting beam last and making it the best we can, and we did.

 

“We all had a great day, we had a great day but (IowaState) had a better day than us. We’re all happy about how we did and the outcome (individually), but we have to move on. We went out there and hit and had a great day. It can only help us the rest of the season.

 

“It was really hard (knowing ISU would end on its best event) because we knew we started on floor and kind of got a taste for that and we all had a great floor day today. I think knowing that they were on floor, we knew we had to make it much better on beam and we did. We had a great day on beam.

 

“Individually, it was good. I had a good day. Bars could have been better, but other than that I am happy with how I did but it’s kind of hard to follow that right now.”