Iowa State’s gymnastics team fell to No. 12 Utah Sunday in their home opener for the season. The Red Rocks won the meet with a score of 195.725-192.300. The meet was broadcast to a national audience on ESPN, the first ever meet to originate from Hilton Coliseum on the network. The loss put the Cyclones record at 0-1, 0-1 at home and 2-6 overall. Iowa State will be back in competition on Feb.1 when they travel to the University of Denver. The Cyclones are back home on Feb. 6 when West Virginia is in town.
Utah improved to 6-3 overall and won their fourth straight meet. The Red Rocks will host No. 25 Arizona State on Jan. 30.
“It was really fun to finally open our season at Hilton tonight, we had a great crowd and Cyclone Nation really showed up for these girls. This entire season has been filled with bright spots, I mean Haylee Hardin, what a way to close out the meet. Finley Weldon’s beam was incredible. To have a freshman anchor and doing what she did was huge. Moving forward, it is only up from here,” head coach Ashley Miles Greig said in the recap on Cyclones.com.
Utah came out with a score of 48.750 on bars to give them a lead over Iowa State, who scored 48.400 on the vault for the first rotation. Iowa State was led by Noelle Adams (9.750) and Aubree Guinee (9.725) while Utah was led by three scores of at least 9.8 as Avery Neff (9.875), Ella Zirbes (9.85), and Abbi Ayssman (9.85) led Utah.
The Red Rocks got out to a lead of 98.100 to 96.450 after posting a score of 49.350 on the second rotation where they competed on the vault and Iowa State on the bars. The Cyclones had a second rotation score of 48.050. Utah had four scores of at least 9.8 led by Ella Zirbes and Avery Neff each scoring 9.875. Iowa State was led by Paige Willis and Finley Weldon each with scores of 9.750.
In the third rotation, Utah scored a 48.125 on the floor to the Cyclones’ score on the beam of 47.675. The team score after three rotations was Utah 146.225 to Iowa State’s 144.125. Ella Zirbes and Makenna Smith scored 9.85 and 9.75 for the Red Rocks. Iowa State was led by Finley Weldon with a score of 9.750 and Lauren O’Brochta with a score of 9.650 while scoring 47.675 in the rotation.
The last rotation saw the Red Rocks on the beam and collect a score of 49.500 while Iowa State had a score of 48.175 on the floor. A pair of Red Rock competitors had career high scores to lead Utah. Abbi Ryssman led with a score of 9.925 and Ana Padurariu matched a career high score on the event with a score of 9.95 which was the high score for the event. Iowa State was led by a pair of high scores from Haylee Hardin with a 9.925 and Noelle Adams with a score of 9.875. Hardin’s and Adams’ scores was a new season high for both on the floor rotation.
The last time out, the Cyclones had new career high scores from Aubree Guinee on the floor, Ella Roberts on vault and Frederique Sgarbossa had her second best time competing in all-around.
Utah has already had a stacked schedule having had meets at home against No. 15 Minnesota and No. 22 Iowa. The Red Rocks also had a meet with then top-ranked UCLA on Jan. 10. Utah had three meets in the first eleven days of the 2026 season. The last time these two teams met was in 2024 as part of the Gainesville Regional. The Cyclones came into the meet 0-10 against the Red Rocks since the first matchup in 1980. The meet Sunday was the first time the Cyclones have hosted Utah in Ames.
UTAH 195.725, IOWA STATE 192.300
NCAA Women’s Gymnastics
Jan. 25
At Ames – Hilton Coliseum
Iowa State Event-By-Event Results (Event Result-Running Team Score):
VAULT – 48.400
1. Paige Wills 9.650; 2. Ella Roberts 9.600; 3. Aubree Guinee 9.725; 4. Frederique Sgarbossa 9.625; 5. Noelle Adams 9.750; 6. Haylee Hardin 9.650.
BARS – 48.050 (96.450)
1. Paige Wills 9.775; 2. Taylor Sanders 9.650; 3. Ella Schell 9.125; 4. Kennedy Thomas 8.375; 5. Kaia Bochow 9.725; 6. Frederique Sgarbossa 9.775.
BEAM – 47.675 (144.125)
1. Lauren O’Brochta 9.650; 2. Chloe Hammond 9.050; 3. Aubree Guinee 9.625; 4. Frederique Sgarbossa 9.050; 5. Noelle Adams 9.600; 6. Finley Weldon 9.750.
FLOOR – 48.175 (192.300)
1. Chloe Hammond 9.500; 2. Madelyn Manternach 9.400; 3. Aubree Guinee 9.476; 4. Noelle Adams 9.875; 5. Haylee Hardin 9.925.
Utah Event-By Event Results (Event Result-Running Team Score):
BARS – 48.750
1. Makenna Smith 9.325; 2. Abbi Ayssman 9.85; 3. Ana Padurariu 9.85; 4. Ella Zirbes 9.85; 5. Bailey Stroud 9.000; 6. Avery Neff 9.875.
VAULT – 49.350 (98.100)
1. Clara Raposo 9.775; 2. Ella Zirbes 9.875; 3. Ashley Glynn 9.85; 4. Makenna Smith 9.925; 5. Zoe Johnson 9.825; 6. Avery Neff 9.875.
FLOOR – 48.125 (146.225)
1. Camie Winger 8.925; 2. Zoe Johnson 9.70; 3. Ella Zirbes 9.85; 4. Avery Neff 9.075; 5. Poppy-Grace Stickler 9.625; 6. Makenna Smith 9.875.
BEAM – 49.500 (195.725)
1. Elizabeth Ganter 9.85; 2. Makenna Smith 9.875; 3. Abby Ryssman 9.925; 4. Ana Padurariu 9.95; 5. Camie Winger 9.90; 6. Avery Neff 9.825.
BIG 12 STANDINGS
Through Sunday, Jan. 25
School, Big 12, Overall
Denver, 1-0, 4-0
Arizona State, 1-0, 3-1
Utah, 1-0, 6-3
BYU, 0-1, 3-3
Arizona, 0-0, 2-2
Iowa State, 0-1, 2-6
West Virginia, 0-1, 1-5
UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
Friday, Jan. 30
At West Virginia – University of Pittsburgh at West Virginia
At West Virginia – Cornell University at West Virginia
At BYU – Arizona at BYU
At Utah – Arizona State at Utah
Sunday, Feb. 1
At Denver – Iowa State at the University of Denver
