June 30, 2009

LOGAN, Utah - LOGAN, Utah - Utah State head gymnastics coach Jeff Richards announced Tuesday that Janet Anson has been hired as an assistant coach for the Aggies. Anson replaces Dayna Smart-Allen, who resigned to pursue other personal options.

Anson, a native of Kansas City, Mo., comes to USU after two years as a volunteer assistant coach at Iowa State, where she shared coaching responsibilities for floor and vault, along with planning floor workouts and endurance training.

"I'm very excited for her to be here. I think she brings a lot of experience to the table, both from her time competing and her coaching career, learning from Iowa State head coach Jay Ronayne," Richards said.

Last season, Anson helped guide the Cyclones to a No. 19 national ranking in the final Troester/GymInfo Women's Gymnastics Rankings. ISU finished third in the North Central Regional, the same regional that Utah State's five individuals competed. The Cyclones had three Big 12 individual co-champions, winning a share of the beam, vault and bars titles.

"She was a national competitor all four years she was at Iowa State, leading them to the Super Six one year. I think she'll bring out a great deal of experience from the high level competitive meets to help the girls mentally and physically in those late season big meets like conference championships, regional meets and hopefully soon, the NCAA championships," Richards said.

Richards is familiar with both Anson's competitiveness and coaching skills, having coached against her when he was an assistant at Iowa, and he's excited about them progressing from foes to allies.

"She's a fierce competitor, and she brings that to her coaching. I think she'll be able to help the girls focus and find that competitiveness within themselves," Richards said.

Anson's two seasons coaching at Iowa State came after her very successful career there, and she is one of the most decorated gymnasts in Iowa State history.

Anson was an eight-time All-American, as well as two-time Big 12 Gymnast of the Year in 2006 and 2007. Her honors and award collection also includes the 2007 American Award, 2007 North Central Region Gymnast of the Year, 2007 Kansas City Sports Commission Female Collegiate Athlete of the Year, 2007 Honda Sports Award Finalist. Anson also qualified for the NCAA individual finals all four years she competed, was a three-time Big 12 champion, two-time regional champion and NCAA runner-up on vault. She was also the two-time Iowa State Female Athlete of the Year in 2004 and 2006 in addition to being the first-ever Cyclone Nation "Ms. Cyclone."

Off the floor of competition, she was also a member of the Iowa State Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) and the Big 12 Good Works Team.

In addition to her Iowa State coaching duties, Anson was also the team Director/Optional Coach for Cardinal Gymnastics Academy in Ames, Iowa.

Anson earned her bachelor's degree in heath and human performance from Iowa State in 2007.

Utah State finished the 2009 season 1-19 overall and 0-9 in Western Athletic Conference action, finishing sixth at the WAC Championships meet. While USU did not qualify as a team to the NCAA North Central Regional Gymnastics meet, the Aggies did send five individuals.

USU loses only one senior in Nicki Felley and the Aggies will return seven letterwinners. Utah State was ranked No. 47 in the final rankings.

-USU-