Yale

Laura Burns, who helped Iowa State post the best NCAA Regional score in program history last season as a volunteer assistant coach, joined the Yale gymnastics staff as an assistant coach in the fall of 2022.

Burns spent the past year as a volunteer assistant with Iowa State, helping the Cyclones beat Western Michigan in the first round of the NCAA Auburn Regional. They posted a score of 196.725 in the second round, the team’s highest regional score ever. 
 
Burns competed for the Cyclones from 2017 through 2020, helping the team achieve a top 20 NCAA ranking. She contributed on bars, beam and floor, earning the team’s Most Improved Gymnast Award and Sky High Award (highest individual score) in 2019. She made the Iowa State Dean’s List four times and Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll for eight semesters. She earned induction to the Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society in 2019. She was a WCGA Scholastic All-American in 2017 and 2020. 
 
Burns also participated in multiple community service initiatives, including food donation drives with Iowa State CyCans and youth reading programs with the City of Ames Public Library.
 
Burns is a native of St. Charles, Ill., and graduated from St. Charles North High School. She earned a B.S. in marketing with a minor in business management from Iowa State in 2020. She earned an M.S. in sports management from Florida in 2021.