Women's Gymnastics Hosts Spartan Invitational
2/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
Feb. 19, 2002
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
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Coming Up: Michigan State (9-4) hosts Spartan Invitational (vs. Ball State, Illinois-Chicago, New Hampshire) Saturday, Feb.23, 2002 - East Lansing, Mich. - 7 p.m.Back Home Again: The Michigan State gymnastics team competes at home for the second straight week, hosting the 13th annual Country Markett Spartan Invitational Saturday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. The Spartans will be hosting Ball State, Illinois-Chicago and New Hampshire in this year's invitational.
About the Competition: Ball State owns a 10-6 record and has an average score of 192.895. The Cardinals scored a season-best 194.825 last Friday, which was the fifth-best team score in school history, although it wasn't enough against No. 23 Kentucky. MSU edged Ball State for the team title at the Circle of Stars Meet Feb. 8, outpointing the Cardinals 193.375-193.300.
Illinois-Chicago has an 8-8 record and has scored over 194 points in each of its last two meets, including a season-best 194.600 Feb. 12 at Illinois State. The Flames' average score this season is 192.514.
New Hampshire is 5-2 with a season-best score of 194.900 in a loss to Penn State Feb. 9. The Wildcats scored a 193.775 in its last meet - a victory vs. Alaska-Anchorage last Saturday. Senior Katie Revis tied a school-record with a 9.925 score on the floor exercise while junior Michelle Harley had the third best all-around score in school history with a total of 39.275. New Hampshire has an average score of 192.787.
Spartan Invitational History: MSU has won the team title the last two seasons, and has placed first in eight of the 12 previous Invitationals. Last year, the Spartans defeated George Washington, Towson and Ball State by scoring 195.175 points, which was the second highest point total in Spartan Invitational history.
Jane McIntosh tied a school and Spartan Invitational record last year by scoring a 9.950 to win the balance beam.
New Hampshire has easily been the most frequent visitor to the Spartan Invitational, and will be making its seventh appearance this season. The Wildcats were also guests in 1990, '92, '94, '96, '98 and 2000, and placed second in each of their last two appearances. Ball State competed in the Invitational last year and Illinois-Chicago was a participant in 1999.
MSU Routs Rutgers: The Michigan State gymnastics team improved to 9-4 by outscoring Rutgers 195.725-191.350, on Saturday, Feb. 16. The Spartans tallied their fourth highest team score in school history, while also establishing several personal and team season bests.
The Spartans scored a season-best uneven bars score at 49.275 for fifth place in the MSU records, while also totaling a 48.775 for a school season-best team vault score. The team also tied the season-best floor exercise tally, scoring 49.175, which was also the eighth-best in MSU history.
Freshman Anna Hunsinger competed for her best scores of the season to take first in the all-around at 39.050. Her second-place uneven bars performance (9.875) was just behind junior Ilene Cohen , who won the bars with a personal-best 9.900, the highest mark in the event for the team this year. Junior Christy Linder took third in the event (9.850) on the way to a third-place finish in the all-around with a total of 38.850.
Linder tied for first on the vault with junior Lindsay Trainham, tallying a score of 9.800. Freshman Lauren Simpson followed, taking third with a 9.775, a personal best. On the balance beam, junior Julie Devaty averaged a 9.850 to win the event, while senior co-captain Jane McIntosh took third with a score of 9.725.
Devaty again finished with the team-high 9.900 on the floor exercise, which was the team's season best, and a personal record for Devaty. Linder tallied a 9.850 for third place on the floor.
Unusual Stat of the Week: Saturday against Rutgers, freshman Jennifer Yarbrough started MSU's bars rotation by scoring a 9.800. At that time, Yarbrough's score was the third best bars score of the season for MSU. But by the time the Spartans completed their rotation, Yarbrough's score didn't even count towards the team total as it was the lowest of MSU's six scores for the night. The Spartans had a 9.900 from junior Ilene Cohen, a 9.875 from freshman Anna Hunsinger, a 9.850 from junior Christy Linder and 9.825 scores from juniors Julie Devaty and Lindsay Trainham. The result was a team bars score of 49.275, which was a whopping .550 better than the previous season best and the fifth best in school history.
Linder the Leader: Junior Christy Linder has undoubtedly been MSU's top performer this season. Linder has three of MSU's top four scores this season on the vault, two of the top four bars scores, four of the top six beam scores and two of the top four scores on the floor. As a result, Linder also has four of the top five all-around scores for MSU this season.
RQS is PDI (Pretty Darn Important): Starting next Monday, all national rankings (team and individual) will be based on Regional Qualifying Scores rather than team average. The RQS is the scale used to determine which teams and individuals will advance to the NCAA Regional Championships. The RQS should bring about much different rankings individually in particular, as each gymnast must have at least six scores to be eligible, whereas currently a gymnast with only one score can appear in the rankings.
Fresh Faces: Michigan State's freshman class continues to be crucial to its success in 2002. In last Saturday's meet, 10 of the 24 routines were performed by freshmen. Still, the 65 combined routines by freshman this year (out of a possible 144) are not the highest number of routines performed by a single class, as the junior class has performed 67 routines. The sophomore class has accounted for eight routines while senior Jane McIntosh has performed four routines.
Mac Back on Track?: Senior co-captain Jane McIntosh, who missed the first three weekends of competition while recovering from off-season shoulder surgery - her third such surgery of her career, competed for the first time this season Feb. 3 at the State of Michigan Classic. McIntosh had a triumphant return, winning the beam with an MSU season-best score of 9.875, and scoring a 9.800 on her other event, the floor exercise, to tie for seventh. However, she was unable to complete enough repetitions during the week to compete Feb. 8 at the Circle of Stars Meet. She was back in the lineup Saturday vs. Rutgers.
Rank You Very Much: Michigan State has slipped out of the top 25 rankings, but just barely. The Spartans, who are ranked seventh in the Central Region, have an average score of 193.575 which ranks them 30th nationally. Individually, Jane McIntosh is the highest ranked Spartan, tying for 27th with an average beam score of 9.800.
Toppling the Top 25: After defeating No. 19 Ohio State and No. 25 Eastern Michigan Feb. 8, MSU now owns a 4-2 record against teams ranked in the Top 25. The Spartans also own wins over then-No. 21 West Virginia and then-No. 23 Eastern Michigan.
Linder Nears Record: Christy Linder has put her name in the MSU record books for the all-around twice this season. Linder's score of 39.400 in the Jan. 11 season opener was tied for the second best all-around score in MSU history. Only Carolyn Hecht scored higher, recording a score of 39.450 vs. Ohio State on March 22, 1996. Melissa Green is the only other Spartan to score 39.400, accomplishing the feat Feb. 19, 2000 vs. Pittsburgh. Linder also scored a 39.300 to finish second at the State of Michigan Classic Feb. 3, which ranks as tied for eighth best ever in the all-around at MSU. Linder now owns three of the top 10 all-around scores in MSU history.
State Power: Sunday's second-place showing at the State of Michigan Classic Feb. 3 marked the third straight year the MSU placed at least second in the meet. Last season, the Spartans took the title, and MSU placed second in 2000.
Dynamic Debut: Anna Hunsinger's first ever all-around competition was one to remember, as the freshman won the all-around title with a score of 38.750 Jan. 26 at Illinois. She then improved on that score when she won the all-around vs. Rutgers last Saturday with a total of 39.050.
Best Ever Opener: Michigan State's point total of 194.650 in the Jan. 11 opener was easily its best ever in a season-opening meet. The previous best-ever score in an opener was 191.900 by the 1996 squad which went on to finish 27-3.
In Order to Be the Best...: You've got to beat the best. Michigan State will compete against at least seven teams this season that are ranked in the current top 25, including Michigan (No. 5), Iowa State (No. 9), Minnesota (No. 11), Penn State (No. 18), Oregon State (No. 19), Iowa (No. 21) and West Virginia (No. 25). Counting the Big Ten Championships, the Spartans will face Iowa twice, and MSU will compete against Michigan three times . In addition, the Spartans could face other ranked teams in the Regional Championships.