Gymnastics Gears Up For Big Ten Championships
3/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
March 26, 2003
Big Ten Championship Notes
Updated Gymnast Bios
The Michigan State gymnastics team travels to Champaign, Ill., to take on the rest of the Big Ten Conference at the 2003 Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships. The seven-team competition will take place at 6 p.m. CST in Huff Hall on the campus of the University of Illinois.
SPARTANS SHATTER SCHOOL RECORD
Backed by season-high scores on every event, Michigan State posted the highest team total in school history (196.575) on March 22 in the season finale with Michigan and Pittsburgh. The Spartans easily defeated the Panthers (194.450) for the second consecutive week, but fell to No. 10 Michigan (196.700) by a narrow .125 margin. The Spartans shattered the previous team record of 196.375, which the 1998 team set against Ohio State and Western Michigan.
THE AMAZING ALEXANDER
Although it was Senior Night, it was a freshman that stole the show. First-year gymnast Sarah Alexander received a 10.000 from one judge to win the floor exercise with a 9.975. Alexander matched the school record on the event, as she first posted that score on March 8 at Rutgers.
SWEEPING IT UP
With a 9.975, Sarah Alexander led a 1-2-3 sweep of the podium steps during the floor exercise awards presentation. Senior Julie Devaty and sophomore Anna Hunsinger finished second and third, with career-high scores of 9.925 and 9.900, respectively.
GOING OUT WITH A BANG
Along with the personal-best scores set by Sarah Alexander, Julie Devaty and Anna Hunsinger on the floor exercise, four other Spartans posted career-best marks during the season finale on March 22. Senior Ilene Cohen posted a 9.900 on the balance beam, while classmate Kristina Petersen set a new career high on the uneven bars with a 9.800. Hunsinger also posted a new personal standard of 9.825 on the beam, while sophomore Lauren Simpson notched a pair of career highs - on the balance beam (9.825) and in the all-around (39.250). After three weeks of hitting a 9.800 on the uneven bars, sophomore Jennifer Yarbrough garnered a 9.900 on the event to claim second-place honors.
BE COURTIOUS TO YOUR SENIORS
March 22 marked the last time that eight members of the Spartans' gymnastics team would take to the competition floor at Jenison Field House. Ilene Cohen, Diana Crea, Julie Devaty, Christy Linder, Kristina Petersen and Maurella Walls, along with student coach Lindsay Trainham were honored after the meet for all of their hard work and dedication to the MSU gymnastics program over the past four years.
HIGHS GO LOW
Michigan State set or matched season-best scores on every event this past weekend against Michigan and Pittsburgh. Contributing to the school-record total score 196.575, the Spartans posted new season marks on the vault (48.900), bars (49.200) and floor (49.475), as well as matching the season's top beam score of 49.000.
A RECORD-SETTING NIGHT
On Saturday, March 8, freshman Sarah Alexander posted a 9.975 on the floor exercise to win the event and match the school record. The mark was first set in 1998 by Briony Lecky and had been matched by Polly Kiker and Melissa Green - both during the 2000 season. Alexander also set the second-highest score in school history in the all-around with a 39.425 - just .025 off of the program's highest tally of 39.450 set by Carolyn Hecht in 1996 - and matching her career high set one week ago. Alexander added her name in the MSU chronicles once more on March 22, as she posted another 9.975 to win the floor exercise event.
SPARTANS NUDGE TEAM RECORDS
Aside from setting the best team score in school history, Michigan State is making quite an impact on the team record book this season. The Spartans posted a 49.400 on the floor exercise in its victorious night at Rutgers on March 8 for the third best score in program history - just .100 off of the program record, which was set in 1997 at the NCAA Regionals in Ann Arbor, Mich. MSU tampered with the event standard again in the season finale on March 22. Posting a 49.475 on the floor, the Spartans joined the 1997 and 2000 squads, registering the second-best total in school history.
A SHATTERING EFFECT
The top three season-high scores on the floor exercise were shattered in the March 22 meet against Michigan and Pittsburgh. Sarah Alexander kept control of the best score, matching her career-high mark of 9.975. Julie Devaty scored a 9.925 to secure the No. 2 spot and Anna Hunsinger added her 9.900 as the third-best score of the season.
BIG TEN BUSINESS
As a team, Michigan State is currently ranked third in the Big Ten Conference on the floor exercise, posting a Regional Qualifying Score of 49.100. MSU is also ranked fourth on the bars (48.985), while posted a fifth-place mark on the beam (48.805) and sixth-place marks on the vault (48.795) and team total (195.340).
Individually, Michigan State also boasts some of the conference's top-ten gymnasts. Diana Crea is ranked seventh in the league on the uneven bars, while Sarah Alexander is ranked ninth. Alexander also holds eighth-place rankings on the floor and in the all-around. Lauren Simpson is tied for tenth in the all-around.
NATIONAL NETWORKING
Four MSU gymnasts are ranked among the nation's top-70 in the most recent GymInfo rankings. Sarah Alexander leads the way with a No. 43 spot in the all-around. She is also ranked No. 56 on the floor. Lauren Simpson is listed as the No. 67 gymnast in the all-around, while Diana Crea is ranked No. 68 on the bars.
Regionally, Alexander is ranked seventh in the all-around, while holding 12th on the floor and 13th on the bars and beam. In one of the toughest region's in the country, Diana Crea is ranked 11th on the bars and Lauren Simpson is tied for 12th in the all-around.
In terms of team rankings, MSU is ranked no lower than eighth on any event in the region and no lower than No. 34 (vault) in any national events. Leading the way is the floor exercise, as the Spartans hold a No. 24 national ranking and a sixth-place regional ranking. MSU is ranked No. 26 on the bars and No. 29 on the beam overall, while holding onto another No. 6 spot for the beam and a No. 7 spot for the bars and total in the Central Region.
ODDS AND ENDS
Freshman Sarah Alexander is making quite an impact in her initial competitive season. Racking up 15 individual event titles, Alexander has double the amount of the rest of the team combined. Leading her list of wins are five floor exercise titles and five all-around championships. Diana Crea and Julie Devaty each have two titles, while Anna Hunsinger, Christy Linder and Lauren Simpson each have one.
Together, MSU has accumulated seven floor exercise titles, five all-around championships, four titles on both the vault and balance beam and a pair of first-place finishes on the uneven bars.
STEPPING UP
A pair of Spartans has stood as the top two finishers on an event eight different times this season. MSU has swept the podium steps four times this season and have garnered at least two of the top three positions 17 times this season.
THE MORE THE MERRIER
When Michigan State is at a meet where there are at least three other teams competing, they have claimed the first-place title every time. MSU has won the State of Michigan Classic (four other teams), the Fox Run Invitational (three other teams) and the Quad Meet at Rutgers (three other teams), posting a 10-0 record at those events.
WELCOME BACK
Senior co-captain Christy Linder returned to the Spartan lineup on March 1, after a long absence due to a back injury and made it seem as though she had never left. In her only event of the night, Linder posted a 9.900 on the vault, the highest score of the season by any member of the team. In was also the highest vault score of the day, as Linder won the event.
A LOOK AT THE BIG TEN
In gearing up for the Big Ten Conference Gymnastics Championships, Michigan State holds a 2-3 record against league opponents this season. The Spartans split a pair of meets with Michigan (Won on Feb. 2 - Lost on March 22) and defeated Illinois on Feb. 22, but dropped a pair of early season meets to Ohio State (Jan. 25) and Iowa (Feb. 8). The Spartans have not faced Penn State or Minnesota yet this season.
Players Mentioned
