Spartans Ready For Big Ten Battle

March 10, 2006

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EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State gymnastics team returns to Big Ten action, this weekend, with a Sunday afternoon contest at Illinois. The match marks the third-consecutive, and sixth-of-eight, contest on the road for the Spartans. MSU enters the weekend with an 11-5 record, including a 1-1 mark vs. conference opponents, while the Illini check in at 6-4 and 1-1. The two teams will meet in Huff Hall, on the campus of the University of Illinois, Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. CST.

Scouting the Illini...

Illinois enters the weekend on the heels of a 193.375-192.875 loss to conference rival Ohio State. The loss dropped the Illini record to 6-4 in 2006 and cost the Orange and Blue to fall three spots, to No. 24, in the Gym Info. National Rankings. The two schools will meet for the 39th time this weekend, with the Spartans boasting a 26-12 series advantage, including a 193.775-193.725 win at the 2005 Big Ten Championship Meet.

The Illini, who have just one senior on the 2006 roster, are led by a strong under-class contingent, including freshman all-arounder Kim Kruk, sophomore Michelle McGrady and first-year Marijka Botterman.

last week in review...

The Spartans dropped a difficult match at North Carolina State, 195.100-192.750, on Friday, March 3, before rebounding for a season high score of 196.250 in a win over Northern Illinois on Sunday.

Junior Victoria Iakounina paced the Spartans on Friday with a second-place finish in the vault (9.800) and a third-place finish in the all-around competiton (38.625).

The Green and White enjoyed a banner day in Dekalb, Ill., as the team score of 196.250 was the sixth-best in school history. Michigan State set season-high scores in bars, beam and vault. In fact, MSU's beam score of 49.475 was the best in program history. Kristen Coleman earned the all-around title with a 39.300, strengthend by three-individual trips to the podium. Senior, captain Sarah Alexander collected individual titles on beam and floor.

Michigan State IN The Rankings...

The Spartans are among the nation's elite on both the vault and uneven bar disciplines. The Green and White boast a vault Regional Qualifying Score of 48.790 to rank 21st in the nation and check in at No. 23 in the uneven bar rankings, with an RQS of 48.525. With an overall RQS of 193.470 the Spartans rank fifth-overall in the Central Region.

National Scores have yet to take into account Michigan State's strong performance on Sunday, in a win over Northern Illinois.

OVERCOMING INJURIES

Senior Sarah Alexander and junior Kristen Coleman continue to lead a young Spartan squad despite battling personal injury problems. Alexander has struggled with an abdominal strain all season, but rebounded to post a pair of individual event titles in Sunday's meet at Northern Illinois.

Coleman was sidelined in a loss to NC State, Friday, but captured the all-around competition with a career-best 39.300 on Sunday vs. the Huskies.