Three Spartans Honored on All-Big Ten Gymnastics Teams
3/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
March 28, 2008
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Three members of the Michigan State gymnastics team were honored tonight at the Big Ten Championships banquet, as members of the All-Big Ten teams. Senior Rhiannon Banda-Scott and sophomore Nicole Curler were first team selections, while sophomore Rochelle Robinson was named to the second team.
Banda-Scott collects conference recognition for the first time in her career, after standout senior season in green and white. Earlier this season in the March 9 home meet against New Hampshire, Banda-Scott earned the second perfect 10 in the history of the MSU gymnastics program, on the vault. It is only the fifth perfect 10 in the country this season on the vault and the ninth overall. Currently, she is tied for 17th in the country and alone in second in the Big Ten with a 9.885 RQS on vault. Banda-Scott has won the vault three times this season and has been in the top-three in seven of the 12 meets. Entering the season, she had only placed in the top-three on two occasions in her two seasons as a Spartan.
Curler, who garners first team honors for the second-straight season, was having another stellar year before an ankle injury last week halted her season. Nonetheless, Curler is second on the team with nine individual first place finishes, having won every event but the vault so far, and leads the team with 24 top-three placements. Nationally, the Bay City, Mich. native, is ranked among the top-90 in three events - vault, beam, floor - and in the all-around. She leads the Big Ten and is tied for 13th in the country on the beam with a 9.875 RQS. Curler also owns the second-best all-around score among Big Ten student-athletes this season with her 39.525 at LSU and also is in a tie for the top beam score with a 9.925 in Baton Rouge.
Robinson earns conference honors for the second time in her two seasons as a Spartan, as she was a first team choice in 2007. She has placed first on the vault seven times this season and for her career has 14 wins in only 25 career starts. Equally impressive, she has finished among the top-three in 10 of the 12 meets this season and 20 of the 25 in her stellar career. Her RQS of 9.865 on the apparatus is tied for 32nd in the nation and fifth in the conference. Overall this season, Robinson now leads the team with 12 individual first place finishes and is second with 21 top-three placements. In less than two seasons in Green and White, she already has 23 career titles and 43 top-three finishes.
It is the second-straight season that the Spartans had three student-athletes honored. All-time MSU now has 39 All-Big Ten selections, 27 of which have been under the guidance of 18-year head coach Kathie Klages.
Michigan State had the second most recipients, tying Penn State and Ohio State. Michigan led the way with eight, while Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota each had one honoree.
The Spartans dropped two spots to No. 17 in the latest GymInfo national ranking with a Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 195.560. MSU enters the weekend ranked second in the Big Ten, trailing Michigan (196.825). Following the Michigan schools are Iowa (195.200), Penn State (195.045), Minnesota (194.885), Illinois (194.810) and Ohio State (194.405).
Michigan State is in the top 25 nationally in each event. The Spartans have their highest RQS on the vault with a 49.065 to stand in 14th and are 15th on the beam with a 49.000 RQS. They are tied for 17th on the bars with a 48.880 and currently are 27th on the floor at 48.865. Among Big Ten foes, the Spartans are second on the vault, beam and bars, and fifth on the floor.
The Big Ten Championships are scheduled for Saturday, March 29 at 2 p.m. at Crisler Arena on the campus of the University of Michigan.
Players Mentioned
