Gymnastics Competes at Collegiate Challenge in Anaheim Saturday

A FULL ROTATION . . .
What you need to know about the Spartans
Michigan State gymnastics takes to the road for the first time in 2019 with a quad meet against three teams ranked in the top-15 of the Road To Nationals week one standings at the 2019 Collegiate Challenge.

The Spartans will compete against No. 2 UCLA, No. 9 California and No. 14 UC Davis at the Anaheim Arena in Anaheim, California on Saturday, January 12. The meet is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET.

Results for Saturday's meet can be found at msuspartans.com.

LAST TIME OUT . . .
Freshmen Ashley Hofelich and Alaina Raybon each won an event in MSU's season-opening dual meet with North Carolina State Saturday, January 5 at Jenison Field House.

Hofelich won the vault with a 9.800, while Raybon took top honors on floor with a 9.850. The Wolfpack won the duel by a score of 193.750-191.700.

"We had some great individual performances today, and I really like some things we saw on floor, vault and beam," MSU head coach Mike Rowe said after the meet. "Vault is typically our weakest event and we did well there for the most part. What we saw today from Ashley Hofelich and Alaina Raybon is exactly what we've been seeing in the gym, so that was great. Having freshmen come out here and do that is a good sign."

NC State's Meredith Robinson won the bars with a 9.775 and teammate Caitlyn Fillard captured medalist honors on beam scoring a 9.800.

Michigan State tallied a 48.550 on vault, a 46.625 on bars, 47.800 on beam and 48.725 on floor for its final score of 191.700. NC State posted a 48.575 on bars, 48.200 on vault, 48.725 on floor and 48.250 on beam for a winning score of 193.750.

MSU opened on vault, with Hofelich taking top honors with her 9.800, completing the Spartans' rotation in the six spot. Sophomore Ashley Beatty tied her personal-best with a 9.750 to tie for second. Junior Lea Mitchell posted a 9.700 to finish sixth and redshirt-freshman Gabriella

Douglas tallied a 9.675 in her first official Spartan competition after missing last season with an injury.

"It felt great to get out there and show everybody what I've been working on through the long preseason," Hofelich said. "I had a lot of my club teammates come out and watch me today, so that was really good to have a lot of familiar faces in the stands for my first meet."

Moving to bars for the second rotation, senior Roya Shirley was the top Spartan with a 9.575, finishing seventh. Freshman Sydney Ewing followed in eighth with a 9.500 to lead off MSU's rotation.

On beam for rotation three, junior Alexandra Hoyer and Mitchell shared top honors for MSU with 9.725's, placing second. Douglas followed in a tie for fourth with a 9.700.

Finishing on floor, Raybon took top honors with the 9.850. She was followed by her fellow freshman Hofelich, who took second with a 9.825. Mitchell placed fourth with a 9.800.

SCOUTING THE BRUINS . . .
The defending national champion Bruins opened the season with a 197.250-195.700 victory over No. 11 Nebraska on Friday, Jan. 4. Junior Kyla Ross won the all-around with four scores of 9.850 or better, winning the vault (9.975) and tying teammates Katelyn Ohashi and Gracie Kramer for first on the floor exercise with a 9.950.

UCLA is coached by Valorie Kondos Field, who has led the Bruins to all seven of its NCAA Championships, along with 14 conference and 19 NCAA Regional Championships.

SCOUTING THE BEARS . . .
California is coming off a season-opening 196.775-195.650 loss at No. 4 LSU on Friday, Jan. 4, after being tied halfway through the meet. Freshman Milan Clausi finished third on vault in her Bear debut, while fifth-year senior Toni-Ann Williams took third on floor.

Cal is led by seventh-year head coach Justin Howell, who was named the 2016 NACGC/W National Coach of the Year and is a two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year.

SCOUTING THE AGGIES . . .
UC Davis enters the second week of the season ranked No. 14 after posting their highest season-opening score in program history (194.950) at the NorCal Classic Jan. 6. Cammi Johnson captured a shar of the vault title with a 9.825, while the beam trio of Alyssa Ito, Kara Jones and Yasmine Yektaparast led the squad to a 49.100 event score.

The Aggies are coached by John Lavallee, who is in his 13th year. Lavallee is a six-time Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year.

QUOTABLE WITH COACH ROWE . . .
"We have been working hard all week on mental toughness and continuing detail work. Pressure sets and partner routines have been helping the girls have each others back and hit in efforts to make their routines count. They have been really successful! "Our lineups have changed slightly and we are fortunate to have that luxury to change it up. They are far from set in stone, so they are continually competing to clean up the details and challenge or push their teammates to become better. We are thrilled to get out to Anaheim this weekend, as everything, not to mention the great competition, will encourage us to raise our own bar and standards. The podium adds to the dynamics of the meet and it will be our first of four times getting the opportunity this season."

Michigan State University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Ashley Beatty

Sydney Ewing

Ashley Hofelich

Alexandra Hoyer

Lea Mitchell

Alaina Raybon

Roya Shirley

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