MSU Gymnastics Travels to Rutgers Saturday on BTN

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State gymnastics travels to Piscataway, N.J. to conclude its two-meet road swing on Saturday, Feb. 6. The meet featuring the Spartans and Scarlet Knights is set to begin at 1:30 p.m.

Saturday's meet will be nationally televised live on the Big Ten Network and live results will be posted on MSUSpartans.com.

LEAVING IT ALL ON THE FLOOR ...
The Spartan floor squad continues to show its dominance as they are ranked 15th in the nation and third in the conference, averaging a 49.090.

MSU tied it's program-best floor score of 49.475 against Nebraska on Jan. 26, as junior Lea Mitchell (9.950), senior Gabriella Douglas (9.925) and sophomore Ashley Hofelich (9.000) all earned 9.000's or higher.
The last time the Spartans captured a 49.475 on floor was at the Big Ten Championships on March 18, 2017.

Mitchell's 9.950 was not only a career-high, but the first by a Spartan since Nicola Deans posted a 9.950 against Bowling Green on March 5, 2017.

SPARTANS REIGN ON BEAM . . .
Michigan State ranks 14th in the nation and third in the Big Ten on beam, averaging a score of 48.985 this season.

Senior Gabriella Douglas currently is tied for 16th in the country and fourth in the conference among all beam specialists, averaging a 9.885. Douglas has made the podium in every meet this season, highlighted by four event wins.

Douglas posted a then career-best 9.925 against Western Michigan on Jan. 5, before scoring a career-best 9.950 in the home-opener vs. Central Michigan and Illinois State on Jan. 11. She became the first Spartan to capture a 9.950 on beam since Kelsey Morley, who did it twice in 2009.

LAST TIME OUT . . .
Michigan State gymnastics notched a season-best score of 49.000 on vault, as the team earned a score of 195.300 on Feb. 1 in a dual at Iowa in MSU's first road Big Ten meet of the season.

Junior Lea Mitchell won her third all-around title of the season with a 39.175, while freshman Nyah Smith was second, tallying a 38.375.

Michigan State started the meet on bars, registering a team score of 48.500. Freshman Jori Jackard and junior Lea Mitchell both earned a share of top honors on bars, posting matching 9.825's. This was Jackard's third-consecutive 9.800 or higher. Sophomore Alaina Raybon and junior Madison McHale earned matching scores of 9.750 to tie for fourth.

The Spartans took to the vault in the second rotation, posting a season-best team score of 49.000. Senior Gabriella Douglas and Smith logged matching scores of 9.825 to tie for third with Iowa's Bridget Killian. Douglas tied her season-high with her second-consecutive 9.825, while Smith tied her career-best. Freshman Chloe Bellmore posted a career-best 9.775 while sophomore Ashley Hofelich also scored a 9.775, to tie for eighth. Junior Lea Mitchell earned her third 9.800 or higher, with a 9.800, to tie for sixth. Sophomore Alyssa Wiedeman posted a career-best 9.750 in the lead-off position.

On floor for the third rotation, MSU posted a team score of 48.975. Douglas and Mitchell earned matching scores of 9.825 to tie for second. Hofelich and Smith logged matching 9.800's to tie for fourth. Iowa's Lauren Guerin won the floor title with a 9.875.

In the fourth and final rotation, the Spartans posted a score of 48.825 on beam. Douglas earned a share of top honors on beam with a 9.850, tying Iowa's Clair Kaji. Raybon posted a season-high 9.825, just shy of her career-high 9.850, to tie for third with Iowa's Daniela Castillo. Mitchell and Wiedeman posted matching 9.725's to tie for seventh with Iowa's Allie Gilchrist.

ROOKIES IN THE LINEUP . . .
Three freshmen have become fixtures in the Spartan rotation this season, including Chloe Bellmore (DeWitt, Mich.) on vault, beam and floor, Jori Jackard (Haslett, Mich.) on bars and Nyah Smith (West Bloomfield, Mich.) in the all-around competition.
Jackard won her first event title as a Spartan as she posted a 9.900 on bars vs. No. 16 Nebraska on Jan. 26, she then earned her second bars title at Iowa on Feb. 1, tying for top honors with Mitchell.

Jackard's 9.900 was the first 9.900 or higher for the Spartans on bars this season.

O CAPTAINS! OUR CAPTAINS! . . .
Senior Gabriella Douglas and junior Lea Mitchell will serve as the co-captains for the 2020 season.

Douglas and Mitchell are serving as co-captains for the second-straight season. The duo were both named to the All-Big Ten Second Team and gathered Big Ten All-Champi-onships Team accolades in 2019. Also, the co-captains both competed at the NCAA Regionals in Baton Rouge, Louisiana last season.

"Ella and Lea have once again been designated as the Spar-tan Gymnastics Team Captains for the 2019-20 season by their teammates and coaches," Rowe said. "When it comes to leadership in the classroom and out, and especially in the arena, they complement each other by setting the standards that exemplify the values, philosophies and long-range goals of our program."

SCARLET KNIGHT NOTES . . .
Going into the sixth week of the season, Rutgers is searching for their first Big Ten dual victory.

The Scarlet Knights are coming off its highest score of the season and second-highest road score in program history, recording a 195.700 at Penn State on Jan. 31.

Rutgers also produced season-highs on vault, bars and beam against the Nittany Lions.

Head coach Umme Salim-Beasley is in her second season at the helm of the Scarlet Knights gymnastics program. Salim-Beasley previously was on staff as an assistant coach from 2012-15.

LAST MEETING WITH THE SCARLET KNIGHTS . . .
In the last dual between the two programs, the Spartans defeated the Scarlet Knights, 195.425-194.100, on Feb. 16, 2019 in East Lansing.

QUOTING COACH ROWE . . .
"We saw success in certain areas at Iowa, but yet we fell short in one area primarily. That .150 that we lost by could have been made up in any different area. Obviously we don't want to go there again because we know what we're capable of going. We're capable of going 196.000-plus and we want to do that whether it's on the road, whether we're at home or not. Rutgers is doing a great job this year with their program and we want to be right there and competitive with them. We want to put on a great product this weekend for BTN and all those that are watching; it's very exciting and we're very excited to be out there. We're just going to bring our best shot under all circumstances and hopefully it plays out in our favor. We want that Big Ten win."

UP NEXT . . .
Michigan State gymnastics returns home next weekend for a Sunday match up with Illinois. MSU will host the Fighting Illini on Sunday, Feb. 16 with the meet slated to begin at 2 p.m. as the Spartans welcome back alumni for Alumni Day celebrations.

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Players Mentioned

Chloe Bellmore

Gabriella Douglas

Ashley Hofelich

Jori Jackard

Madison McHale

Lea Mitchell

Alaina Raybon

Nyah Smith

Alyssa Wiedeman