Sunday, February 7
Columbus, Ohio
4 PM ET
Michigan State University
at
Tri-Meet w/ No. 26 Ohio State and No. 20 Illinois
Photo by: Rey Del Rio/MSU Athletic Communications
No. 17 Spartan Gymnastics In Nationally Televised Tri-Meet At Ohio State With Illinois Sunday
2/6/2021 11:33:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
Spartans' second tri-meet involving OSU in as many weeks; MSU taking national ranking on road
| No. 17 MICHIGAN STATE (2-0, 2-0 B1G) at Ohio State Tri-Meet with No. 20 Illinois (3-1, 2-1 B1G) & No. 26 Ohio State (1-3, 1-2 B1G)Â Â Â |
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| DATE | Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021 |
| TIME | Â 4 p.m. ET |
| LOCATION | Columbus, Ohio • Covelli Center |
| TICKETS | NO TICKETSÂ |
| TELEVISION | Big Ten Network {BTN} |
| STREAMING | FoxSportsGo {WATCH LIVE} |
| RESULTS | Live Results |
| MATCH NOTES | Michigan State |  Ohio State | Illinois |
| SOCIAL MEDIA |   @msugymnastics |   MichiganStateUniversityGymnastics |   @msu_gymnastics |
A FULL ROTATION . . . Â
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE SPARTANSÂ
No. 17 Michigan State gymnastics hits the road for the first time of the 2021 season, heading to Columbus, Ohio for the Spartans' second tri-meet involving Ohio State in as many weeks, taking on the host and No. 26 Buckeyes along with No. 20 Illinois. Action from OSU's Covelli Center gets underway at 4 p.m. and the meet will be nationally televised on Big Ten Network with Joel Godett handling play-by-play, while Olivia Karas provides analysis. Streaming will be available through FoxSportsGo.
Sunday's meet was originally scheduled for a dual between MSU and Ohio State, but added Illinois after the Illini's meet vs. Michigan originally scheduled for Saturday in Champaign was postponed due to the preventative COVID-19 measures at the University of Michigan.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no fans in the stands, however, a limited number of family members of the student-athletes will be allowed.
Watch live and live results links will be available at MSUSpartans.com, and complete results will be posted following the meet.
Sunday is MSU's first official road meet of the season, after the Spartans' originally-scheduled season-opener at Maryland originally scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 23, was postponed.
IN THE RANKINGS, IN THE RANKINGS ...
• Michigan State is ranked No. 17 in this week's Road To Nationals rankings with a 195.775 in the opening weekend ... the No. 17 ranking matches the Spartans' highest ranking since 2007.
• Additionally, MSU's floor squad is ranked second in the B1G and 11th in the nation (49.125), while the beam team is third in the conference and 10th in the country (49.025) ... the Spartans are also third in the B1G and 18th in the NCAA on bars (49.00) and tied for eighth in the conference and tied for 39th in the country on vault (48.625).
• Individually, freshman Baleigh Garcia, this week's reigning B1G Freshman of the Week, is ranked third in the conference and tied for ninth in the country on beam (9.900) ... Garcia also is sixth in the B1G and tied for 16th in the country in the all-around (39.300).
• See page 5 for more ranking info.
STARTING OFF BIG. HUGE. ...
• MSU's 195.775 in the opening meet was its highest season-opener score in not only head coach Mike Rowe's tenure, but the highest opening score in program history ... It is also the No. 28 score on the Spartans' all-time team score list ... Michigan State's 195.775 is the third-highest in the B1G (Michigan, 197.225; Minnesota, 197.025) and 22nd-highest score in the country.
CROWN COLLECTING ...
• Senior Lea Mitchell shared the floor crown in the season-opener with a 9.875, collecting her 10th career floor top honor ... Mitchell was joined by the Nebraska pair of Anika Dujakovich and Kaitlyn Higgins, and Ohio State's Alexis Hankins, atop the podium ... Mitchell's 9.875 was also her 28th score of 9.800 in her Spartan career out of a total of 36 floor performances in her career.
• Mitchell has won outright or shared a total of 33 titles in her career, with 15 all-around crowns, as well as 10 floor, four vault, three bars and one beam title.
FIRST WINS ...
• Freshman Baleigh Garcia collected her first beam title and first all-around title of her Spartan career, winning the beam with a 9.900 and won the all-around with a 39.300, collecting both individual titles outright ... Garcia's 39.300 in the all-around is just shy of MSU's top 10 individual all-around list, while her 9.900 on beam is tied for No. 24 on the Spartans' all-time beam list.Â
• Freshman Delanie Harkness won a share of the bars title with a 9.850, and was joined by Ohio State duo of Colby Miller and Jenna Swartzentruber, for the event win.
GARCIA NAMED B1G FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK ...
Michigan State gymnast Baleigh Garcia was named the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week, announced Monday afternoon by the conference office.
Garcia is MSU's first Freshman of the Week Award since Feb. 22, 2010, when Shanthi Teike earned the honor.
In her first collegiate meet, Garcia burst onto the scene in her Spartan debut, winning the all-around with a 39.300, as well as capturing the beam title with a 9.900, collecting both individual titles outright. Garcia's 9.900 on beam is tied for the ninth-best score in the country, while the 39.300 in all-around is tied for the 16th-best score in the nation.
Garcia's 39.300 in the all-around is just shy of MSU's top 10 individual all-around list, while her 9.900 on beam is tied for No. 24 on the Spartans' all-time beam list.Â
COACH ROWE QUOTE ...
"We're really looking forward to taking these Spartans on the road! I'm sure they're all looking forward to a little adventure and change of scenery! We've been spending this past week putting on a little polish and sass into our performance, along with trying a few different faces in lineups and more attention to detail. The goal is the same: to keep making little steps and gains forward and improving if only .05 each week. We're excited to represent Spartan gymnastics in front of a national television audience and we can't wait to compete! Go Green!"
NYAH SMITH AND BALEIGH GARCIA GARNER BIG TEN GYMNASTS TO WATCH ACCOLADES ...
Sophomore Nyah Smith and freshman Baleigh Garcia have been tabbed as Michigan State's Big Ten Gymnasts to Watch for the 2020-21 season as announced by the conference earlier this month.
Smith, a native of West Bloomfield, Michigan, garnered Big Ten Gymnast to Watch honors for the second-straight season. Last season she posted season-highs of 39.225 in the all-around, 9.875 on vault, 9.850 on both beam and floor and 9.775 on bars. Smith posted two event titles, tying for first on vault with a 9.825 in the season-opener  at Western Michigan on Jan. 5, and sharing top-honors on vault with a 9.850 vs. No. 23 Illinois on Feb. 16.
Garcia enters her first season of competition for the Green & White, coming to MSU from Boca Raton, Florida, where she graduated from West Boca Raton Community High School and trained at American Twistars Gymnastics Club. Garcia is one of four freshmen on the B1G Gymnasts to Watch List.
With American Twistars Gymnastics Club, Garcia won the all-around with first-place finishes on vault, bars and floor and third on beam at 2020 Elevate the Stage. She placed sixth on vault at the 2019 J.O. National Championships.
UP NEXT ...
Michigan State returns home to host Minnesota on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 2 p.m. at Jenison Field House.
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Players Mentioned
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