Spartan Gymnastics Heads to Toledo for Big Five Meet

MICHIGAN STATE (8-2, 2-2 B1G) at Big Five - Elevate the State with Minnesota, Penn State, Nebraska and Rutgers

DATE	Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022
TIME	7 p.m. ET
LOCATION	Toledo, Ohio • Huntington Center
TICKETS	Tickets
STREAMING	FloGymnastics
ROSTERS	Michigan State \| Minnesota \| Penn State \| Nebraska \| Rutgers
RESULTS	Live Results
MEET NOTES	Michigan State
SOCIAL MEDIA	@MSU_gymnastics \| MichiganStateUniversityGymnastics \| @msu_gymnastics

EAST LANSING, Mich. – No. 14 Michigan State gymnastics is set to compete at the annual Big Five meet on Saturday, Feb. 19 inside the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio. The Spartans will face off against No. 6 Minnesota, No. 35 Penn State, No. 36 Nebraska and No. 41 Rutgers, with the action beginning at 7 p.m.

Five conference teams will compete on Friday night, including Michigan, Ohio State, Maryland, Illinois and Iowa, while MSU and the remaining four B1G will teams take the stage Saturday night.

Both nights of the event will stream live on FloGymnastics with subscription, and live results can be found here. Follow along on all the Spartan action on Twitter @MSU_Gymnastics.

LAST TIME OUT
The Spartans are averaging a 196.611 over seven meets and are coming off of a record-setting night on Feb. 13 against Illinois.

Michigan State won its dual meet with the Illini and put up the best team score in program history, scoring a 197.425 and topping the previous record of 197.075 set in 2004. The Spartans also set new program bests on beam and floor with scores of 49.500 and 49.575, respectively.

MSU finished the meet with wins on three of four team events, while individually eight Spartan gymnasts either tied or set new career-highs throughout the night.

Along with one individual winning beam, bars and all-around, three Spartans shared the beam and floor crowns. Sophomore Delanie Harkness reached new career-high scores on floor and uneven bars, winning the bar title with a 9.900 and earning a share of the floor title with a 9.925.

Freshman Skyla Schulte was the all-around winner Sunday for the second time this season, posting a 39.475 over four events. She also won a share of the floor title with a 9.925, tying her career-best. Fellow freshman Gabrielle Stephen came in second with a close 39.450. She won the vault event and a share of the beam title, both with a score of 9.925, and also tied her career-best floor routine score, coming in second overall with a 9.900.

HARKNESS, STEPHEN COLLECT B1G GYMNAST OF THE WEEK HONORS
For the first time in program history, Spartan gymnasts claimed two of the three B1G Gymnast of the Week awards on Tuesday.

In just her second season as a member of MSU gymnastics, Harkness has now won five event titles and set new career-best scores in all four individual events. She started out the season on a hot streak winning outright or a share of the uneven bars title in MSU's first three meets.

On Sunday against Illinois, she won the bar title and a share of the top spot on floor. She led all gymnasts with a 9.900 on the uneven bars in MSU's second rotation of the night. In the evening finale, she finished her floor routine with a career-high 9.925, tying with fellow Spartan gymnasts Ashley Hofelich and Skyla Schulte for the title.

Freshman Gabrielle Stephen earns her second Freshman of the Week award this season. She claimed three event titles over the weekend and took second place in the all-around on Sunday with a 39.450. Stephen owns the second-highest beam score in MSU history and third vault score both with a 9.950, and the fifth-best all-around score of any Spartan.

At Friday's tri-meet with Central Michigan and Western Michigan, Stephen took first place on beam with a 9.925. She followed it up with another 9.925 on the same apparatus on Sunday, earning a share of the title along with MSU's Giana Kalefe. She also stood atop the podium on vault with a first-place score of 9.925

QUOTING COACH ROWE
"This weekend is another opportunity to continue pursuing the consistency we are striving for. We are still aggressively promoting and challenging everyone on their individual needs towards progressing even more and raising the bar in pursuit of a spot in the lineup on any given day. Consistency is still the key. Elevate The Stage is not only a great opportunity for advancement within the conference, but also for raising our National Qualifying Score in looking ahead towards the postseason. The Big Ten is even stronger this year and the competition is great, so it will definitely be an amazing meet on both nights! We hope to see a lot of Spartan fans in the stands on Saturday night. We feel like we're ready and are excited to see how it all plays out!"

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
No. 6 Minnesota joins No. 1 Michigan as the two teams in the top 10 nationally from the B1G. The Golden Gophers are averaging a 197.313 over six meets.

Back-to-back are No. 35 Penn State and No. 36 Nebraska, both averaging just over a 195.200.

No. 41 Rutgers is coming off a record-setting night after they posted a season-high 195.950 in a home quad meet on Feb. 11 with Iowa, Kent State and Ursinus.

LAST TIME AT B1G FIVES
Due to the majority of the 2021 season being cancelled for the Spartans, MSU last competed in the Big Five meet in February of 2020. The team finished fourth with their best road score of the season, a 195.975. The Spartans finished behind Penn State in third place with a 196.125, while in-state rival Michigan took first with a final score of 197.950. Lea Mitchell took fourth place in the all-around, posting a 39.275 over four events.

B1G NUMBERS AT BIG FIVES
Some of MSU's all-time top scores have come from competition at Big Fives. The 12th-best score in program history, a 196.350, was set in March 2016's Big Five meet hosted by Ohio State. Most recently, the Spartans put up a 49.100 on vault February 22, 2019 in Toledo, the No. 14 score in MSU history. The sixth-best uneven bars score for MSU was set March 17, 2018 at Big Fives, when the team competed to a score of 49.300 in the event.

UP NEXT
The Spartans remain on the road with a meet scheduled for next Saturday, Feb. 26 at Ohio State. The meet in Columbus, Ohio begins at 4 p.m. inside the Covelli Center.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Delanie Harkness

Ashley Hofelich

Giana Kalefe

Lea Mitchell

Skyla Schulte

Gabrielle Stephen