Spartan Gymnastics Prepares for B1G Championships Saturday

MICHIGAN STATE (13-4, 6-3 B1G) at 2022 Big Ten Championships - Evening Session with Michigan, Ohio State and Minnesota

DATE	Saturday, March 19, 2022
TIME	5:30 p.m. ET
LOCATION	Columbus, Ohio • Covelli Center
TICKETS	Tickets
TELEVISION	Big Ten Network [Stream on Fox Sports Live]
ROSTERS	Michigan State \| Michigan \| Minnesota \| Ohio State
RESULTS	Live Results
MEET NOTES	Michigan State
SOCIAL MEDIA	@MSU_gymnastics \| MichiganStateUniversityGymnastics \| @msu_gymnastics

COLUMBUS, Ohio - No. 12 Michigan State gymnastics travels to Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, March 19 for the evening session of the Big Ten Championships beginning at 5:30 p.m. The meet will air live on the Big Ten Network from the Covelli Center on the campus of Ohio State.

Seeding was determined by the Big Ten standings, combined with last month's Big Five meet. Having won their portion of the meet, MSU earned a spot in the evening session of B1Gs, competing alongside No. 3 Michigan, No. 8 Minnesota and No. 16 Ohio State. In the earlier afternoon session, No. 19 Illinois, No. 20 Maryland, No. 23 Iowa, No. 37 Penn State, No. 41 Nebraska and No. 44 Rutgers will face off in the earlier afternoon session on Saturday.

A total of 36 teams stand to qualify for NCAA Regionals on March 30 based upon their National Qualifying Score after this weekend's final week of competition.

LAST TIME OUT
Michigan State fell 197.650-197.500 on March 11 at Kentucky but put a number of record-setting numbers in the process, including the second-highest team score in program history.

The Spartans took home two event titles on Saturday, led by Skyla Schulte. She stood atop the podium on beam with her score of 9.950, and shared the bars title with a trio of Wildcats who also scored 9.950 on the event. Schulte also came in second place in the all-around behind third-ranked all-arounder Raena Worley of Kentucky.

The Spartans also set a new program-best score of 49.500 on bars, topping the previous high of 49.450 set in 1998 at the Spartan Invitational. Junior Tori Loomis scored a career-best 9.850 in the event, while Schulte earned a perfect 10 from one of two judges and a 9.950 overall score.

Lea Mitchell earned two scores of 9.900 or better on the night, with a 9.900 on her floor routine and a career-high 9.925 on beam.

SCHOOL-RECORD SIX GYMNASTS NAMED ALL-B1G
Freshmen duo Skyla Schulte and Gabrielle Stephen received First Team All-B1G honors on Tuesday afternoon, while sophomores Delanie Harkness, Baleigh Garcia, Giana Kalefe and senior Ashley Hofelich all were named to the Second Team, making for a record number of Spartans placed on the All-B1G list.

Schulte hails from Bolingbrook, Illinois and began the season as a 2022 Big Ten Gymnast to Watch, going on to win five Freshman of the Week honors and a Gymnast of the Week award in her rookie season with the Green & White.

She boasts a career-high of 9.950 on bars, beam, and floor, with a 9.900 on vault. Competing all-around in ten meets this season, Schulte owns a NQS of 39.420 and is the ninth-best all-arounder in the conference. On March 5 against Western Michigan, she broke the Michigan State individual all-around record set by senior Kristen Coleman in 2004, a 39.625, and replaced it with her own career-high 39.675.

The freshman holds the top and third-highest all-around scores in Michigan State history, as well as a tie for the second-highest beam score (9.950) and third-highest bars score (9.950). Schulte has racked up four all-around titles and nine individual titles: three on beam, three on bars, two on vault and one on floor, over the course of the season.

Stephen is an Elgin, Illinois native who was also named a 2022 Gymnast to Watch prior to the start of the season, and has earned Freshman of the Week accolades three times this year. Primarily as an all-arounder, Stephen has competed in all 11 meets this season, setting a career-best all-around score of 39.475 on Feb. 19 at the Big Five Meet. Two of Stephen's all-around scores rank in the top 10 all-time for Michigan State.

Stephen wrapped up the regular season with four individual titles on beam, three on vault and one all-around crown. She posted a career-best 9.950 on vault on Jan. 22, tying for the third-highest score in MSU history. She claimed a career-high also of 9.950 on beam Feb. 5 against Maryland, tying the second-highest beam score in Michigan State's record books. Stephen's beam scores combined are the fourth-highest in the B1G and 23rd-best in the nation.

Harkness, a sophomore from Leslie, is a resident bars star for the Green & White, boasting a career-high of 9.950 with five event titles under her belt.

On floor, she has posted four scores of 9.900 or better and set her career-high of 9.925 on Feb. 13 against Illinois. On Feb. 15, she was named the Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week for her performance in that meet, which also included a 9.900 score on bars and two event titles.

A sophomore from Boynton Beach, Florida, Garcia also earns her first All-B1G award. Garcia has led the beam squad with eight scores of 9.900 or better this season on the apparatus. Her career-high of 9.925 was set on Jan. 15 and has since been tied three times and is the third-highest beam score for MSU all-time. Garcia owns eight career beam titles, five of which she has earned this year.

Fellow sophomore Kalefe hails all the way from Corona, California and picks up her first All-B1G accolade. Kalefe started out the season with a bang, posting a 9.900 on beam in her debut and earning the event title. Since then, she has scored a 9.900 or better on beam five time, with a career-high 9.925 being earned twice. She owns a total of four beam titles, all earned this season, and holds a NQS of 9.895.

Senior gymnast Hofelich has made an appearance in the lineup for every meet this season, primarily competing on vault and floor. The Novi native earned a new career-high 9.925 on floor Jan. 15 and proceeded to score a 9.925 on her routine in six straight meets. On March 5, she scored a 9.975 with her near-flawless floor routine. The senior's new career-best ties for the best floor score in MSU history and is just the fifth time ever that a Spartan gymnast has achieved the score. Hofelich ranks seventh in the Big Ten and 19th in the nation on floor with a NQS of 9.925, with five floor titles to her name from this season.

The last time Michigan State placed gymnasts on the All-Big Ten list was 2020 when Ella Douglas and Lea Mitchell were honored with Second Team nods.

RECORD-SETTING REGULAR SEASON
Michigan State wrapped up the regular season with scores the likes of which the program has never seen before. Three times this season the squad has broken the previous highest team score, a 197.075 set in 2004.

Starting with a record-setting 197.425 scored against Illinois on Feb. 13, the Spartans have since re-set the record twice with a 197.575 on March 5 against Western Michigan and 197.500 put up on March 11 at Kentucky.

The Spartans have also come up with the top beam, bars, and floor score in program history. The meet with Illinois brought MSU its highest-ever beam score, a 49.500. Seven of MSU's top-10 highest beam scores have all been posted this season. Likewise on floor, the top three team scores all came from meets in 2022, the new No. 1 being posted on Feb. 13 at 49.575 and quickly being re-set on March 5 as a 49.675.

Michigan State just recently blasted its previous bars record out of the water. At Kentucky this past Saturday, the team scored a 49.500 to dethrone the previous all-time high of 49.450 set in 1998.

The squad has also padded the record book individually this season, with 25 new top-10 scores being posted across all four events and the all-around. Schulte broke the all-around record on March 5 with a career-high 39.675 and now holds three spots in the top-10 in all-around. Four Spartans have scored a 9.950 or better this season in one or more of the individual events.

LAST TIME AT THE B1Gs
The Spartans have not made an appearance at the conference championships since 2019, with 2020's finals cancelled due to COVID-19 and MSU's own season in 2021 cut short for the team's own health and safety protocols.

Michigan State recorded a 10th-place finish at 2019's Big Ten Championships in University Park, Pennsylvania. Lea Mitchell competed all-around for the Spartans, taking second place overall with a score of 39.300.

MSU tallied 48.725 on vault, 48.900 on bars, 48.500 on the beam and a season-high 49.300 on floor to equal its second-best team score of the season, a 195.425. No. 7 Michigan went on to win that year's Big Ten title.

Three Spartans in Mitchell, Jessica Ling and Ella Douglas went on to represent the Green & White in 2019's NCAA Regionals held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
The Spartans are set for a high-ranking matchup this weekend with each of their opponents ranking in the top-20 nationally. No. 3 Michigan is 14-1 overall with a perfect 9-0 mark in conference competition. The Wolverines suffered their first loss of the season at No. 2 Oklahoma on March 4. MSU's in-state rival placed a conference-high seven gymnasts on the All-Big Ten list this week.

Michigan State faced Minnesota at Big Fives but did not compete head-to-head with the Golden Gophers this season. Minnesota sits at 10-6 overall with a NQS of 197.395. Ohio State came out on top in head-to-head competition with MSU on Feb. 26, and hold a NQS of 196.865.

THE ROAD TO NATIONALS
MSU is currently ranked No. 12 in the Week 10 Road to Nationals Standings for the third straight week. The Green and White hold a NQS of 197.125 and an average score of 196.834 over 11 meets.

The Spartans rank No. 6 nationally on the beam exercise, No. 9 on floor, No. 17 on bars and No. 19 on vault. They rank among the top-10 in each event in the conference standings, with a No. 1 ranking on beam, No. 3 on floor, No. 4 on vault and No. 6 on bars.

QUOTING COACH ROWE
"Back to Columbus! We are returning to the Covelli Center again and the opportunities and challenges are nearly the same. This week has been extremely productive in the gym, and we have also been very blessed with six All-Big Ten awards, which reiterates and reinforces to this team that their passion, hard work and consistency will continue to pay off.

This is a clean slate opportunity for all 10 B1G teams and the competition is even more tough this time around, but our object is the same; to be better, to improve a little more on our routines, stuck landings, and details from last meet. It's back to business!"