No. 12 Spartans Head to No. 17 Iowa Saturday

IOWA CITY, Iowa - No. 12 Michigan State begins its month-long road stint at No. 17 Iowa on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. ET/5 p.m. CT at Iowa's Xtream Arena, site of the 2023 Big Ten Championships. The meet will air on B1G+, with live results available on MSUSpartans.com.

"We are back on the road Saturday to meet traditionally one of our toughest Big Ten competitors with Iowa," said head coach Mike Rowe. "We have made some great progress this week and are looking to capitalize on that, along with a couple of line-up changes in an effort to give opportunities to some individuals who have improved and deserve their shot at getting competitive experience at the same time. We are fortunate to have a little depth, especially coming up on mid-season where these individual opportunities could demonstrate our tenacity as a team, enhancing our line-ups on each event, while also helping to maintain consistency."

THE MATCHUP
MSU enters Saturday's meet at 4-1 (3-0 B1G) after earning its highest team score of the season in a dominant 197.450-195.475 win over Penn State on Feb. 4. The win marked the fourth-straight win for the Spartans, only dropping their first meet on Jan. 6 at then-No. 7 Alabama. The Spartans currently rank 12th in the Week 5 Road to Nationals rankings with an average score of 196.910. Saturday's meet will be the second of the week for the Hawkeyes (4-4-1, 1-1-1 B1G), who secured their first conference win of the season in a 196.475-195.300 win over Nebraska on Monday, Feb. 6. Iowa ranks 17th in this week's Road to Nationals Rankings (196.644).

Despite its 196.475 being its lowest score of the season, Iowa topped Nebraska on all four events (49.125 VT, 48.825 UB, 49.300 BB, 49.225 FX), and posted a season-high team score on beam. Individually, the Hawkeyes had four gymnasts (Karina Munoz, JerQuavia Henderson, Linda Zivat and Kinsey Davis) tie for the event title on vault (9.850), two tie for the beam event title (Munoz and Adeline Kenlin, 9.925) and Henderson won the floor title outright with a 9.925. Munoz collected the all-around title with a 39.350.

The Hawkeyes are led by 19th-year head coach Larissa Libby. Iowa won the last edition of the meet, 196.475-196.350, on Jan. 22, 2022 in East Lansing.

LAST TIME OUT
MSU's 197.450 on Feb. 4 marked its fourth-best team score in program history. The Spartans also set season highs on bars (49.400) and floor (49.425) and swept the event titles.

Sophomore Gabi Stephen earned a career-high 39.575 to win the all-around title vs. Penn State, posting the highest all-around score by a Spartan this season and the fourth-best all-around score in program history, tying with teammate Skyla Schulte (at Kentucky, March 11, 2022). Stephen also won a share of the vault title with a season-high 9.925, her third of the season, and scored a career-high 9.875 on bars. Freshman Nikki Smith won her first-career bars title with a career-high 9.925, junior Baleigh Garcia won her third beam title of the season with a season-high 9.925 and Schulte won her first floor title of the season with a season-high 9.925.

SPARTAN ALL-AROUNDERS
The Spartans boast a strong all-around trio in Skyla Schulte, Gabi Stephen and Nikki Smith, each gymnast sitting in the top 15 in the Big Ten all-around rankings. Stephen (3rd, 39.415 avg) and Schulte (T-11th, 39.270) have competed in the all-around every meet this season, while Smith (8th, 39.288) has competed in the all-around in every meet except the Spartans' opener at Alabama, where she competed on every event but beam. MSU is one of six schools to have three or more all-arounders ranked in the top 40 nationally (Florida, Oklahoma, LSU, Michigan, California).

UP NEXT
MSU stays on the road to face Illinois on Friday, Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. ET.

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Players Mentioned

Baleigh Garcia

Skyla Schulte

Nikki Smith