Michigan State University Athletics
MSU Gymnasts Stephen and Smith Collect Big Ten Weekly Honors
3/1/2023 3:00:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics
ROSEMONT, Ill. - Michigan State gymnastics sophomore Gabrielle Stephen and freshman Nikki Smith collected Big Ten Gymnastics Weekly honors, as announced by the conference Tuesday.Â
Stephen earns her first Big Ten weekly award of the season and first Gymnast of the Week award of her career, while Smith collects her fourth Freshman of the Week honor. Stephen shares the Gymnast of the Week award with Michigan's Sierra Brooks.Â
Both Stephen and Smith were key contributors to MSU's historic weekend at the Big Five Meet in Lincoln, Nebraska on Feb. 25 and Illinois dual on Feb. 27. The Spartans broke MSU's overall team score record with a 197.675 en route to a dominant win over then-No. 13 Ohio State, No. 18 Minnesota, Nebraska and Rutgers at the Big Five Meet, and followed it up with a 197.450-196.425 victory at No. 24 Illinois to earn a share of the Big Ten regular season title with Michigan. The regular season title marked the first in program history for the Spartans.Â
Stephen, who was tabbed Big Ten Freshman of the Week three times in 2022, won her third and fourth-straight all-around titles at the Big Five Meet and Illinois dual. In Lincoln, Stephen tied her career-high all-around score with a 39.575 and followed it up with a 39.525 in Champaign. At Big Fives, she won her first career floor event title with a career-high 9.950, tied her career-high 9.875 on bars, scored a 9.925 on vault and a earned 9.875 on beam. In Champaign, she won a share of the vault title with a 9.850, scored a 9.875 on bars and beam and earned a 9.925. Â
Smith put up a career-best 39.550 in Lincoln to tie for second in the all-around and scored a 39.525 at the Illinois dual to share the all-around title with Stephen. At Big Fives, she tied with Stephen for the floor title with a 9.950, scored a 9.950 on vault, 9.825 on bars and 9.850 on beam. At Illinois, she won the floor title outright with a 9.975, tying for the best floor score in program history, and scored a career-high 9.900 on beam and 9.825s on vault and bars.Â
MSU is back in action for a pair of meets this weekend, traveling to Ypsilanti, Michigan for a tri-meet with Eastern Michigan and LIU on Friday, March 3 at 6 p.m. before hosting Bowling Green and LIU at Jenison Field House on Sunday, March 5 at 1 p.m. for the team's annual Pink Meet for breast cancer awareness.Â
