Top-Seeded Spartans Set for Big Ten Gymnastics Championships Saturday

CORALVILLE, Iowa - No. 9 Michigan State (14-2, 8-1) heads to Coralville, Iowa for the Big Ten Gymnastics Championships on Saturday, March 18 at 5:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. CT at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa. The top-seeded Spartans will take on No. 2-seed Michigan, No. 3-seed Iowa and No. 4-seed in the championship's evening session on Big Ten Network. Live results will be available on MSUSpartans.com.

Penn State, Rutgers, Minnesota, Nebraska, Maryland and Illinois will compete in the afternoon session at 11 a.m. CT. Event winners and team placements will be determined at the conclusion of the evening session.

Saturday's meet will be the 41st edition of the Big Ten Championships. The Spartans finished second behind Michigan at last year's championships.

THE MATCHUP
MSU enters Saturday's meet at 14-2 (8-1 B1G) after a 197.800- 195.225 win over Northern Illinois on March 11. The Spartans broke the team overall bars record for the third-straight meet, recording a 49.725, which tied for the second-best bars score in the nation this season. MSU also tied its program-high floor record with a 49.675.

MSU moved to ninth, the highest ranking for the Spartans this season, in the Week 10 Road to Nationals rankings on March 13. MSU posts a team overall national qualifying score of 197.575 and ranks seventh on vault (49.380 NQS), fourth on bars (49.415), 13th on beam (49.335) and a tie for sixth on floor (49.500).

The Spartans have defeated all but one of its Session II opponents this season. MSU earned an upset victory over then-No. 3 Michigan on Jan. 22 and topped Ohio State at the Big Five Meet on Feb. 25. MSU's only conference loss of the season came in a 196.150-195.725 defeat at Iowa on Feb. 11.

LAST TIME OUT
MSU's victory on March 11 over Northern Illinois marked its seventh occasion this season surpassing the 197.000 mark.

Sophomore Gabi Stephen set a new career-high for a win in the all- around with a 39.725, just shy of freshman Nikki Smith's school record score of 39.775 set a week earlier in the Spartans' win over Bowling Green and LIU. Stephen also earned at least a share of all four event titles. The sophomore scored career-high 9.975s on bars and floor, winning the bars title outright and sharing the floor title with teammate Skyla Schulte, scored a 9.875 on vault to share the title with Smith, and scored a 9.900 to collect the outright beam title.

MSU counted no score under 9.925 en route to its bars record, and posted two 9.975s, a 9.950, a 9.900 and a 9.875 en route to its tied floor record.

FIVE SPARTANS EARN ALL-B1G HONORS
Freshman Nikki Smith, sophomores Skyla Schulte and Gabi Stephen, along with junior Delanie Harkness received First-Team All-Big Ten honors, while junior Baleigh Garcia was named Second-Team All-Big Ten.

MSU's four first-team honors are the most in program history. The Spartans' five total selections is the second-most in program history, just shy of MSU's six selections in 2022.

Stephen and Schulte earned First-Team honors for the second-straight year, while Harkness and Garcia both earn their second-straight all- conference nods - Harkness collected her first First-Team honor after being named to the Second Team last season, while Garcia is now a two-time Second-Team honoree.

STEPHEN AND SMITH COLLECT FINAL WEEKLY B1G HONORS
Sophomore Gabi Stephen collected her second Big Ten Gymnast of the Week honor of the season on March 15, while Nikki Smith earned her sixth Freshman of the Week nod. Smith shared Co-Freshman honors with Iowa's Karina Munoz. Smith's six Freshman of the Week awards are the most of any athlete in the conference this season.

UP NEXT
MSU will await its 2023 NCAA Regional placement on the NCAA Gymnastics Selection Show, set for noon on Monday, March 20. UCLA, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh and Denver are this year's four host sites. The NCAA Regionals will run from March 29 to April 1.