Thursday, April 3
University Park, Pa.
1 PM
Michigan State University
vs
NCAA Regional Second Round
Photo by: Kelly Branigan
No. 8 Gymnastics Set for NCAA University Park Regional
4/1/2025 12:57:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -Â Eighth-seeded Michigan State gymnastics travels to University Park, Pennsylvania, for the NCAA University Park Regional beginning with the second round on Thursday, April 3 at 1 p.m. inside Penn State's Rec Hall.
MSU will compete in the first of two regional second-round sessions on Thursday, facing No. 9 seed Kentucky, Ohio State and Penn State.
All NCAA Regional sessions will stream on ESPN+. Alex Perlman (play-by-play) and Kennedy Baker (analyst) will be on the call for all sessions of the University Park Regional.
NOTABLES
Top-seeded LSU, No. 16 Arkansas and the winner of a play-in meet between Maryland and West Virginia will compete in the second session of the regional at 7 p.m. The top two teams from each session advance to the regional final on Saturday, April 5 at 5 p.m., and the top two teams from the regional final will advance to the NCAA Championships beginning April 17 in Fort Worth, Texas, at Dickies Arena.
The Spartans enter regionals as the No. 8 seed overall and No. 2 seed in the region, their highest-ever seed at a regional meet. MSU is 24-4 overall this season after most recently finishing second at the Big Ten Championships on March 22 with a season-high 198.150. The Spartans' 198.150 was the highest road score in program history and tied for the second-best score of all-time at MSU. The 198.150 is also the sixth-highest score in the country this season, while MSU became one of seven teams to eclipse the 198 overall team score mark in 2025.
Despite not repeating as conference champions, the Spartans put together their best meet of the season at the Big Ten Championships, besting their previous season high by over six tenths. MSU also posted season highs on beam (49.500) and floor (49.600), while posting their second-highest vault (49.575) and bars (49.475) this season. All four team event scores landed on MSU's all-time top 10 lists - MSU's vault score tied for the second-best score on the event in program history, bars tied for eighth all-time and the Spartans' beam and floor scores both tied for fifth all-time on their respective lists.
Individually, MSU had a pair of Big Ten champions - junior Olivia Zsarmani on vault, who tied a career-high, near-perfect 9.975 to win the outright title on the event, and senior Gabrielle Stephen, who scored the first 10.000 on beam in MSU history to earn a share of the title with UCLA's Ciena Alipio. Both gymnasts earned their first individual conference titles. Stephen became MSU's second-straight Big Ten champion on beam (Baleigh Garcia, 2024) and Zsarmani earned the second vault title in three seasons (Sage Kellerman, 2023) for MSU.
Several Spartans also earned spots on the podium in Ann Arbor. Junior Sage Kellerman tallied a pair of runner-up finishes with 9.950s on vault and bars, senior Skyla Schulte finished third on floor with a career-high-tying 9.975 and Stephen finished second in the all-around with a season-high 39.675.Â
Following the meet, Kellerman was named the conference's first-ever Specialist of the Year and junior Nikki Smith was tabbed the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, becoming just the second gymnast in program history to win the award behind Kim Hartwick (1989) and Kristen Coleman (2007).Â
MSU AT NCAA REGIONALS
MSU is making its fourth-straight appearance at NCAA Regionals after previously not qualifying as team since the 2016 season. The Spartans have advanced to the regional final in each of the last three seasons, finishing third in 2022 and 2023 and fourth last season. Both of MSU's third-place finishes came in narrow margins - in 2022, MSU missed qualifying to nationals by 0.525 and missed by an even slimmer 0.150 margin in 2023.Â
Despite missing team qualification, the Spartans have advanced at least one individual to the NCAA Championships in each of the last three seasons. As a freshman in 2022, current senior Skyla Schulte qualified as an individual on balance beam, eventually earning Second Team All-America honors. In 2023, current seniors Gabi Stephen (beam) and Delanie Harkness (floor) earned individual bids, while Schulte made another individual appearance last season on floor and captured her second-career Second Team All-America honor and Nikki Smith qualified on beam.
MSU's only team appearance at the NCAA Championships came in the old postseason format in 1988, where the Spartans finished 12th. The new postseason format of an eight-team national semifinal and four-team national final was introduced in 2019.
UP NEXT
The NCAA Championships are scheduled for April 17 and 19 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
MSU will compete in the first of two regional second-round sessions on Thursday, facing No. 9 seed Kentucky, Ohio State and Penn State.
All NCAA Regional sessions will stream on ESPN+. Alex Perlman (play-by-play) and Kennedy Baker (analyst) will be on the call for all sessions of the University Park Regional.
NOTABLES
Top-seeded LSU, No. 16 Arkansas and the winner of a play-in meet between Maryland and West Virginia will compete in the second session of the regional at 7 p.m. The top two teams from each session advance to the regional final on Saturday, April 5 at 5 p.m., and the top two teams from the regional final will advance to the NCAA Championships beginning April 17 in Fort Worth, Texas, at Dickies Arena.
The Spartans enter regionals as the No. 8 seed overall and No. 2 seed in the region, their highest-ever seed at a regional meet. MSU is 24-4 overall this season after most recently finishing second at the Big Ten Championships on March 22 with a season-high 198.150. The Spartans' 198.150 was the highest road score in program history and tied for the second-best score of all-time at MSU. The 198.150 is also the sixth-highest score in the country this season, while MSU became one of seven teams to eclipse the 198 overall team score mark in 2025.
Despite not repeating as conference champions, the Spartans put together their best meet of the season at the Big Ten Championships, besting their previous season high by over six tenths. MSU also posted season highs on beam (49.500) and floor (49.600), while posting their second-highest vault (49.575) and bars (49.475) this season. All four team event scores landed on MSU's all-time top 10 lists - MSU's vault score tied for the second-best score on the event in program history, bars tied for eighth all-time and the Spartans' beam and floor scores both tied for fifth all-time on their respective lists.
Individually, MSU had a pair of Big Ten champions - junior Olivia Zsarmani on vault, who tied a career-high, near-perfect 9.975 to win the outright title on the event, and senior Gabrielle Stephen, who scored the first 10.000 on beam in MSU history to earn a share of the title with UCLA's Ciena Alipio. Both gymnasts earned their first individual conference titles. Stephen became MSU's second-straight Big Ten champion on beam (Baleigh Garcia, 2024) and Zsarmani earned the second vault title in three seasons (Sage Kellerman, 2023) for MSU.
Several Spartans also earned spots on the podium in Ann Arbor. Junior Sage Kellerman tallied a pair of runner-up finishes with 9.950s on vault and bars, senior Skyla Schulte finished third on floor with a career-high-tying 9.975 and Stephen finished second in the all-around with a season-high 39.675.Â
Following the meet, Kellerman was named the conference's first-ever Specialist of the Year and junior Nikki Smith was tabbed the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, becoming just the second gymnast in program history to win the award behind Kim Hartwick (1989) and Kristen Coleman (2007).Â
MSU AT NCAA REGIONALS
MSU is making its fourth-straight appearance at NCAA Regionals after previously not qualifying as team since the 2016 season. The Spartans have advanced to the regional final in each of the last three seasons, finishing third in 2022 and 2023 and fourth last season. Both of MSU's third-place finishes came in narrow margins - in 2022, MSU missed qualifying to nationals by 0.525 and missed by an even slimmer 0.150 margin in 2023.Â
Despite missing team qualification, the Spartans have advanced at least one individual to the NCAA Championships in each of the last three seasons. As a freshman in 2022, current senior Skyla Schulte qualified as an individual on balance beam, eventually earning Second Team All-America honors. In 2023, current seniors Gabi Stephen (beam) and Delanie Harkness (floor) earned individual bids, while Schulte made another individual appearance last season on floor and captured her second-career Second Team All-America honor and Nikki Smith qualified on beam.
MSU's only team appearance at the NCAA Championships came in the old postseason format in 1988, where the Spartans finished 12th. The new postseason format of an eight-team national semifinal and four-team national final was introduced in 2019.
UP NEXT
The NCAA Championships are scheduled for April 17 and 19 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
Players Mentioned
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