Michigan State University Athletics
Smith Named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week
3/10/2026 3:00:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics
ROSEMONT, Ill. - Michigan State gymnastics senior Nikki Smith was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week, as announced by the conference Tuesday afternoon.Â
The award is MSU's first Gymnast of the Week honor from the conference this season and fourth weekly award overall for the Spartans in 2026 after seniors Sage Kellerman (Feb. 3, Feb. 17) and Olivia Zsarmani (Feb. 24) earned Specialist of the Week honors. With Tuesday's nod, Smith is now a six-time Big Ten Gymnast of the Week honoree in her career.Â
Smith is just the third gymnast this season to win the conference's Gymnast of the Week award (Jordan Chiles, UCLA, Arianna Ostrum, Minnesota) and second to win the award outright (Chiles, eight times).Â
The Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, native helped MSU to a 197.700-196.975 win at then-No. 17 Auburn on March 6 with a season-high 39.725 in the all-around. She scored at least a 9.925 on every event with a trio of 9.925s on bars, beam and floor and posted a 9.950 on vault, earning the bars, beam and all-around titles. She also helped the Spartans set a season-high 49.625 as a team on vault, the second-best team vault score in program history, while MSU's 197.700 is the eighth-highest team overall score in the MSU record books.Â
Smith's 39.725 in the all-around tied the third-highest all-around score in MSU history and was the highest all-around score in the conference last week. She now owns five of the top 10 all-around scores in program history.Â
Up next, MSU hosts Brown on Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m. inside Jenison Field House for Senior Day. The Spartans will compete in the top session of the Big Ten Championships on Saturday, March 21 at 6 p.m. ET inside the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois.Â
Players Mentioned
