Michigan State University Athletics
Saturday, March 21
Champaign, Ill.
6 PM ET/5 PM CT
Michigan State University
vs
Big Ten Championships
Photo by: Maya Kolton
No. 11 Spartans Head to Champaign for Big Ten Gymnastics Championships
3/19/2026 1:12:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -Â No. 11 and fourth-seeded Michigan State gymnastics travels to Champaign, Illinois, for the Big Ten Championships on Saturday, March 21 at 6 p.m. ET. MSU will face No. 1 seed UCLA, No. 2 Minnesota and third-seeded Michigan inside Illinois' State Farm Center on Big Ten Network.
The Spartans are making their fifth-straight appearance in the top session of the conference championships. As the No. 4 seed, MSU will begin on bars and finish on vault.
Saturday's meet will be broadcast nationally with Dean Linke (play-by-play) and Olivia Karas (analyst) on the call.
MSU is ranked 11th for the seventh-straight week in the Week 11 RoadtoNationals rankings with a national qualifying score (NQS) of 197.056. In the team event rankings, MSU ranks eighth on vault (49.266 NQS), 13th on bars (49.213), 14th on beam (49.191) and ninth on floor (49.388). Individually, senior Sage Kellerman is ranked eighth nationally on vault (9.920 NQS) and 25th on bars (9.910), while senior Nikki Smith (seventh, 9.945) and junior MaKayla Tucker (20th, 9.925) sit inside the top 20 on floor. Smith (10th, 39.515) and Tucker (11th, 39.470) are also top 15 in the all-around.
MSU is coming off of a 197.500-194.750 win over Brown in its regular-season finale on March 15, posting its third-best team score of the season and best home score of 2026. Senior Nikki Smith highlighted the meet with a 10.000 in the anchor spot on floor, the fourth perfect score of her career and second on floor, while also capturing the vault (9.950) and all-around titles. Senior Sage Kellerman shared the vault title with Smith and earned the outright bars title with a 9.925, while freshman Lilia Cosman and junior MaKayla Tucker shared the beam title with matching 9.875s.
With her 10.000 against the Bears, Smith became the only Spartan in program history with four 10.000s. No other gymnast has scored more than two in their MSU career.
SCOUTING SESSION III
MSU has faced each of the teams in its session in 2026, falling to UCLA at home, 197.425-196.900, on Jan. 25 and Minnesota on the road, 197.700-196.625, at the Big Four Meet on March 1. The Spartans finished third at the Sprouts Collegiate Quad behind first-place Michigan in their season opener, but won their dual meet in Ann Arbor against the Wolverines on Feb. 1, 197.525-197.425.
MSU AT THE B1G CHAMPIONSHIPS
Since 2022, MSU has finished inside the top two at every Big Ten Championships after not finishing higher than fourth since 2010. The Spartans' second-place finish in 2022 was their best finish since 2006. Last season, MSU finished second behind UCLA in a thriller of a meet, earning a 198.150 to the Bruins' 198.450. MSU captured its first Big Ten Championships title in 2024 when it hosted the meet inside Jenison Field House.Â
MSU will also look to claim an individual Big Ten title for the fourth-straight season, having won at least two in both the 2023, 2024 and 2025 meets. Senior Sage Kellerman will aim to become the second gymnast in program history to win a Big Ten individual title in two different seasons after winning a share of the vault title during her freshman season in 2023. Kim Hartwick in 1986 (beam) and 1987 (beam, floor) was the last to do so.
UP NEXT
The 2026 NCAA Regionals selection show is scheduled for noon on Monday, March 23 on ESPNU.
The Spartans are making their fifth-straight appearance in the top session of the conference championships. As the No. 4 seed, MSU will begin on bars and finish on vault.
Saturday's meet will be broadcast nationally with Dean Linke (play-by-play) and Olivia Karas (analyst) on the call.
MSU is ranked 11th for the seventh-straight week in the Week 11 RoadtoNationals rankings with a national qualifying score (NQS) of 197.056. In the team event rankings, MSU ranks eighth on vault (49.266 NQS), 13th on bars (49.213), 14th on beam (49.191) and ninth on floor (49.388). Individually, senior Sage Kellerman is ranked eighth nationally on vault (9.920 NQS) and 25th on bars (9.910), while senior Nikki Smith (seventh, 9.945) and junior MaKayla Tucker (20th, 9.925) sit inside the top 20 on floor. Smith (10th, 39.515) and Tucker (11th, 39.470) are also top 15 in the all-around.
MSU is coming off of a 197.500-194.750 win over Brown in its regular-season finale on March 15, posting its third-best team score of the season and best home score of 2026. Senior Nikki Smith highlighted the meet with a 10.000 in the anchor spot on floor, the fourth perfect score of her career and second on floor, while also capturing the vault (9.950) and all-around titles. Senior Sage Kellerman shared the vault title with Smith and earned the outright bars title with a 9.925, while freshman Lilia Cosman and junior MaKayla Tucker shared the beam title with matching 9.875s.
With her 10.000 against the Bears, Smith became the only Spartan in program history with four 10.000s. No other gymnast has scored more than two in their MSU career.
SCOUTING SESSION III
MSU has faced each of the teams in its session in 2026, falling to UCLA at home, 197.425-196.900, on Jan. 25 and Minnesota on the road, 197.700-196.625, at the Big Four Meet on March 1. The Spartans finished third at the Sprouts Collegiate Quad behind first-place Michigan in their season opener, but won their dual meet in Ann Arbor against the Wolverines on Feb. 1, 197.525-197.425.
MSU AT THE B1G CHAMPIONSHIPS
Since 2022, MSU has finished inside the top two at every Big Ten Championships after not finishing higher than fourth since 2010. The Spartans' second-place finish in 2022 was their best finish since 2006. Last season, MSU finished second behind UCLA in a thriller of a meet, earning a 198.150 to the Bruins' 198.450. MSU captured its first Big Ten Championships title in 2024 when it hosted the meet inside Jenison Field House.Â
MSU will also look to claim an individual Big Ten title for the fourth-straight season, having won at least two in both the 2023, 2024 and 2025 meets. Senior Sage Kellerman will aim to become the second gymnast in program history to win a Big Ten individual title in two different seasons after winning a share of the vault title during her freshman season in 2023. Kim Hartwick in 1986 (beam) and 1987 (beam, floor) was the last to do so.
UP NEXT
The 2026 NCAA Regionals selection show is scheduled for noon on Monday, March 23 on ESPNU.
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