These Seniors have done something special
The MSU Women’s Gymnastics Team closed their season late on Thursday night in Ft. Worth, Texas. The 8th-seeded Spartans missed moving into the finals by two hairs when they didn’t have the cushion to spare one. Our team in Green and White finished 6th out of the eight competitors and even technically outscored one of the teams ahead of them from the other half of the bracket (Missouri). Unfortunately, that team was one of the top two coming out of their own semi’s earlier in the day and thus moves on. MSU is in good company though, joined in their exit by (formerly) top-seeded LSU.
Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Although… really MSU has been in good, and practically unprecedented, company the last four years. On Thursday we touched on the arrival of 8th year head-coach Mike Rowe and his staff. In 2024, he was named Big Ten Women’s Gymnastics Coach of the Year for the third-straight year. In 2022, he earned Regional and then National Coach of the Year honors. That same year Rowe’s Assistants Staff was also named both Regional and National Coaching Staff of the Year and garnered Region Assistant of the Year honors again in 2023.
But the corresponding story is the current crop of Upperclassers – for the last four years the Spartans have finished in the top two of the conference – winning it all in ‘24 and grabbing the regular season title away from those down the road in ‘23 and ‘24 as well.
Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK
Prior to Covid, it would be generous to say the program was mid. Following the scandal revelations and scrapping of most of the pieces that existed prior, the program was hurting and expectations of it heading anywhere but the dumpsters behind Jenison were non-existent. But not only did the new coaches keep focused on the culture they wanted to build – but they brought in incredibly talented young women who really believed in the team as much as themselves, and helped make East Lansing a place recruits wanted to be. Seniors Gabi Stephens’ & Skyla Shulte’s names you may have heard coming into this season – both were All-Big Ten 1st team three years in a row – in addition to Skyla grabbing All-American honors and the 2024 George Alderton Female Athlete of the Year award. Others, like 5th-year Delanie Harkness, an All-B1G 1st teamer; 5th-year Giana Kalefe, an All-B1G 2nd teamer; The Lebster Sisters – Genna, a Senior and Stephanie a Junior (and yes, they are cousins of recent Spartan Icer, Reed Lebster); Senior (and hopefully soon-to-be 5th-Year) Lauren Hsu whose recent seasons at State have been hampered by injury; Katie Sawyer; Nyah Smith who graduated last year and also helped convince her sister, current Junior and twice All B1G 1st teamer, Nikki to join – each (and others prior) took a risk on coming to a program that was scraping bottom and worked together to bring it back up – so far, to a place where it hadn’t been in 37 years – Nationals.
In the new B1G landscape which includes perennial powerhouse UCLA for gymnastics, the titles are going to come harder. But the message is out: the Spartans have built their own National-level powerhouse of a program and a special culture in East Lansing worth joining.
Congrats to the Spartans on your incredible success and achievements this season. We’ll look forward to more as the calendar turns a *few* months from now. Go Green.
Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images