Spartans qualify with a second place finish at the University Park Regional
Michigan State Gymnastics is headed to their first NCAA Championships since 1988. The Spartans punched their ticket after finishing in second place in last weekend’s University Park Regional, held at Penn State University.
MSU was seeded eighth going into the regional and opened competition against #9 Kentucky, Ohio State, and host Penn State on Thursday, with the top two teams advancing to the regional final on Saturday.
The Spartans scored a 197.625 , narrowly edging out Kentucky’s 197.525 as both teams advanced to join top-seeded LSU and #16 Arkansas on Saturday. The top two teams from Saturday’s action would advance to the NCAA Championship.
MSU came through with a 198.000 in Saturday’s regional final which again put them ahead of Kentucky’s 197.625 and was enough to advance out of the regional. Defending national champion LSU won the meet with a 198.050 but the Spartans clung to LSU’s heels throughout the competition, pushing the #1 Tigers all the way to the end
MSU’s team total score of 198.000 is the fifth best in program history. Saturday’s second place finish also improved their season record to 29-5, which ties last season’s program best win total.
Michigan State junior Nikki Smith won the regional All-Around title with a 39.650 total score on the vault, bar, beam, and floor events while senior Gabi Stephen finished seventh. Smith also won the bars event with a 9.975 while Stephen tied for second with a 9.950. The Spartans claimed the top four spots on the vault. Smith and junior Sage Kellerman tied for first at 9.950 while Makayla Tucker and Olivia Zsarmani each scored 9.925 to tie for third. Skyla Schulte led MSU in the floor exercise with a 9.950 which was good for a second-place tie.
The NCAA Championships take place April 17 and 19 at Dickies Arena in Ft. Worth, TX. MSU and LSU will be joined by UCLA, Utah, Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Missouri. The format is the same as the regional, where teams will compete in groups of four on Thursday April 17, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the Final Four competition on April 19.
Michigan State will have a tough path to the final as the #8 seed. They will have to face #1 LSU again in the semi-final as well as #4 Utah and #5 UCLA and defeat at least two of those teams on April 17. MSU has already faced UCLA twice this season. The Bruins very narrowly edged the Spartans on February 1 in Los Angeles, 197.300 – 197.200. Seven weeks later MSU finished second to UCLA at the Big Ten Championships, posting a 198.150 to UCLA’s 198.450.
According to the MSU Athletics website, the Spartans’ national semi-final meet begins at 9 PM Eastern on April 17 and will be televised on ESPN2. Should Michigan State advance to the four-team final on April 19, it will be televised on ABC at 4 PM Eastern.