Gymnastics Concludes Road Trip at Ohio State on Friday
2/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
Feb. 17, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State gymnastics team closes out its three-meet road trip on Friday, Feb. 18 when it travels to Columbus, Ohio to face Ohio State. The competition is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., inside St. John Arena and will be MSU's first Big Ten opponent since facing Minnesota on Jan. 22, also the last meet at home for the Green and White.
MSU enters the weekend with a regional qualifying score (RQS) of 191.765. On the vault, the Spartans' top event this season, the team has an RQS of 48.195. On the uneven bars, MSU has an RQS of 48.075 while its RQS on the floor exercise is 47.880. The Spartans also boast an RQS of 47.440 on the balance beam.
For the Spartans individually, junior Jackie Berg is ranked tied for sixth in the conference on the uneven bars with an RQS of 9.785. Fellow junior Daneen Haba is the 27th-best vault specialist in the conference (RQS - 9.700) while senior Kelsey Morley currently is tops on the team on the balance beam with her average score of 9.733. Freshman Gillian Carr leads the team on the floor exercise with an average of 9.700. Sophomore Shanthi Teike rounds out the Spartan leaders with her 38.230 average in the all-around.
Ohio State currently has an RQS of 194.830, the second-best mark in the Big Ten. OSU's best event is the balance beam where it has a first-place ranking in the conference (RQS - 48.605). On the vault, it is second in the Big Ten with an RQS of 48.840, while fourth on the floor exercise (RQS - 48.660). The uneven bars have the Buckeyes ranked fifth with an RQS of 48.560.
Melanie Shaffer leads Ohio State on the vault with an RQS of 9.800, while she is also tops in the all-around (39.200). Colleen Dean currently posts a team-best RQS 9.770 on the balance beam. Nicole Krauter has a team-high RQS of 9.770 on the balance beam, while Sarah Miller is tops on the team with a 9.810 RQS on the floor exercise.
The Spartans return home next weekend for their final home meets of the season. MSU first faces Illinois on Friday, Feb. 25 live on the Big Ten Network in the first ever collegiate "Autism Awareness Meet". While also battling the Fighting Illini for the "Victory Plank", the Spartans welcome special guest Olympic Champion Nastia Liukin for the meet. MSU concludes its home schedule two days later when it hosts Alaska-Anchorage on Sunday, Feb. 27 on Senior Night. Both meets are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., inside Jenison Field House.
Players Mentioned
