Gymnastics Opens Big Ten Season Against Iowa At Home
1/13/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
| Michigan State at Iowa | |
| Date | Friday, Jan. 15, 2016 |
| Location | East Lansing, Mich.; Jenison Field House |
| Live Results | |
| Pre-Meet Notes | Michigan State | Iowa |
| Social Media | @MSUgymnastics  | Facebook  |
MEET NOTES
• No. 35 ranked Michigan State has its home-opener and first Big Ten matchup on Friday, Jan. 15 against No. 39 ranked Univeristy of Iowa at 7 p.m. at Jenison Field House in East Lansing, Mich.
• This meet is partnered with the MSU wrestling team and is billed as the `Tumbles and Takedowns' meet, as both teams will compete side-by-side against Big Ten competition. Wrestling tangles with Big Ten rival Purdue, also in a 7 p.m. start at Jenison Field House.
• The last time the two schools met in the regular season was in Iowa City, Iowa on Jan. 18, 2015 in a tri-meet with Ball State. The Spartans placed first with a score of 195.625 over Iowa (194.425) and Ball State (193.350).
TEAM NOTES
• Last time out, the Spartans opened their 2016 season at No. 18 Arizona on Friday, Jan. 8, and fell on the road to the Wildcats, 193.77-195.700.
• During Iowa's last time out, the Hawkeyes defeated Northern Illinois 194.500-192.825, taking first place in all four events, as well as all-around. The Hawkeyes are currently ranked sixth in the Big Ten.
• Elena Lagoski competed in her first-ever collegiate all-around against Arizona and placed first for her first-ever collegiate all-around title. The junior made her collegiate debut on bars in this opener against the Wildcats, opening the door for her to compete all-around for the first time in her career.
• Lisa Burt placed second overall in the All-Around competition and tied for first on bars (9.850). Her first place on bars was her first of the season and the sixth of her career.
• Kira Frederick tied for first overall in the floor exercise with a 9.825, which was her first career crown in the event.
• The Spartans had a pair of career debuts on bars, as freshman Jessica Ling (9.750) and junior Elena Lagoski (9.750) each took their first turn and helped MSU to a 48.725 vs. Arizona. This was Ling's debut as a Spartan.
• Two other gymnasts competed for the first time in Green and White against Arizona. Freshman Drew Hendershot made her debut as a Spartan competing on the vault (9.575) and floor (9.725), and graduate student Haley Sedgewick competed for the first time in the Green and White, scoring a 9.625 on the vault.
• Ashley Noll competed for the first time since her injury last season, earning a 9.675 on the floor, which was her first routine of 2016.
• The Spartans best event against Arizona was the bars, scoring an overall 48.725, which differed from the team's best event last year, where floor proved to be the most consistent event for the Spartans on which they tallied a 49.235 RQS and ranked 16th in the nation (and third in the Big Ten) as a team.
• The Spartans finished last season with a 12-10 overall record and went 4-5 in Big Ten competition. MSU ranked seventh in the Big Ten and No. 26 in the nation in 2015, which was 11 places higher than they were ranked at the end of the 2014 season. MSU's RQS of 195.117 was it's best since 2010 (195.350).
• The Spartans concluded the 2015 season in the NCAA Iowa State Regional, placing fourth as a No. 5 seed with a 195.375. It marked MSU's first time traveling to NCAA Regionals as a team since the 2012 season when the Spartans competed in Auburn, Alabama and scored a 194.050.
• Lisa Burt and Elena Lagoski were both named First Team All-Big Ten in 2015. It was the first All-Big Ten honors for both athletes, following in the footsteps of Alina Cartwright, who was an All-Big Ten pick in the 2014 season. It marked the first time MSU had two gymnasts named to the First Team since Rhiannon Banda-Scott and now-assistant coach Nicole Curler in 2007-08.
• Lagoski earned a spot in the Spartan record book when she set a career best 9.950, the second-highest score in school history, on floor at Iowa (Jan. 18, 2015). She went on to match that mark two other times during the season (Feb. 15 and Feb. 27). A native of Kingston, PA, Lagoski holds eight floor crowns and placed among the top three in 10 regular season competitions a year ago.
• MSU returns five of it's six Academic All-Big Ten honores from 2015: Lisa Burt, Nicola Deans, Brittany Holmes, Ashley Noll, and Holly Ryan. In addition, Deans and Ryan were named National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGC/W) Scholar All-Americans for maintaining a GPA of 3.5 or higher during the 2014-15 academic year.
•The Spartans welcome seven newcomers to the roster in 2016: five freshmen, one transfer student, and one graduate student. Sophomore Lindsey Lemke (Holt, Mich.) has recently been added to the Michigan State roster. Lemke is eligible to compete immediately, and joins the Spartans after competing at the University of North Carolina in the 2015 season. Haley Sedgewick (Flint, Mich.) is a graduate student that has also been added to the roster. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh and is currently pursuing her Masters in Communications and Media Technology at MSU.
• Michigan State will travel to Minneapolis, Minn. for their next meet on Saturday, Jan. 23 against Minnesota. The meet will take place at Peik Gym at 7:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
