Weekend Preview
2/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
| Michigan State vs. Penn State | |
| Date | Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016 |
| Location | East Lansing, Mich. Jenison Field House |
| Live Results | |
| Pre-Meet Notes | Michigan State | Penn State |
| Social Media | @MSUgymnastics  | Facebook  |
MEET NOTES
• Our annual Jan Howard Memorial Breast Cancer Awareness meet is dedicated to the memory of Jan Howard, a lifelong Spartan fan and the mother of former Michigan State gymnast (and current Director of Student-Athlete Development) Angela (Howard) Montie. Jan lost her courageous battle with breast cancer in 1997.
• The Spartans (3-3) host their third home meet of the season, a Big Ten matchup against Penn State at 2 p.m. The meet on Saturday serves as the Jan Howard Memorial Breast Cancer Awareness Meet. Fans are encouraed to wear pink!
• Penn State (0-3) is currently No. 31 in the national rankings and is coming off of a loss to Illinois. The last time the two teams met was February 7, 2015 in State College, Pa., where the Spartans fell to the Nittany Lions 197.025-193.425.
TEAM NOTES
• Last time out, the Spartans won or shared two individual event titles and captured two team event top scores in a quad meet against Rutgers, Towson and Pittsburgh. Michigan State placed first overall with a team score of 193. 925, followed by Towson (193.800), Rutgers (193.550) and Pittsburgh (193.100).
• Junior Elena Lagoski placed in the top three in two events, placing first on floor with a 9.850 and third overall on vault with a 9.800.
• Holly Ryan officially competed for the first time this season on floor and shared top honors with Elena Lagoski, where the junior pair each scored a 9.850. Ryan's score was a season-high and just under her career-high 9.875. This was her first career event title.
• Senior Lisa Burt placed third overall in all-around with a 39.075. She also snagged two season-high scores on vault (9.775) and floor (9.800).
• Senior Nicola Deans took the crown on vault in the quad meet, recording a season-high score of 9.850.
• Floor proved to be the best event for the Spartans, notching a team score of 49.100.
• Freshman Jessica Ling notched a career-high 9.800 on bars, placing third overall in the meet and improving her score from the previous meet at Minnesota, a 9.775.
• Redshirt senior Ashley Noll scored a season-high 9.775 on beam to rank sixth overall in the meet.
• Elena Lagoski has 13 individual floor titles, the most titles of any of our athletes on any apparatus. Three of her top floor finishes count toward the top 13 highest floor performances in school history.
• The Spartans are currently ranked fifth regionally and sixth in the Big Ten on floor.
• There are currently three Spartans ranked in the Top 25 in the region including Lisa Burt for all-around (15th), bars (T-10th) and beam (T-19th). Nicola Deans is ranked on vault (24th) and Elena Lagoski for all-around (23rd) and floor (T-11th).
• Five Spartans are ranked in the Top 25 in the Big Ten, including Lisa Burt for all-around (T-18th), bars (13th) and beam (18th); Nicola Deans for vault (T-15th), Kira Frederick for floor (18th), Elena Lagoski for vault (T-20th) and floor (T-7th) and Holly Ryan for floor (T-7th).
• 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.
• MSU returns five of its six Academic All-Big Ten honorees 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 who 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.
• Next week, the Spartans will travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., to take on Big Ten rival University of Michigan. The meet will take place on Sunday, February 14, 2016 at 2 p.m. at the Crisler Center.
Players Mentioned
