Gymnastics Hosts No. 21 Arkansas in Breast Cancer Awareness Meet
2/23/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State gymnastics team hosts No. 21 Arkansas for a meet on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. inside of Jenison Field House. It is the annual Jan Howard Breast Cancer Awareness Meet and fans are encouraged to wear pink to support Breast Cancer Awareness. Live stats can be found on msuspartans.com and the meet will be streamed lived on BTN Plus (subscription required).
"The Breast Cancer Awareness meet adds a special element because it is for a great cause," said interim head coach Mike Rowe. "Awareness is growing and there has been a lot of progress. Breast cancer is something that affects nearly everyone - most people either have someone in their family or know someone who is battling the disease. It is nice to have this platform to bring awareness and help people feel less alone."
The Spartans (3-6, 0-5) enter the weekend averaging a score of 194.218, while the Razorbacks (2-5, 2-4) average 195.429. MSU's season-best performance came vs. No 10 Michigan (2/11), where Michigan State registered a 195.625. Arkansas also had its best score of the season two weekends ago vs. No. 2 LSU, where the Razorbacks tallied a 196.275.
"Bringing in an SEC school adds a unique dynamic to the meet," said Rowe. "We do that especially because typically it enhances the crowd because they know the SEC is a powerhouse and like to see good schools come in and what we can do against them. It raises our level of expectations and raises our ability and our potential of energy, so we are going to continue to schedule these big meets with bigger teams and raise the bar for ourselves."
MSU's best event has been floor exercise, where the Spartans average a 48.739. Michigan State has won the floor exercise title at six of seven competitions this season and has shown great depth in the event, with four different individuals earning titles. The Spartans are led by a pair of seniors on the floor, as both Nicola Deans and Kira Frederick average 9.845 to rank tied for ninth in the Big Ten. Freshman Gabriella Douglas and Elena Lagoski have also each earned floor titles this season.
"Practice this week has been really good and each day has been better and better," said Rowe. "We've been honing in on some details and the team's attitude has been really good. We've been really just focusing in on us and what we need to do to continue pushing forward and trying to best our best score and enhance our RQS for the postseason."
Deans' success on the floor is being matched elsewhere in the gym and she is having the best season of her career in the Green and White. She has set career highs on the vault (9.900), floor (9.900) and in the all-around competition (39.375) this season. Deans has earned the first three all-around title of her career in 2017 and ranks fifth in the Big Ten. She also has tallied four event titles on vault, where she averages a 9.807 to lead the Spartans.
Michigan State owns an average score of 48.518 on the uneven bars, led by junior Hailee Westney, who has tallied four event titles on the bars this season, including a season-high of 9.900. The Spartans have featured the top bars performer at five of seven meets this season. Lindsey Lemke has also won a bars title and leads MSU on the apparatus with an average score of 9.818, which is tied for eighth in the Big Ten.
Michigan State closes out the regular season next weekend with a pair of meets. The Spartans start on the road at Pittsburgh, where they will face the Panthers along with West Virginia and Towson. MSU then returns home and will host its Senior Day on Sunday, March 5 at 2 p.m. at Jenison Field House against Bowling Green.
Players Mentioned
