Saturday, March 9
East Lansing, Mich.
2 PM
Michigan State University
vs
Greenville
Photo by: Kelly Branigan
No. 8 Gymnastics Hosts Central Michigan, Fisk, Greenville for Senior Day Saturday
3/8/2024 12:14:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics
EAST LANSING, Mich. -Â No. 8 Michigan State gymnastics (13-3, 9-0 B1G) hosts Central Michigan, Fisk and Greenville in its final regular-season home meet on Saturday, March 9 at 2 p.m. in Jenison Field House.
Saturday will serve as the Spartans' Senior Day, with six seniors - Baleigh Garcia, Naomi German, Delanie Harkness, Sydney Hayashi, Giana Kalefe and Tara Walsh - as well as MSU's two fifth-year seniors Jori Jackard and Nyah Smith - set to be honored following the meet. The meet will stream on B1G+ with live scoring available on MSUSpartans.com.
NOTABLES
MSU enters Saturday's meet at a national qualifying score of 197.500, good for eighth in the NCAA for the third-straight week. In their last outing, the Spartans earned their best home score and second-highest overall score of the season with a 197.725-195.725 home victory over New Hampshire on March 1.
In the team event rankings, MSU sits in the top 10 on vault (No. 5, 49.390 NQS), bars (No. 9, 49.385) and beam (No. 10, 49.335), while sitting in 12th on floor (49.495).
Individually, sophomore Nikki Smith continued her stellar season against New Hampshire with a 10.000 on vault, her second perfect score of the season and third overall following a 10.000 on floor against Iowa earlier this season and a 10.000 on vault in 2023. Smith was named Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week earlier this week for the second-straight week, marking her third time collecting the honor this season. MSU has earned six Specialist of the Week honors from the Big Ten this season and 10 weekly awards overall, the most by any school in 2024.
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In addition to Smith's vault title against New Hampshire, MSU took the top spots on every event. Sophomore Sage Kellerman claimed her second bars title of the season with a 9.925, seniors Giana Kalefe and Baleigh Garcia earned a share of the beam title (9.900) for their first event titles of the season, and senior Delanie Harkness, junior Skyla Schulte and freshman MaKayla Tucker earned a three-way share of the floor title (9.925). Schulte also won her fifth all-around title of the season with a 39.525.
THE MATCHUP
MSU will face Fisk (190.595 NQS) and Greenville (183.675 NQS) for the first time in program history on Saturday. Both teams are in their second season of competition. Last season, Fisk became the first HBCU to sponsor women's gymnastics.
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The Spartans and Chippewas last met in a tri-meet alongside Western Michigan on Feb. 11, 2022 in Mount Pleasant. MSU won that meet with a 196.500, followed by CMU in second with a 196.475.
UP NEXT
The Spartans travel to Denton, Texas, to take on Texas Woman's, Centenary and Rutgers in a quad meet for their final competition of the regular season on Sunday, March 17 at 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT.
Saturday will serve as the Spartans' Senior Day, with six seniors - Baleigh Garcia, Naomi German, Delanie Harkness, Sydney Hayashi, Giana Kalefe and Tara Walsh - as well as MSU's two fifth-year seniors Jori Jackard and Nyah Smith - set to be honored following the meet. The meet will stream on B1G+ with live scoring available on MSUSpartans.com.
NOTABLES
MSU enters Saturday's meet at a national qualifying score of 197.500, good for eighth in the NCAA for the third-straight week. In their last outing, the Spartans earned their best home score and second-highest overall score of the season with a 197.725-195.725 home victory over New Hampshire on March 1.
In the team event rankings, MSU sits in the top 10 on vault (No. 5, 49.390 NQS), bars (No. 9, 49.385) and beam (No. 10, 49.335), while sitting in 12th on floor (49.495).
Individually, sophomore Nikki Smith continued her stellar season against New Hampshire with a 10.000 on vault, her second perfect score of the season and third overall following a 10.000 on floor against Iowa earlier this season and a 10.000 on vault in 2023. Smith was named Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week earlier this week for the second-straight week, marking her third time collecting the honor this season. MSU has earned six Specialist of the Week honors from the Big Ten this season and 10 weekly awards overall, the most by any school in 2024.
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In addition to Smith's vault title against New Hampshire, MSU took the top spots on every event. Sophomore Sage Kellerman claimed her second bars title of the season with a 9.925, seniors Giana Kalefe and Baleigh Garcia earned a share of the beam title (9.900) for their first event titles of the season, and senior Delanie Harkness, junior Skyla Schulte and freshman MaKayla Tucker earned a three-way share of the floor title (9.925). Schulte also won her fifth all-around title of the season with a 39.525.
THE MATCHUP
MSU will face Fisk (190.595 NQS) and Greenville (183.675 NQS) for the first time in program history on Saturday. Both teams are in their second season of competition. Last season, Fisk became the first HBCU to sponsor women's gymnastics.
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The Spartans and Chippewas last met in a tri-meet alongside Western Michigan on Feb. 11, 2022 in Mount Pleasant. MSU won that meet with a 196.500, followed by CMU in second with a 196.475.
UP NEXT
The Spartans travel to Denton, Texas, to take on Texas Woman's, Centenary and Rutgers in a quad meet for their final competition of the regular season on Sunday, March 17 at 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT.
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