Gabi Stephen tried to calculate, in her mind, the exact score she needed in order for the Spartans to win their first ever postseason Big Ten Gymnastics title. About ready to start her beam performance, she had already said a little prayer, for peace, and was getting herself in the moment.

All eyes were on her.

5,700 fans packed into Jenison Field House on the Michigan State University campus, the vast majority wearing green and white to match the leotard Stephen was sporting, although, in most cases, much less sparkly.

In addition to a national television audience, the coaches and gymnasts from Michigan, Ohio State, and Minnesota were watching.

Stephen’s teammates had done their job and the championship was there for the taking.

One last strong performance would do it.

“I knew I had to do a pretty good routine but I didn't know exactly what the score was and there was a certain point where I was like okay, I just have to let that go,” Stephen said earlier this week. “I didn't have the brain power at the moment to try and do the math of it, so I just (told myself) ‘just get up there and hit this routine.”

Stephen has done this hundreds of times, probably thousands, actually.

But never quite like this.

Two hours earlier, Gabi was heading up the stairs to the Spartans’ final 15-minute warm-up on the balance beam (which would be Michigan State’s apparatus during the Big Ten Championships’ final rotation), when she cut her foot on a step.

“I kind of hopped a little bit because I just banged my foot,” she said. “Then I looked down and I could start to see blood trickling down from it.”

It was a huge slice on the side of her foot, near her left big toe.

“It was right beside my nail, kind of almost cutting into my nail,” said Stephen. “My big toe, nice and deep, too.”

For any athlete, an unexpected cut on their foot would cause issues.

But an unexpected cut 30 minutes before the meet was scheduled to begin for a gymnast whose toes are an intricate part of the guiding and balancing part of the performance … this was an emergency.

“It wouldn't stop bleeding and so that part was a little bit of struggle for me,” said Stephen. “Going right into the beam warm up, I wasn't able to warm up at normal pace, I was hopping in at random turns. Every single time I looked down, I was still bleeding. After each turn, I would get off and have to get rewrapped and get back up and then get off, get rewrapped, get back up.”

Stephen had already gone through the 20-minute general warm-up, as well as the three 15-minute warm-ups for floor, vault, and bars. Having to tape your toes at this point was like a basketball player putting a splint on a finger during shootaround or a quarterback taping two fingers together on his throwing hand right before heading out for the opening drive.

It changes things.

In gymnastics, toes are used to grip the beam so if it’s not something you are used to, it feels different and changes how you land.

The Spartan coaches and athletic trainers wouldn’t even get to worry about how the performance would go if they couldn’t get the cut to stop bleeding. Every turn Stephen took on beam warm-up, her cut reopened and there was blood everywhere, on the beam and mats. She had to go to her athletic trainer, Destiny Teachnor-Hauk, in between each turn on the beam to get it fixed up.

“It was kind of a little back-and-forth and we're pressing gauze pads and tissue and wrapping it up and it wasn't stopping and then even one of our team doctors was down there saying that she wanted to give me a stitch,” Stephen recalled. “I can't do anything because I'm bleeding. I don't know if I noticed (the pain) so much – there were parts where I could step and I would feel it. Obviously I'm using a lot of pressure on my toes and that's not the best for a cut.”

While the athletic trainers were fixing her body, her teammates were helping her mind.

“I was just mostly getting overwhelmed so some of my teammates were able to help me kind of climb back down into the moment,” Stephen remembered.

Genna Lebster was one such teammate.

“Everyone was going upstairs (to the locker room), getting ready, stuff like that, and (Lebster) asked me, ‘Is there anything that I can do for you that will help you?’” Stephen said, her voice reflecting the smile on her face. “I just asked her to stay with me while I was composing myself.”

Her teammates, Baleigh Garcia and Skyla Schulte, were providing the comic relief needed in moments like this.

“While I was getting off the beam, Baleigh and Skyla were just making me laugh about it and just kind of laughing through the pain of the moment,” Stephen recalled. “Genna was asking me what I needed and she helped me gather all of my things, because I felt like I was in a million places at once and she was helping me bring it back together. She just asked if I needed anything and really all I wanted was for her to stay with me and sit with me because that was what helped me calm down. She's my calm person.”

The Spartans finished their final warm-up and headed to the locker room to await pre-meet introductions.

“When I went to the locker room, I had a temporary solution,” Stephen said. “We kind of got the bleeding to calm down, we had a lot of different layers of wrap on it.”

That’s when the offer to stitch it up was presented to her. Stephen quickly declined that option and opted instead for the wound to be steri-stripped and went about her normal pre-meet business. She and Teachnor-Hauk made a plan that they would look at it between each event she competed in and re-tape it as needed.

The introductions started and Michigan State marched out. Very few of the nearly 6,000 people inside Jenison knew that Stephen was concerned that she might be bleeding through her bandages.

“We walked out and (I was) wearing my shoe, and I was telling everyone, ‘I don't know if I'm bleeding through my toe right now but I can't really see it, so we're just gonna walk out how we walk out,” said Stephen.

The Spartans’ first rotation, floor exercise, was going to provide a test run for Stephen to see how the latest iteration of bandages would hold.

“But then, when we started warming up the floor (exercise) in the four-minute touch, that's when I noticed again that the issue was not resolved,” Stephen remembered.

The bleeding started again. Stephen was scheduled to perform third on floor exercise, so the Spartan team had some time to reapply the bandages and the tape.

Elle Beaufait started things off for the Spartans with an impressive 9.900 and MaKayla Tucker followed with a matching score. Then Stephen took the mat.

“I was in a position where I was like, ‘hey, I'm here to compete on four events,’” Stephen evoked. “I came in knowing that’s what I was gonna do and I'm not gonna let this stop me. I'm just gonna move forward.”

And move forward she did. Stephen posted MSU’s third straight 9.900 and when she looked down afterwards, didn’t see any blood.

“(That was) the last time that I wrapped it for the whole meet,” said Stephen. “My (athletic) trainer came with this little grouping of things that she wanted me to use and we used it and it stayed pretty permanently throughout the meet. I never re-dressed it again until after the meet was done.”

Delanie Harkness (9.875), Nikki Smith (9.925), and Skyla Schulte (9.950) finished floor strong for the Spartans, putting Michigan State at the top of the leaderboard.

The Spartans gathered their gear and moved on to rotation two, which was vault.

Schulte led off with a 9.850. Tucker followed with a 9.875 and Olivia Zsarmani posted a 9.800. Stephen then performed her vault, matching the team high at the time with a 9.875.

There are not many gymnasts who would be able to do what Stephen did if they cut their foot open. Stephen lands on her toes a lot – “which is just how I land my skills, which people laugh at me for” – so this posed an extra layer of difficulty.

But because she lands on her toes, she has had her skin open up in the past. She’s had to wrap her feet before to account for that. So, while the timing was most definitely a challenge, the fact is that Stephen was more prepared for it than most would be.

“I'm used to wrapping my toes in practice, wrapping my feet in practice,” Stephen said. “This was a little bit of a different situation, but I think it's something I was more comfortable with than anybody else.”

Back on vault, Nikki Smith matched Tucker’s and Stephen’s score. Then Sage Kellerman put a 9.900 on the board, allowing the Spartans to drop Zsarmani’s 9.800 and remain atop the leaderboard after two rotations.

Halfway home.

Halfway to MSU’s first ever postseason Big Ten championship in program history.

How was the cut?

“I honestly did forget it happened and the adrenaline of it all just flowing through your body,” said Stephen. “There's a lot of things that adrenaline can do; that wasn't at the forefront of my mind at all throughout the meet.”

After moving on to rotation three, Schulte and Zsarmani opened with consecutive 9.900s on the uneven bars. Stephen put up a 9.800 and the next three Spartans (Kellerman’s 9.825, Smith’s 9.900, Harkness’ 9.850) had her back, allowing those three scores to be added to the opening 9.900s.

MSU was still in the lead.

But Minnesota was right behind, outperforming their typical scores, and challenging Michigan State for the championship.

Next up was rotation four, and for the Spartans that meant they would be finishing the evening on balance beam, the event in which Stephen says gymnasts “feel the most.”

“We obviously don't wear any shoes when we're doing gymnastics,” explained Stephen. “But beam is the thing that you feel the most – you only have four inches, there's only a small room for error so being able to feel the beam with your toes and your feet. Honestly, my foot had an inch more of width on it because I had a bunch of gauze and wraps around my toe. It was a little bit of an adjustment, but we had the four-minute touch for me to kind of feel it out and see how it was. And that was enough for me to feel confident going into my routine.”

Gabi Ortiz was the beam alternate, but it was clear to the coaching staff that Gabi Stephen was going to be able to handle it.

Stephen would remain in the anchor position.

She’d finish the night for Michigan State.

Sometimes the anchor position has zero pressure because the first five performers put up rockstar scores and so the anchor can shoot for the stars and try to add a tenth or two to the team total. Sometimes, the anchor position has all of the pressure because it comes down to them in the end.

“The (anchor) position is where (Coach Nicole) Curler (Jones) has had me all year long,” Stephen said. “I haven't always felt the most confident in it, but I've been in it all year and I've been working on that, building it, and kind of feeling more comfortable in that position as the weeks go on. It's something that has been very intentional. Curler has told me I want you in this spot. This is where you belong, so it's kind of about me owning that position.”

It seemed as if the Spartans were set up for a storybook ending.

Michigan was struggling on the floor exercise (at least compared to their standard), and were too far back to truly challenge the Spartans. Ohio State was similarly not in a position to win. Minnesota was on a tough apparatus, vault, to end the evening. Really, all the Spartans needed were five solid performances in the 9.850 to 9.950 range and they would be able to start the celebration.

The beam performances did not get off to the most auspicious start, though.

Giana Kalefe struggled and, after a lengthy delay, ended up with a 9.250. She’d need her teammates to pick her up.

Before Stephen would get her opportunity, four other Spartans had to hit good routines.

“Something that is kind of funny for me,” said Stephen, “is that a lot of people have focused on my routine and called it clutch, but I mean, the truth of the matter is, after the first routine wasn't what we wanted, every single person after that had to hit a good routine so every single person after that had to do the same amount of work.”

Stephen was proud of her teammates for stepping up when the pressure was on.

“Especially Kayla (Tucker), one of the freshmen, hitting an amazing routine, sticking those dismounts,” Stephen recounted. “Baleigh (Garcia) getting first place (on the night) on beam. Skyla (Schulte) winning the all-around. Delanie (Harkness) getting up there, too. All of them hit amazing in that situation and all the pressure.”

For those keeping track of the decimal points:

MaKayla Tucker – 9.825

Delanie Harkness – 9.750

Skyla Schulte – 9.900

Baleigh Garcia – 9.925

The scoring televisions on the Jenison floor told the crowd who was up next: Gabrielle Stephen.

Due to the earlier delay by the beam judges, all of the other events had finished up and all eyes were on Stephen.

“Yeah, so I kind of felt that pressure,” Stephen admitted. “(Coach) Curler came up to me, she said ‘this is your event, you know how to do it.’ She told me I've been in this position all year. I'm ready. I'm prepared. I'm good.”

She didn’t realize it at the time, but her dad reminded her afterwards that this wasn’t the first time she was in a pressure position with everyone in the building watching her. In fact, just last year, at NCAA Nationals, Stephen was one of two Spartans who qualified as an individual for a chance at an individual championship.

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When individuals qualify for an event but their team doesn’t, that individual is slotted with a team to rotate with, and, at Nationals, Stephen was assigned to California. The individual qualifiers compete after the team they are rotating with, so the whole Cal lineup went and then Stephen was to perform after they were done. It was the last rotation of the day. Fourth rotation, last person up. Everybody was watching.

“I like to think that that also kind of prepared me because everyone was watching me at Nationals as the last person up,” remembered Stephen. “The difference between that and here is that I had my whole team here and a whole crowd here that was backing me and supporting me. At Nationals, obviously I had our four coaches and I had Delanie and my parents in the stands. That's a whole lot different than a whole crowd and a whole team, right behind you. I knew when I turned around (in East Lansing) that my whole team would be jumping for joy for me.”

Facing a similar situation in Jenison Field House, Stephen prepared for her opportunity to win it for her team:

“Before I got on beam for myself I mean, honestly, I just prayed a little bit, prayed for peace, and just to get into the moment, and so I kind of just used that to guide myself. When our beam lineup is going, sometimes I get nervous so I don't watch the whole lineup. Whatever happens on the beam before me, it's not like I can change their performance or anything. I just get into my own head and think about my routine and what I need to do when I get up there.”

Was she nervous?

Yes.

But not as nervous as she’s been during other routines.

“Honestly, there's been other beam routines that I felt more nervous,” Stephen said. “In (the Big Ten Championships) routine, I was just going with it. I heard the crowd. I knew that everyone was watching me, and I heard everyone cheering for me after I hit my series. I heard the crowd and that was an amazing moment hearing that. After I landed my dismount, everyone was cheering for me. That's the most electric I've ever heard Jenison in my life and that's a moment that I'll never forget.”

"It speaks to Gabi's mental toughness, because she didn't get her normal warm up and there was still pain," said MSU assistant coach Nicole Curler Jones. "To deliver under the pressure with not a normal warm up speaks huge for her mental toughness and trusting in her training."

Gabi Stephen might have been the one on the beam at the end, leading into the team celebration, but she knew that the Big Ten regular season and postseason championships were a team effort.

“Something that I always say is that no matter whether people are competing (that day) or not, they have just as much of an impact on this team and how we function,” said Stephen. “I know it's really tough because everyone works just as hard as everyone else in the gym and everyone's working towards their goals.”

Stephen referred back to her roommate of three years (soon to be four), Genna Lebster, and how she helped her through the difficult start to the evening.

“I do think Genna specifically is one of those people that is relentlessly hard-working,” Stephen explained. “She's hard-working in school. She's hard-working in gymnastics and she is working towards all her goals, but she's also everyone's biggest cheerleader. She is the first one to give me a hug and I know that she is supporting me and everything I do.”

Stephen’s gratitude extends to every single person on the gymnastics team.

“Everyone's doing something that's pushing us towards our goals, whether it's pushing someone else to be better, whether it's cheering for someone or helping them when they're having a hard time, whether it's running to grab water, whatever it is,” said Stephen. “There are a lot of moving parts that people don't see. When we're warming up, we need people that are moving the mats or people that are running our cheers for us – we do a ‘go green, go white’ when we land our series – just a bunch of different parts that are constantly moving and impactful to me.”

At the end of the evening, Stephen was acknowledged for her fifth-place finish in the all-around competition. In order to place in the all-around, a gymnast must compete in all four events. On this night, the best of the Big Ten were performing. Her teammate, Schulte, won first place and, through the teamwork of her coaches, training staff, and teammates, Stephen received all-Big Ten first team honors, on an injured foot.

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“Honestly, my goal was to win it all,” said Stephen. “One of my goals that I've set my for myself these next two years is to win individual Big Ten titles, so that's still something that I'm striving for. I'm always pushing to do my best at every single meet, but something I've been kind of working on this year is take every moment as it is and not to be too hard.”

Stephen acknowledges that she’s not going to be perfect.

“I do four events at pretty much every single competition so to expect perfection at every single meet on every single event is not really that realistic,” reflected Stephen. “Working within what I do and being proud of every single goal and every single routine that I hit out there, whether it's perfect or not, it's still contributing towards the team and how we do.”

Stephen had a large contingent in Jenison for the Big Ten Championships. In addition to her parents and all four of her siblings, her uncles, aunts, and cousins from Canada and from Illinois (four hours from both directions) were there, too. Stephen’s grandma made it to her first ever meet that night and watched proudly from the stands as her granddaughter performed admirably.

Stephen knows that the competition is heating up and that she and her teammates have their goals still ahead of themselves in the NCAA postseason, starting Friday in Gainesville, Florida, with the regional competition.

“Everyone's been saying how difficult our regional is,” she said. “But honestly our mindset is just, at this point, every regional is difficult. Everything is going to be hard, it's just dealing with that and proving what we know we can do. If we hit on all pillars and hit how we know we can hit and just practice like we deserve it and own every single moment of it, then this regional is ours.”

Stephen exudes confidence, like she did all night during an historic evening at Jenison Field House on March 23, 2024.

The score Stephen needed on that last beam performance, with everyone watching, was a 9.800 to win.

She got a 9.875.

Cut foot and all.

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