Michigan State women's gymnastics advance to second-straight regionals

No. 10 seeded Michigan State (24-4) “survived and advanced” in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Gymnastics Championships, posting a 196.825 team score to finish second in its session. By beating Western Michigan and West Virginia, the Spartans advanced to Sunday's NCAA Pittsburgh Regional Final on Sunday afternoon. No. 7 seeded California earned the first qualifying spot with a 197.250.

With Friday’s runner-up finish, the Spartans advance to their second-consecutive NCAA regional final. Michigan State will be joined by the top two teams from the evening session on Friday (No. 2 Florida, No. 15 Arizona State, No. 24 Maryland, and Penn State) in Sunday's final at 5 p.m. The top two teams from the regional final will advance to the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas on April 13 and 15.

The Spartans took an early overall lead by starting strong on floor in the first rotation (49.475) by posting three scores of 9.900 or higher. MSU was led by sophomore Skyla Schulte and junior Delanie Harkness, who both scored a 9.925. Freshman Nikki Smith earned a 9.900. Junior Giana Kalefe scored a 9.875 and sophomore Gabrielle Stephen was the fifth Spartan scored in the event at 9.850.

The vault was not so kind to MSU as the Spartans scored a 49.000 on vault in their second rotation. Schulte’s 9.875 led the Spartans posted the highest score for the Spartans with a 9.875. Stephen and senior Nyah Smith both recorded a 9.850 but sophomore Lauren Hsu (9.725) and junior Baleigh Garcia (9.700) couldn’t break in to the 9.8+ part of the scoreboard. California’s 49.550 on floor was the best performance of the meet and pushed the Bears into the lead after two rotations.

The Spartans regained their mojo and retook the lead in the third rotation with an impressive 49.325 bars rotation. Harkness scored her second 9.925 of the day in the anchor spot to lead MSU, earning a perfect 10.000 from one of the four judges. Stephen (9.875), freshman Olivia Zsarmani (9.850), freshman Nikki Smith (9.850), and senior Jori Jackard (9.825) all performed well and gave the Spartans a great chance at pulling out the overall victory heading into the fourth and final rotation.

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Unfortunately for MSU, though, the Spartans struggled on beam with a 49.025 in the final rotation and California did really well on their final event, bars. Stephen, Schulte, and Harkness came through in the clutch to advance the Spartans to their second straight regional final. Stephen put up the highest beam score of the session, 9.950, while Schulte scored a 9.900 and Harkness scored a 9.850.

When Nikki Smith struggled in the third position of beam and put up an 8.875, MSU's hopes of advancing to the NCAA regional rested on the performances of Skyla Schulte, Gabi Stephen, and Baleigh Garcia. All three came through in the clutch (with Schulte and Stephen putting up impressive scores) and the Spartans did enough to advance.

Stephen and Schulte earned the top two all-around scores of the first session, scoring a 39.525 and 39.475, respectively. MSU returns to the Peterson Event Center on Sunday, April 2 to compete in the NCAA Regional Finals at 5 p.m. The meet will stream on ESPN+.

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