Four hours before the Michigan State gymnastics team was scheduled to kick off their first national championship competition in 37 years, Skyla Schulte’s dad walked up the staircase near where fans, family and friends had gathered at the Worthington Renaissance Hotel to send off their Spartans for the 3.6 mile bus ride to Dickies Arena.
After gathering everyone’s attention, he belted out an inspirational speech, harkening back to ancient Sparta and the mentality that would be needed for this team to advance out of the NCAA Gymnastics National Semifinal of Death (italics = my words, not his), ending with a rousing Go Green Go White chant echoing throughout the hotel lobby.
Minutes later, the team emerged and made their way down the stairs to large applause and cheers and out the door to the bus waiting to transport them further down this historic road.
The crowd flowed out into the parking area. Some fans even ran a few hundred feet alongside and behind the bus as it departed, shouting and cheering.
Not since 1988 had Michigan State gymnasts set foot in the arena for the national semifinals as a team, but as the first session wrapped up, there they were, sporting green shorts and white long-sleeve t-shirts with “Michigan State” emblazoned across their chests and “gymnastics” down their left arm.
As the Missouri and Oklahoma teams celebrated their wins by placing their names into the final four on the oversized bracket on the arena floor, the Spartans took their place on the vault, where they started their opening stretches.
Shedding their outer layers, the gymnasts moved into their 17 minutes of apparatus-specific warm-up (vault). As the Spartans sprinted down the 82 feet run up at full speed toward the springboard, the MSU coaching staff was standing on the side, watching, helping, offering words of encouragement and advice.
MSU’s head coach, Mike Rowe, stood there with a broad smile on his face. When asked what was in his mind at that moment, he flashed back in time to the day that he and his assistant coach, Nicole Jones, took over this program in 2017 and all the work it took to get this program here.
“I keep pinching myself,” he said. “We’re here as a team.”
The Spartan gymnasts were loose, smiling, not at all intimidated by the spectacle happening around them. Prior to the start of warm-ups, they had smiled and waved and took selfies with their friends on other teams, but now they were focused on themselves and what it was going to take to get them to where they wanted to be – Saturday’s final four championships meet.
There were multiple Olympians warming up on other teams around the arena and while this home-grown team – these Spartans – didn’t have the international experience on their team, they did have the grit, the fortitude, the spunk – and even the scars – that had gotten them to this place.
This is the team that moved the Spartan gymnastics program into the upper echelon of one of the world’s most popular sports. This is the team that put in the hard work, slowly building over the last several years, putting Big Ten championship hardware in the trophy case.
This year the conference newcomers at UCLA might have denied the Spartans their three-peat in the Big Ten, but MSU was able to accomplish something they had yet to do since the 1980s – advance out of the regionals and make it to the final weekend of competition.
Yes, the Spartans had accomplished a lot.
Yes, they were proud to have made it this far.
But there was still work to be done.
A meet to be won.
The Spartans finished off their warm-ups on beam, floor, and bars and retreated to their locker room, waiting for their 7:47pm lineup time.
Michigan State was the first team introduced as their hype video played on the big screen above. The crowd cheered as the players and staff entered the arena to fireworks and flames, making their way up to the spring floor where they waived to their supporters in the stands.
First up was vault, Michigan State’s best event. Even with a few wobbles, MSU put up a 49.3875 and found themselves in second place after the first rotation behind UCLA, who had scored a 49.525 on floor.
Sage Kellerman stuck her vault and scored a 9.950 in the anchor spot, joining freshman Amy Doyle in the 9.9+ category. Doyle put up a career-high 9.9125 in the No. 2 spot and reached the 9.900 mark on the event for the first time in her career. Junior Olivia Zsarmani scored a 9.8625, senior Gabrielle Stephen earned a 9.8375, while sophomore MaKayla Tucker led off with a 9.825. The Spartans dropped Nikki Smith’s 9.7250.
An impressive 49.450 on bars helped Michigan State take the lead after two rotations. Three Spartans scored higher 9.900 or better, with Stephen led the way with a 9.9375 in the third spot. Zsarmani received a 10.000 from one judge on her performance but ended up with a career-high 9.925 in the fourth spot. Kellerman followed her 9.950 vault with a 9.9125 in the bars anchor spot. In the leadoff spot, Doyle scored a 9.8625 and Tucker earned a 9.8125. Michigan State dropped Delanie Harkness’s 9.7875.
As the Spartans made their way to the beam, they were ecstatic. Rowe stopped on the way for an ESPN interview right in front of the Spartan cheering section. Things were going very well, despite the fact that MSU hadn’t put up their best ever performances. They were in the lead. Get through beam, perform well on floor, and the Final Four on the Floor might just be within their grasp.
Unfortunately for the green and white contingent, though, this was the high point of the evening.
The highest score on beam was put up by freshman Cady Duplissis, a 9.8625 in the No. 2 spot. Senior Skyla Schulte and junior Nikki Smith both scored a 9.8125.
Sophomore Emma Misenheimer tied her career-high with a 9.850 and Stephen anchored the event with a 9.825. MSU dropped fifth-year senior Delanie Harkness’s score of 9.800.
The 49.1625 dropped Michigan State from first to fourth, but the Spartans weren’t necessarily out of it quite yet. After three rotations, the top team, UCLA, and fourth-place team, MSU, were just 0.1875 apart.
In order to advance, it would take a tremendous performance by Michigan State on floor combined with a few mistakes by the other teams on their events.
But it wasn't meant to be.
Schulte led the Spartans with a 9.9375 in her final routine as a Spartan. Smith added a 9.900 in the fifth spot while Stephen scored a 9.8625 and Tucker put up a 9.875.
MSU ended the night with a 49.3625 on floor. When combined with Utah’s 49.6500 on bars, UCLA’s 49.550 on beam, and LSU’s 49.375 on vault, the Spartans ended up finishing fourth. The Spartans’ 197.3625 was the fifth-best score of the eight-team semifinal field and outscored three out of the four teams from the first session.
It was a tremendous season for the Spartans, though, as they eclipsed the 198.000 team score mark twice in the postseason, including a program-high road score of 198.150 in the Big Ten Championships. In addition, MSU broke its team vault record twice, posted three of its top 10 all-time team bars scores, and scored two perfect 10.000s.
As it became clear that their season was over, there were tears and hugs in the MSU holding area just off the floor exercise.
As the evening wrapped up, Michigan State Athletic Director Alan Haller, head coach Mike Rowe, and assistant coaches Devin Wright and Nicole Jones were talking about the season, the results, and the pride they felt in the young women who had just given it their all.
MSU ended its season at 29-8, tying its program-high win total set last season. Four Spartans earned podium finishes, with junior Sage Kellerman finishing second on vault, freshman Amy Doye finishing fourth on vault, senior Gabrielle Stephen earning third place on bars, and senior Skyla Schulte finishing fifth on floor.
“We’ve known for about a month now we can hang with the big dogs by refining some of the things we’re doing and learning from our mistakes and working on our consistency,” said Rowe. “When we do what we did at Big Tens this year, when we do what we did at the regional final, scoring our highest scores of the season, it helps instill that confidence.”
Rowe knows that that is the biggest part of growing and moving his program forward.
“It’s thrilling that some of our (program) stuff is working,” he said. “We’re getting better recruits. We’re developing amazing leaders.”
And Rowe has a message for those who think this season might have been a flash in the pan.
“Don’t sleep on us for next year because these kids are hungry,” he said. “Being around these teams tonight and leading after two rotations … I couldn’t be more proud of them. I’m just so genuinely proud of everything they’ve done and how they’ve been consistent and stayed with it and worked their butts off. Lots of blood, sweat and tears.”
With eight incoming recruits – including a home-schooled Romanian Olympian from Holt, MI – and the fact that the Board of Trustees at Michigan State has approved the building of a new arena for this gymnastics team, the future is indeed bright for the Michigan State Women’s Gymnastics program.
"It’s been an amazing year for this team," said Haller. "I’m incredibly grateful for the hard work of the gymnastics student athletes, coaches, and staff. This team is nationally respected and can compete and win against the best teams in the country. We have an elite gymnastics program."
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