It was an hour before the gymnastics meet started and the first few parking lots were already full. Fans were streaming in from further out, most wearing maize and blue, but not an insignificant number wearing green and white.
It was the Spartans and the Wolverines at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, with a national television audience watching on the Big Ten Network. There was a buzz in the building as the Michigan alumni reunion was on tap and the upstart Spartans were looking to defeat the Wolverines for the second time this season.
By the time everyone made their way to their seats, there were approximately 10,000 people watching the two best teams in the Big Ten battle it out for state pride, Big Ten pride, and a possible bump in the national rankings, where they both sat tied at #13, with identical average scores on the season.
Last year, the Michigan State gymnasts did what they hadn’t done in a long time, beating their rival at Jenison Fieldhouse in East Lansing. The task ahead of the Spartans today was even tougher – beat their rival at their place, in front of their alumni and the packed-out Crisler Center.
The place was packed this afternoon, and the Michigan fans wanted to get loud – but the Spartans kept a lid on it from the start, doing just well enough on bars to take a very small lead after one rotation, 49.375-49.325.
In the leadoff spot, Gabrielle Stephen posted a 9.850 which was quickly matched by Olivia Zsarmani. Sage Kellerman posted a 9.900 and Nikki Smith followed with a 9.925. Delanie Harkness’ 9.925 in the anchor spot allowed the Spartans five solid scores, avoiding a significant scoring issue from a fall in the third spot.
The Spartans and the Wolverines switched events for the second rotation, and MSU ended up increasing its lead at the halfway point of the meet with a 49.575 on vault, which tied a program high.
Skyla Schulte led the Spartans off with a 9.850 and Nyah Smith scored a 9.750. MaKayla Tucker scored a career high 9.925 and Stephen earned a 9.850 in the fourth spot. The Spartan crowd and team had just finished celebrating Nikki Smith’s impressive 9.950 when Sage Kellerman came down the line with a 10.000, her second of the season.
Kellerman is the only gymnast in Michigan State program history to score multiple 10.000s on one event.
The third rotation saw the Spartans on the floor exercise and the Wolverines on the beam. Michigan State opened up a significant lead (148.450-147.875) after three rotations with an impressive 49.500 performance on floor exercise while Michigan struggled on beam.
Schulte once again proved strong, posting a 9.950 while Elle Beaufait and Tucker matched each other with 9.900s. Stephen, Harkness and Nikki Smith rounded out the event with 9.875s.
Michigan State was in a good position to pull out the road victory but needed a solid performance on beam to overcome the expected dominant Michigan floor exercise scores to come.
Yes, the Wolverines did what they typically do, putting up high scores on floor – but the Spartans didn’t falter. In fact, MSU put up their highest score of the day, registering a 49.600 on beam as Spartan after Spartan performed well enough to tie the MSU program high on the beam event.
In fact, all five of Michigan State’s counted scores were 9.900 or higher. Schulte led the way with 9.950 while Baleigh Garcia and Giana Kalefe earned their season high scores of 9.925. Tucker and Gabi Ortiz also earned career highs with matching 9.900s.
As the Spartan gymnasts knocked beam performance after beam performance out of the park, the excitement level started to grow in the MSU team area. They could tell today was their day. There would be no need for scoreboard watching or worrying, as the Spartans took care of business on their own. The Wolverines could put up a perfect 10.000 on floor exercise – and one of their gymnasts did – but it wasn’t going to matter.
The Spartan gymnasts were elite today, scoring a program-best road score and marking a victory over Michigan in Ann Arbor for the first time in 34 years. The 198.050 is the second-highest score in program history and marked only the sixth time this season that an NCAA team reached the 198.000 milestone.
At 3-0 in the Big Ten, the Spartans now find themselves in the driver’s seat for their second consecutive Big Ten regular season championship. Michigan State competes in their next two matches at home, with Illinois up first on Friday, Feb. 9 at 7:00PM in East Lansing.
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