Spartan gymnasts are ready to make a splash in the NCAA postseason
The Michigan State gymnastics team knew its name would be called when it gathered together last week in Jenison Field House to watch the selection show. It just didn’t know how high it’d be ranked and which regional it would be sent to. In the front corner of the room sat the team's Big Ten regular season championship trophy. With supporters from nearly every MSU athletics team gathered in the room with gymnastics, the Spartan gymnasts munched on Chick-fil-A in their oversized lounge chairs, waiting for the selection show to start.
Michigan State's selection as the 10th overall seed in the NCAA 2023 National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships improved its draw from last season by two spots. The Spartans will depart for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Thursday, March 30 to compete in the Pittsburgh Regional beginning at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, March 31. All NCAA Regional sessions will stream on ESPN+.
This NCAA Championships appearance marks the second-straight year that the Spartans have qualified for the postseason. It’s the first time Michigan State has qualified in consecutive years since 2015-2016. The meet will take place at the University of Pittsburgh's Petersen Events Center.
There are 36 teams that make it to the NCAA Regional Competitions and they are divided into four regions of nine teams each. Seven teams in each region automatically advance to the second round, while two teams compete in the first round for a chance to advance.
Joining Michigan State in Pittsburgh are seventh-seeded California and at-large entrants Western Michigan and West Virginia. Two of these four schools will advance to the regional competition along with two of the schools from the other Pittsburgh pod (which begins at 7:00 p.m.) – overall No. 2 seed Florida, overall No. 15 seed Arizona State, and at-large entrants Maryland, Penn State, and Towson.
The top two teams from Session I and Session II will advance to the regional finals on Sunday, April 2 at 5 p.m.. This graphic might help visualize it:
If there are no upsets in the second round, the regional competition (equivalent to the Sweet Sixteen) on Sunday, April 2 at 5:00 p.m. will feature No. 2 Florida, No. 7 California, No. 10 Michigan State, and No. 15 Arizona State. In order to advance out of the Pittsburgh Regional, the Spartans will need to finish first or second in this round of competition.
By improving their overall seeding from 12 to 10 this year, the Spartans also improved their chances of advancing. Instead of having to beat either the overall 4 or 5 seed like they were tasked with last year, MSU only needs to knock off either the overall 2 seed or, more realistically, the overall 7 seed. Not an easy task to be sure, but one that this Spartan team can accomplish when they are performing at their best.
The top two teams from Sunday's regional finals will advance to the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 13 and 15, joined by the top two teams from the other three regions -- UCLA, Denver, and Oklahoma -- to form the Elite Eight. The eight-team national championship field is winnowed to the Final Four teams for the last day of competition on April 15.
At last year's NCAA Regionals, Michigan State advanced out of the second round but finished third in the Seattle Regional Final. MSU's third-place finish at the 2022 regionals was its best finish since 1998.
Spartans Illustrated caught up with Skyla Schulte after the selection show. Schulte was MSU's best overall performer at the 2023 Big Ten Championships, coming in second place in the all-around with a score of 39.625.
Michigan State finished second at the 2023 Big Ten Championships on March 18. Freshman Sage Kellerman (vault) and junior Delanie Harkness (bars) collected the first individual event titles for MSU since 2017, while Nikki Smith was named Freshman of the Year. MSU gymnastics head coach Mike Rowe, who was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second-straight season, addressed his team after the selection show: