MSU gymnastics fell to rival Michigan on Friday, 196.800-193.900 in Ann Arbor, but achieved its highest team score this season on bars and beam.
The 2.9-point difference is nearly impossible to catch up in gymnastics, where every tenth of a point is important, but No. 4 Michigan, tied with Utah in the rankings, did not stop the Spartans from scoring the team’s second-highest score for the 2013-14 season.
Head coach Kathie Klages said she was changing the lineup for the events after the team lost against Penn State last week..
The team kicked off the meet on bars, which is unusual and is an event that the Spartans struggle with sometimes. with falls that caused neck strains in the past.
After the unusual start, the team achieved a season-best score of 48.675 points on the event.
MSU proceeded to compete on vault, in which junior Alina Cartwright placed second on vault, scoring 9.875.
Cartwright got the best MSU score on floor, with a 9.800, but placed fourth overall. Struggling to land perfectly, the team did not place top-three on floor at the meet.
On the last event, the team got its best score of the season on beam, scoring a 48.700. Cartwright got another second place award, tying her career-best score of 9.850.
Senior Alex Pace and freshman Holly Ryan scored their season-bests on beam, both with a 9.775.
In the all-round competition, Cartwright snagged her third second-place of the meet with a score of 39.275.
The Spartans will be home at 7 p.m. this Friday to compete against Iowa and host the eighth annual Jan Howard Memorial Breast Cancer Meet.
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