After three recent meets, the gymnastics team achieved many season-high scores, but were not satisfied with their overall performance.

On Feb. 28, the Spartans fell to Denver in a 195.675-195.550 loss - posting the highest team-score of the season despite the defeat.

Friday, the team came back to beat Southeast Missouri State 194.900-193.625, then on Sunday they placed last in a quad meet, posting a 194.350 - Oklahoma came in first, Minnesota in second and Texas Women’s University in third.

“We’re pleased when our athletes are on top of any event and in all-around, it gives us a little bit of joy, but we’re truly focused on the team,” head coach Kathie Klages said about junior Alina Cartwright and sophomore Lisa Burt, who each placed first and second at different meets.

Burt said that the competition against a teammate is good for their performances.

“It was fun and good to have competition in the gym, and it helps us succeed more,” Burt said.

Cartwright said they tried to beat each other and by doing that, they are helping one another, but the team gets distracted by their competitors.

“We were disappointed,” Cartwright said. “We start strong then lose it in the end.”

When they focus on the other team and what they go, Cartwright said it affects their routines immensely.

“We need to stop being anxious and nervous, and just go with the flow,” Cartwright said.

Over the weekend, they achieved the team’s highest vault and floor scores, but fell on half of their beam routines - three out of six.

Consistency has been a problem this season - the team does fairly well on some events and makes mistakes on others.

“The pressure knowing that they needed a good score is what causes the mishaps, like the mishap on beam on Sunday,” Klages said .

Because of this trend, the team will focus on the details in individual routines, but Klages said the gymnasts know what they are capable of.

“We’ve hit 24 out of 24 routines before in a meet - they are talented and very good gymnasts,” Klages said. “The Big Ten championships are extremely difficult, but it is what it is.”

Senior Dani Levy followed many falls this season and did extremely well in many instances -- scoring 9.8’s or higher - showing she can block out the mistakes.

Although there still is pressure when they are competing as a team, Levy said individual activities will give the extra push some teammates need.

“It’s hard knowing we can’t put it all together at one time,” she said. “It’s frustrating.”

Getting more into the fun of competing can improve the Spartans’ performance, Burt said.

“We’re better when we are happy in general. If a mistake is made, it just stays there, but we need to move past that,” Burt said.

For their last meet of the season, Cartwright said the team should trust their preparation and their teammates.

Levy said that the team has the skills that top teams have, but they need to show them.

“I personally want to go out with no regrets of how I ended the season,” Levy said. “We can’t go back and change the past, so why not start now and finish how we want to finish?”

The Spartans’ next and final meet will be a quad competition against ninth-ranked Nebraska, No. 14 Illinois and No. 23 Ohio State at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at Jenison Field House.

Klages said that this meet will decide which seed MSU gets in the Big Ten championships.