Full of youth and exuberance, freshman gymnast Sarah Alexander came to MSU wanting to compete as hard as she could. But throughout the 2003 season, she has exceeded her - and everyone else's - expectations.
"Even though she's so young, she's already the best performer on the team," head coach Kathie Klages said. "She quickly mastered all of the aspects of college gymnastics."
Alexander says it is her work ethic that has enabled her to become the outstanding performer she is.
"I work as hard as I possibly can," she said. "I've always been like that. When you want to be the best, you have to work for it. One of my missions coming in was to put MSU gymnastics on the map."
Alexander said her life sometimes becomes overwhelming with the amount of attention she is receiving.
She had hopes of performing well, but wasn't sure how well she would do.
Alexander performed magnificently, even early in the season. In her second collegiate meet, Alexander took first place on the balance beam, tallying a 9.850, and placed third in the all-around category in a loss to Iowa State.
In her first season, Alexander has twice scored a 9.975 in the floor exercise, which set a school record for that event. She has also racked up 15 individual event titles. The rest of the team combined has seven.
And while someone so young could be expected to develop an ego after receiving so much praise, Klages says Alexander remains the same way she has all season.
"She's very humble," she said. "She just may have the best attitude of anyone I've ever worked with."
Although Alexander is an extremely talented performer, she is still a freshman.
And she, as well as each of the other three freshman gymnasts, have duties that come with the territory.
"The young kids carry the springboards on all the away trips," Klages said. "And at practice, they are responsible for the water bottles. So the freshmen are responsible for all the grunt work."
That "grunt work" allows Alexander an opportunity to show just how humble she is. While most gifted athletes would turn their noses up at the thought of such work, Alexander takes it all in stride.
"It all comes with the territory," she said. "Everybody had to do it. It's not like we're getting the short end of the stick."
That statement reiterates Alexander's "team-first" attitude. And with the Big Ten Championships taking place Saturday at Huff Hall in Champaign, Ill., Alexander is confident in the team's ability to do well.
For the seven-team championships, the Spartans (14-7 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) occupy sixth place, behind No. 10 Michigan, No. 14 Ohio State, No. 17 Iowa, No. 21 Minnesota and Penn State and are ahead of Illinois.
Klages says her team can finish in the top three as they have steadily improved all season. Alexander shares her coaches' confidence.
"I'm very excited about our prospects," she said. "I think we can finish well at the championships. Everyone on our team is really pumped to see what we can do."
