Michigan State Gymnastics at practice on Friday, March 24, 2023 - one week before the Spartans travel to Pittsburgh, Pa for the second round of the NCAA Regionals tournament.
After being just edged out of nationals last season, the No. 10 Michigan State gymnastics team will be heading into the NCAA Pittsburgh Regionals looking to complete some unfinished business.
The Spartans needed to place in the top two at the Seattle Regionals in 2022, and they laid everything on the floor. MSU set a program record during the regional final with a score of 197.650, but Utah and Alabama were able to edge out the Spartans to move on to nationals.
Head Coach Mike Rowe said that the team is feeling more confident going into regionals this year than they were last year.
“Along through the season — breaking the (program) record, all-around records, individual event scores and records — that kind of thing just keeps building their confidence,” Rowe said. “I think it's confirming to them that we're doing something right … I think they really believe in our process and our philosophy, and they're comfortable that it can take them to the next level.”
This year, the Spartans will be taking on California, Western Michigan and West Virginia in the first session of the semifinal round of the Pittsburgh regionals.
The second session will see performances from Maryland, Florida, Arizona State and Penn State. The top two teams form each session will move onto the regional finals on Sunday afternoon.
Last season, sophomore Skyla Schulte was the sole Spartan to advance to nationals with her exceptional beam scores. Although Schulte was the only gymnast from MSU to qualify, sophomore Gabrielle Stephen also got a taste of what nationals was like, having travelled to Texas with her teammate for support.
“Gabi accompanied her there, and she's raised her bar, raised her game this year," Rowe said. "I think with the two of them bookending the entire team, it hasn't been difficult in getting (the team) to see that, hey, we're in there, we're in the run. We just got to keep on that path and see how it unfolds. The sky's the limit for all of them.”
Last year’s historic performance really put Michigan State gymnastics on the map, and this year has been just as historic — maybe even more.
On March 5, the Spartans set a new massive program high 198.225 final score in the tri-meet against Long Island and Bowling Green.
That day, Michigan State became just the eighth team in the nation to score 198+, and the Spartans held the highest score of the week.
The scores that the Michigan State is able to put up absolutely make them nationals contenders, but junior Delanie Harkness said that nationals wasn’t the main goal for the team this year.
“I would say our number one would probably be winning Big Ten, which unfortunately, that didn't happen,” Harkness said. “I think this team is extremely proud of how much we've accomplished in this year. Just ending up tenth going into regionals is an amazing accomplishment already, so obviously, the goal is nationals, and we're excited to hopefully make it there.”
Michigan State will be competing in the first session of the Pittsburgh regional semifinals at 2 p.m. on Friday. If Michigan State advances to regional finals, the Spartans would compete on Sunday. Regionals semifinals and finals will be streamed on ESPN+.
