Lansing Sun

The Michigan State gymnastics team, ranked 11th nationally, began their season with a decisive victory over Western Michigan. The Spartans achieved a score of 196.850 compared to the Broncos' 194.675 at Jenison Field House in East Lansing.

With this win, Michigan State stands at 1-0 for the season while Western Michigan starts off at 0-1. This score places MSU third among NCAA season openers in 2025, trailing only behind Oklahoma and LSU.

"We're really proud of how the team worked off each other tonight, especially with a few new faces in the mix," said head coach Mike Rowe. He noted that the event was an opportunity for some new team members to experience competition dynamics. "I think overall, it was not only a program record for highest opening team score but set us a pretty decent place to build from moving forward."

Junior Nikki Smith excelled by securing first place in the all-around category with a score of 39.475. Fellow junior Olivia Zsarmani took second with her first collegiate all-around performance scoring 39.200, and senior Gabrielle Stephen finished third.

The Spartans performed strongly on vault with a collective score of 49.400, tying for the tenth best vault score in school history. Smith led with a top performance of 9.950 on vault followed by Sage Kellerman's second-place finish and Stephen's third-place result.

On bars, MSU scored 49.150 with Smith again leading her teammates by scoring 9.875 for her third title of the day.

Western Michigan's Emily Krzciok captured first place on beam with a score of 9.900 during the third rotation while four Spartans tied for second place on beam each scoring 9.850.

Michigan State ended their meet on floor exercise where Stephen won her first event title this season scoring 9.875; Zsarmani tied for second along with Delanie Harkness and Cassie St Clair from Western Michigan who each scored identical scores at floor exercise event as well.

Next up is an away match against Florida Nebraska Northern Illinois taking place Friday January10th streamed live via SECN+ channel starting time set precisely6:45 pm EST marking another exciting chapter forthcoming challenge awaiting Spartan gymnasts!