No. 5 Michigan State Hosts No. 16 Minnesota Saturday at Jenison
EAST LANSING, Mich. - No. 5 Michigan State gymnastics returns home after a two-week road stint to take on No. 16 Minnesota inside Jenison Field House on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.
Saturday's meet will stream on B1G+ and feature an all-female production crew in honor of National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
NOTABLES
The Spartans enter Saturday's meet at 5-2 (2-1 B1G) after a narrow 197.300-197.200 loss at No. 6 UCLA on Feb. 1. The Bruins put up a 49.800 on floor in the final rotation to earn the comeback victory after MSU held a 0.700 lead headed into the last rotation. It marked MSU's first loss in a conference meet since Feb. 11, 2023.
MSU ranks fifth in the Week 5 RoadtoNationals rankings with an average team score of 197.000. The Spartans also scored a program-high 49.600 on vault at UCLA, which is the highest score on the event in the nation by any team this season and now rank third as a team in the NCAA on the event with a 49.365 average. MSU also ranks sixth on bars (49.260), 11th on beam (49.135) and 11th on floor (49.225).
Three Spartans - Sage Kellerman, Nikki Smith and Olivia Zsarmani - scored 9.950s on vault at UCLA to earn a share of the event title. Kellerman also collected her third-straight bars title of the season with a 9.925, while Smith won her third all-around title of 2025 with a 39.425. Smith was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week and Kellerman was named Specialist of the Week on Tuesday after their performances at UCLA, each earning their second conference weekly award of the season.
Senior Gabrielle Stephen joined Smith in the all-around at UCLA, scoring a 39.325 to finish third.
Smith earned the No. 1 vault ranking in the country this week with a 9.925 average after scoring a 9.950 in four of the Spartans' first five meets on the event. Kellerman ranks in a tie for fourth in the country on vault with a 9.900 average and also ranks 11th on bars (9.890).
MSU also has a pair of all-arounders in the NCAA top 25 - Smith (16th, 39.395) and junior Olivia Zsarmani (22nd, 39.313).
The Spartans, who are the top-ranked team in the conference at No. 6 in the RTN rankings, will have now faced the four teams behind them (No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Minnesota, No. 4 Michigan, No. 5 Ohio State) in their first four conference meets of the season.
THE MATCHUP
Minnesota sits at No. 16 in this week's RTN rankings with an average team score of 196.260. The Gophers are 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the conference this season after most recently defeating Washington, 196.825-195.425, at home on Feb. 1. Minnesota holds a season-high team score of 197.325.
MSU and Minnesota have not met in a dual meet since 2019, but MSU is 5-1 over the last six meetings (MSU and Minnesota have met at the Big Five meet and Big Ten Championships) with the Gophers since, falling only at the 2020 Big Five Meet.
Feb. 2, 2019 marked the last dual meet between the Spartans and Gophers, with Minnesota earning a 196.725-194.450 win in Minneapolis.
UP NEXT
MSU faces Nebraska on the road on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m. ET. The meet will stream on B1G+.
Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.
