No. 7 Gymnastics Hosts Rutgers for Breast Cancer Awareness Meet Saturday
EAST LANSING, Mich. - No. 7 Michigan State gymnastics returns home to take on Rutgers on Saturday, Feb. 22 for its final Big Ten dual of the season inside Jenison Field House at 2 p.m.
Saturday will serve as MSU's 19th Annual Jan Howard Breast Cancer Awareness meet. The meet is dedicated in memory of Jan Howard, mother of alumni gymnast (1990-95) and current Director of Student-Athlete Development with MSU Athletics Student-Athlete Support Services, Angela (Howard) Montie. Fans who bring an item for breast cancer support kits (fuzzy socks, tumbler, tea, unscented lotion, lip balm, lemon candy) receive free admission.
The meet will stream on B1G+. Fans are encouraged to park in Lot 62 (IM West) or in the Kellogg Center Ramp after 1 p.m.
NOTABLES
MSU enters Saturday's meet at 7-2 (4-1 B1G) after a 196.725-196.700 win at then-No. 23 Nebraska on Feb. 15. The Spartans rank seventh, their seventh-straight week inside the top 10, in the Week 7 RoadtoNationals rankings with a 197.010 national qualifying score (NQS). In the national event rankings, MSU sits in a tie for second on vault (49.385), a tie for eighth on bars (49.255), a tie for 13th on beam (49.130) and eighth on floor (49.315).
Junior Nikki Smith won her third-straight and fifth overall all-around title at Nebraska with a 39.425 and also earned a share of the vault title (9.900) alongside junior Olivia Zsarmani and senior Gabrielle Stephen. Senior Skyla Schulte won both the beam (9.875) and floor (9.925) titles outright, earning her fourth floor title of the season and fourth floor score of 9.900 or better in 2025.
With NQS going into effect in Week 7, four Spartans have combined for eight individual NCAA top 25 rankings. Nikki Smith (No. 2), Sage Kellerman (No. 7) and Olivia Zsarmani (No. 22) are ranked on vault, while Kellerman also sits in a tie for 10th on bars. Stephen is ranked 19th on beam and 22nd on floor. MSU also has a pair of all-arounders in the NCAA top 15 - Smith (No. 11, 39.430) and Stephen (No. 13, 39.385).
THE MATCHUP
Rutgers is ranked No. 43 in the Week 7 RTN rankings with an NQS of 194.665. The Scarlet Knights are 12-5 this season and 1-4 in the B1G. Rutgers scored a season-high 195.350 in its last meet, finishing ahead of Kent State and behind Michigan at home on Feb. 15.
Saturday will be the first dual meet between the Spartans and Scarlet Knights since a 195.675-193.800 win for MSU at Rutgers on Feb. 8, 2020. Rutgers has not visited MSU for a dual meet since Feb. 16, 2019, which was a 195.425-194.100 win for the Spartans.
MSU has only fallen to Rutgers twice in program history - in a quad meet in Piscataway on Jan. 28, 2017 and at the 2018 Big Ten Championships. Since 2019, MSU is 9-0 against the Scarlet Knights in all meetings (Big Five Meets and Big Ten Championships).
UP NEXT
MSU travels to Coralville, Iowa, for the Big Four Meet against host Iowa, Penn State and Washington on Sunday, March 2 at 7 p.m. ET. The meet will air on Big Ten Network.
Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.
