Spartans hope returning gymnasts will spark team to strong finish

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Coming off its highest scores of the season, the No. 24 MSU gymnastics team’s only mission this weekend is to stay healthy and keep the momentum before next week’s Big Ten Championships.

The Spartans prepare for a 6 p.m. Saturday meet against Pittsburgh that will serve as a nice warm-up for the Big Ten Championships and help gauge the progress they’ve made since the beginning of the season.

The meet will be held at IM Sports-West because of a scheduling conflict, but no matter where the Spartans are scheduled to compete, they’re planning to bring an end of the season edge to lift their scores before the conference championships.

“We’re just looking to get out there and be consistent like we’ve been so far,” junior Kathryn Mahoney said. “It’s our last meet at home, and it’s one more chance to improve on our regional qualifying score before Big Ten’s.”

The Spartans’ trip to California during spring break featured several firsts for the team.

Mahoney made her season debut Friday in a win against Cal State Fullerton, posting a 9.725 on the floor exercise. Mahoney suffered a toe injury before the season and her return helps the Spartans’ depth on the floor event.

Sophomore Jackie Berg, who underwent shoulder surgery during the summer, competed on bars for the first time this season. Berg has competed on the beam and floor exercise events but hadn’t been able to perform the bars routine until last weekend, when she recorded a score of 9.800 on bars against UCLA and Cal State Fullerton on Sunday.

Additionally, MSU scored better than 49.000 on bars Sunday for the first time this season, and also saw a season high on the balance beam.

As a team, the Spartans defeated Cal State Fullerton on Friday, 194.850-191.250, then followed up Sunday with a score of 195.950, their highest score of the season and a mark good enough for second-place against No. 3 UCLA and Cal State Fullerton.

The Spartans hope having their team at full strength, as well as receiving season-best performances from their already healthy players, signifies the team is peaking in time for the postseason.

“It was great to have a few new faces in the lineup,” head coach Kathie Klages said. “We’re hoping to be able to put a few more athletes into the competition lineup so that we can create a little more depth for the team going into the postseason.”

The Spartans also were boosted by the return of junior Nicole Argiros from a knee injury. Argiros, who last competed Feb. 14, scored a 9.850 on the vault against Cal State Fullerton on Friday and will work toward getting back in the floor and bar lineups.

Pittsburgh enters coming off a loss against No. 7 Arkansas last weekend and is led in the all-around by sophomore Alicia Talucci, who’s coming off a 38.375 score.

Senior Nicole Curler finished second in the all-around Friday against Cal State Fullerton, recording a score of 39.050, while Curler, freshman Shanthi Teike and junior Kelsey Morley all scored at least 39.000 in Sunday’s tri-meet.

“Even though UCLA’s No. 3 in the nation, we made it a close meet and it was fun out there,” Argiros said. “We hope to build off our spring break competitions and improve on the score we got last weekend.”

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