Gymnastics Split Weekend Meets

It was a busy weekend for the MSU Gymnastics team as they went up against Michigan on Friday and Pittsburgh on Sunday at Jenison Field House.

Michigan edged out MSU with a score of 196.725 – 194.850 for the annual alumni meet. Despite the loss, junior Lisa Burt had a standout night competing as an all-arounder. She ended the night with a total score of 39.400.

“Lisa has been a stud this year,” Head Coach Kathie Klages “…Rock solid when it comes to pressure.”

The surprise performance of the night came from senior Alina Cartwright, who’s been out with an injury for most of the season. She approached the bars with nerves but ended up sticking the landing and walking away with a score of 9.85 on her first run.

“It was exhilarating, it was a familiar feeling I that I loved,” Cartwright said, smiling. “It’s addicting in gymnastics so it was very exciting.”

The Spartans were looking to redeem themselves after a rough meet at Penn State last weekend, and they did just that. MSU came out on top, defeating Pitt 195.150 – 194.275 at the annual Autism Awareness Meet on Sunday.

But it wasn’t the score the Spartans were hoping for. Falls and problems with balance on the beam kept the Spartans from a 196.0 score, Klages said.

“We had three rocket events. We rocked out vault and we did great on bars and we did wonderful on floor,” Klages said. “Beam was really rough again.”

Sophomore Mackenzie Smith helped the Spartans to sweep the vault competition. Competing in vault for the first time as a Spartan, Smith posted a score of 9.85.

On the floor, sophomore Elena Lagowski sealed herself a career-high score of 9.95 and won the event.

“The way i landed just felt really confident,” Lagowski said. “I was like, ‘Damn, this is gonna be good.’”

Lagowski said she overcame her soreness from Friday and improved in the vault from a 9.15 against Michigan to a 9.825 against Pitt. Facing another double meet next weekend, she said the team’s attitude has improved and will have plenty of energy on the road.

Next weekend the Spartan gymnasts have another busy weekend as they head to Illinois to take on Illinois and the University of Illinois at Chicago.


Julie Angell is a multimedia journalist for Impact Sports

Photo: Marissa Siegel/Impact Sports