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No. 19 Spartan Gymnastics Set For NCAA Central Region Championships
 
State travels to the University of Alabama for competition this Saturday.
 
 
 
Kristen Coleman leads the Spartans into NCAA competition.
 
Kristen Coleman leads the Spartans into NCAA competition.
 
 

April 12, 2007

Spartan Postseason Notes

NCAA Central Region Championships Webpage

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The 19th-ranked Michigan State gymnastics team travels to Coleman Coliseum on the campus of the University of Alabama to compete in the Central Regional Championships on April 14. The regional appearance is the 17th in the history of the Spartan program, and marks the fifth in the past six seasons for the Green and White. Host Alabama, who is ranked third in the April 2 GymInfo Top 25 Poll, earned the No. 1 seed on its home floor, while 10th-ranked Oklahoma is the No. 2 seed and 16th-ranked Iowa State earned the No. 3 seed. Following the Spartans is 21st-ranked Ohio State at No. 5, and Kentucky at No. 6. The meet will begin on Saturday at 7 p.m. EST.

The Top Five
Here are the top five things you need to know about the Michigan State gymnastics team heading in to the Central Regional Championship Meet
1. Spartan senior Kristen Coleman was named the 2007 Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, and has won the all-around competition five times this season. She twice set the Spartan benchmark in that category, most recently against Western Michigan with a 39.625.
2. The MSU freshman class has accounted for 44 top-three individual event finishes this season. Leading the way is Rochelle Robinson with five victories on vault, while Nicole Curler has two first-place finishes on beam, and three on the floor exercise.
3. Rochelle Robinson scored the first perfect 10.0 in Michigan State history on vault at the Fox Run Invitational on Feb. 10. She is one of five gymnasts across the nation to record a perfect score on vault this season.
4. At least two freshmen have competed in each rotation for the Spartans this season. The exception falls in the all-around competition, where only one freshman competed on all four events in the season opener versus Arizona, against Illinois and against Michigan.
5. Michigan State has been ranked among the nation's top 25 teams in 10 of the 12 weeks of the GymInfo Top 25 Poll, peaking at No. 9 on Jan. 15.

Regional Quick Hits
• Michigan State's highest finish at a regional event is third. MSU has finished third six times (1983, 85-89).
• The Spartans have finished fifth in their last three team appearances in regional competition (2003-05).
• State's highest regional finish under current head coach Kathie Klages came in 1996 when the Spartans finished fourth.
• MSU's highest team score at an NCAA regional came during the 2004 season when the Green and White tallied a 195.025 to finish fifth.
• Michigan State has only advanced to the NCAA Championship Meet one time as a team (1988). That year the event was hosted by Utah, who will also host the Championship Meet in 2007.

National Spotlight
Entering regional competition, the Spartans are ranked 19th in the April 2 GymInfo Top 25 Poll. At this point in the season, the GymInfo Top 25 Poll is based on team and individual RQS (Regional Qualifying Score) scores. An RQS score is generated from a team or individual's top six regular-season scores, with three scores coming from away meets. MSU's top road score occurred on March 18 at Western Michigan with a 196.300, while its top home score of the season, a 196.350, came at the State of Michigan Classic on Feb. 3.

Individual Notoriety
In the April 2 individual national rankings, senior tumbler Kristen Coleman is 12th in the all-around with a season RQS average of 39.420. Coleman also ranks in the national top 25 on the balance beam (11th, 9.885) and uneven bars (t-19th, 9.885). Freshman Rochelle Robinson also ranks among the national elite with an eighth-place ranking on vault (9.905).

Prior Regionals In Tuscaloosa
The Spartans have competed at the University of Alabama for an NCAA regional seven previous times. First in 1985, from 1986-89, in 1998 and in 2000.

Michigan State At The 2006 Central Regionals
State posted a team score of 193.575, good for a fifth-place finish at the Central Regional Championships last season at LSU. The University of Oklahoma placed first, (196.375) and with second place finisher, Louisiana State (195.900), advanced to NCAA Championship competition. Then-junior Kristen Coleman was the top Spartans scorer on all-four events, en route to a 39.125 all-around performance. Coleman, whose score placed her third overall, advanced to the NCAA Championships as one of the top-two all-around finishers not competing for Oklahoma or LSU. Coleman was the first Spartan to qualify for NCAA competition since Sarah Alexander was named as an alternate in 2003, and the first non-alternate participant since Jamie Elwell and Kristin Peugeot did so in 1997.

2007 Big Ten Gymnast Of The Year
Following the Big Ten Championships Meet on March 31, senior Kristen Coleman was named the 2007 Big Ten Gymnast of the Year. Coleman, who also earned First Team All-Big Ten honors this season, is a two-time Big Ten Gymnast of the Week, and holds the top two scores in the Michigan State record book in the all-around competition. The Cornwall, Ontario, native set the all-around Spartan benchmark twice in 2007, and has won or shared first-place honors four times on the uneven bars, four times on the balance beam, and five times in the all-around event this season.

Big Ten Conference Honors
For the first time in the history of the Michigan State gymnastics program, three gymnasts were selected First Team All-Big Ten, as announced by the league office at the Big Ten Championships Banquet on March 30. Senior Kristen Coleman, and freshmen tumblers Nicole Curler and Rochelle Robinson all garnered first-team honors.