East Lansing, Mich.- Bowling Green (4-13) on a Sunday afternoon finds itself going up against Michigan State (14-3) from the BIG 10. The Falcons have struggled in recent history against Michigan State, and this trend continues today with MSU getting the best of BGSU 197.375-192.550.
BGSU faced challenges today against the eighth-ranked Michigan State Gymnastics team, unable to win a single event. However, Megan Bingham finished third all-around in this meet.
Takeaways from the last meet of the year before the MAC Championship include the senior celebrations, as seven of our Falcon Family are graduating: Katrina Mendez-Abolnik, Brooke McNamara, Baylie Lawrence, Kennady Kreinbrink, Emily Castiglia, Lexi Bornhorn, and Kaylie Bokey. We wish them the best in their future endeavors.
Vault
The Falcons had a three-way tie among three gymnasts, as Bingham, Madison Couburn, and Charniya Brown scored a 9.750. However, Mendez-Abolnik continued her strong year as she scored the highest of all the women for Bowling Green, tying for seventh with a score of 9.775.
A highlight from this event is Love Akpan, who also hit a season-high of 9.700 today.
Overall, in this event, BGSU would not be seen until Kat tied for seventh place with Michigan State’s Lauren Hsu. The Spartans would have a tie twice in this event, once for first place and another for fifth place.
MSU would win this event with a score of 49.250-48.725.
Uneven Bars
Bowling Green began this meet here, with Keira Thornton scoring 9.650, the Falcons’ highest total in this category, and tying seventh with Olivia Zarmani from Michigan State.
However, the highest overall total in the event belongs to Nikki Smith and Sage Kellerman from Michigan State, who both scored 9.925.
The rest of the Falcon gymnasts would be scattered at the bottom of the board, with the highest score of 9.650 to the lowest score of 9.225 from Kayla Shaw.
Michigan State dominates this event by having the top six on the leaderboard, winning with a final score of MSU 49.425 to 47.400.
Balance Beam
We ended up seeing a similar trend this meet, as the Spartans took the first five spots on the leaderboard, with scores ranging from the highest, by Giana Kalefe at 9.875, to the lowest for them at eleven, at 9.275.
Sophomore Nadia Parente, whom we first noticed from Bowling Green, tied her season high on the beam and finished sixth alongside Delanie Harkness from MSU, scoring 9.750.
Faye Dubin would follow Parente closely with a score of 9.700, as these two women would earn the highest scores for the Falcons.
MSU would win this event with a score of 49.225 to 47.575.
Floor Exercise
Kayla Shaw would redeem herself in this event by posting a score of 9.800, tying for seventh and becoming the top gymnast for BGSU in this event.
Landyn Williams of Bowling Green achieved a season-high on the floor with a score of 9.750. Coburn and Thornton continued their day with impressive scores in this event as well, tying at 9.775.
Elle Beaufait from MSU would nearly attain a perfect score of 9.950, with two of her teammates trailing closely behind her.
Michigan State would win the final event of this meet with a score of 49.475 – 48.850.
Coming Up
Bowling Green will travel to Mount Pleasant, MI for the 2025 MAC championship on Saturday, March 22, as this event will take place at 2pm.
