March 4, 2008

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State sophomore Nicole Curler was named the Co-Big Ten Gymnast of the Week, it was announced by the league office on Tuesday. Curler earns weekly honors for the second time in her career, having garnered the award after the first week of last season, and is the first Spartan in 2008 to take home weekly recognition.

"We are extremely proud that Nicole was named Co-Big Ten Gymnast of the Week," said head coach Kathie Klages. "We are thrilled that she put it all together and had her best performance of her career on Friday at LSU. It is always difficult to compete twice in one weekend and Nicole was able to come back with another tremendous meet on Sunday. We know Nicole is a special gymnast and she proved this weekend that she can compete as one of the best in the conference and in the country."

Curler and the Spartans recently completed an impressive weekend, which saw the team climb in the GymInfo national ranking to No. 14, and Curler move up on many of the individual national lists. MSU currently has a regional qualifying score (RQS) of 195.255, after posting back-to-back scores over 196 for only the second time in program history.

Curler began the weekend on Friday night at No. 8 LSU by finishing second in the all-around with a career-high 39.525. The score is the highest so far by a Big Ten gymnast and ties for the second best mark in Spartan history. En route to her career mark, she placed second on the beam, tying her career high and the best mark in the Big Ten this season, with a 9.925. Curler also set season highs in the other three events, finishing third on bars with a 9.875, fifth on floor with a 9.875, the top Spartan score on the floor in 2008, and tied for sixth on vault with a 9.850.

On Sunday, the Spartans topped Ball State and Western Michigan, led again by Curler's standout efforts. She won the all-around for the third time this season and for the fourth time in her career with a 39.150, tying for her second best tally in 2008. The sophomore also tied for second on the bars (9.800) and floor (9.825), tied for third on the vault (9.825) and tied for the sixth on the beam (9.700).

Curler, a First Team All-Big Ten performer as a freshman, leads the team with eight individual first place finishes, having won every event but the vault so far, and 21 top-three placements. Nationally, Curler moved up among the national leaders in three events - vault, beam, floor - and in the all-around, after this weekend's performances. She currently leads the Big Ten and is tied for 11th in the country on the beam with a 9.860 RQS. She is also 25th in the country and fifth in the conference with an all-around RQS of 39.035. Additionally, Curler is tied for 49th on the floor (9.820) and tied for 56th (9.860) on the vault in the nation, both marks currently among the conference's top-10.

The Spartans conclude the home portion of their schedule on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. as they host the University of New Hampshire at Jenison Field House. MSU will honor its three graduating seniors - Rhiannon Banda-Scott, Bethany Little and Megan McNally - following the competition.