After a weekend for the ages when both the Michigan State University men’s hockey and women’s gymnastics teams took home Big Ten Championships in East Lansing, Spartan teams were beaming with pride — and they’re in good company.
From an MSU a cappella group heading to nationals for the first time to Impact 89FM | WDBM-FM garnering national honors and more — not to mention the men’s and women’s basketball teams making appearances in NCAA tournaments — Spartans are excelling in extracurriculars across a variety of disciplines.
Take a look at some of MSU students’ recent wins, bests and firsts — all reasons to celebrate being a Spartan.
Gymnastics’ historic win
Gabrielle Stephen needed at least a 9.8 on the beam, the final event of the meet, to clinch a Big Ten Championship for her team — and she delivered. Stephen stuck the landing and earned a 9.875 to give MSU a 197.600-197.500 victory over Minnesota. It was the gymnastics team’s first postseason Big Ten Championship, matching the back-to-back regular season titles in 2023 and 2024. To do it at Jenison Fieldhouse made the win extra sweet.
Hockey’s first Big Ten title
MSU Hockey was looking for its first Big Ten title, too, and with 6:25 remaining in overtime in a 4-4 game against the University of Michigan, Patrick Geary, per MSU Athletics, blasted a shot through the Michigan defense and into Spartan hockey history. The Munn Ice Arena faithful erupted as the team won its first Big Ten Championship.
The State News is the best of the best
The State News, an independent nonprofit student-run media organization serving the MSU community since 1909, was recently named the 2023 “College Newspaper of the Year” by the Michigan Press Association for its phenomenal work as a biweekly print and daily online publication.
State News staff members were also honored individually with awards for photography, editorial, news writing and more.
See the full list of Michigan Press Association winners.
A cappella hits a high note
Capital Green is MSU’s oldest competitive all-gender a cappella group. On March 16, it became the first group in MSU history to win the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, or ICCA, Great Lakes Semifinals. The win earned the group a trip to New York for the ICCA Finals on April 27.
On top of the win, the team garnered two awards at the semifinal competition: Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Arrangement for “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”
National recognition for Impact 89FM
Of the 18 student media organizations honored at the Associated Collegiate Press Online Pacemaker Competition, among a field of newspaper and online-only journalistic peers, Impact 89FM was the only broadcast station recognized. It was also honored at the Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts and the Michigan Association of Broadcasters’ Michigan Student Broadcast Awards.
See the full list of Spartan winners.
MSU Debate continues its streak
This year’s MSU Debate team recently added to the team’s already impressive history of excellence, with two teams storming to the Sweet 16 of the American Debate Association’s National Tournament in March. With two teams qualifying for the National Debate Tournament in early April, more opportunities to make history are on the horizon.
