Maryland gymnastics (3-7, 2-7 Big Ten) had the chance to truly define their 50th-anniversary team in the annual Big Five meet in State College, Pennsylvania on Saturday. The Terps looked to redeem themselves after a poor showing in 2023.
They did not achieve that. Despite strong performances in the second half of the meet, the Terps (195.100) once again came in last place in the competition, falling to No. 11 Michigan (197.500), No. 21 Illinois (196.850), No. 22 Penn State (196.775), and Iowa (196.100).
The Terps began their day on the uneven bars, where they got off to a very shaky start. Juniors Victoria Gatzendorfer and Rhea LeBlanc, two leaders in the rotation all season, both finished with a 9.800. No other gymnast would eclipse that mark.
Juniors Sierra Kondo and Lindsay Bacheler both earned scores of under nine — unlike the experienced gymnasts they have proven themselves to be. The lower scores are due to stricter officiating – something common for large meets such as the Big 5 meet.
“It’s still up to us to not worry about the scores, we just have to go out and do our jobs,” coach Brett Nelligan said. “And we just weren’t able to get it done tonight.”
The Terps tried to get themselves back into rhythm on the beam next. Junior Josephine Kogler (9.875) led the way for the Terps and finished as the No. 3 scorer across all competing gymnasts in the event.
Sophomore Maddie Komoroski eclipsed the 9.800 mark again, continuing her impressive season on beam. Despite a higher collective score, there was still much to be left desired. The two were the only Terps to score a 9.800 or higher.
Maryland had a rest period in the third rotation of the meet, the most favorable the event offered due to its placement in the middle. The Terps rested in the first rotation last season, which messed with their rhythm.
“The bye came at a good time for us because we were able to reset,” Nelligan said. “The first two didn’t go the way we wanted them to, so having that bye in the middle gave us a chance to collect ourselves and get turned around in the right direction, and after that, they were outstanding.”
The Terps came out of the break poised to compete on the floor and delivered one of their best collective performances all season, finishing with a 49.425. Komoroski again led the way, finishing with an incredible 9.950, a career-high for the young gymnast.
“She puts in the work, day in and day out, and she really put everything together tonight on floor,” Nelligan said. “She more than deserved that score, she’s such a hard worker and a great teammate, so I think everybody was thrilled.”
The sophomore finished as the floor’s overall leading scorer. However, she wasn’t alone. Every single competing gymnast scored a 9.800 or higher. Junior Alexa Rothenbuescher joined Komoroski in the 9.900 club with a score of 9.925. She was tied for second in the event scoring.
“It was a shift in the mindset coming out of the bye,” Nelligan explained. “We have to go out and take these scores, we have to go out and make things happen. And once they switched it to that, kind of more of an offensive mindset, things started to fall in place for us.”
The Terps carried this momentum into vault, their final rotation. Freshman Natalie Martin finished with a 9.900 while Kogler scored a 9.850. All the other competing gymnasts finished in the 9.700 range.
The impressive second-half performance wasn’t enough to overcome the Terps’ earlier woes in the meet. Their first multi-team competition of the season was a tough one, adding four losses to their conference record.
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