No. 22 Maryland gymnastics places fifth at the Big Ten Championships, scoring a 195.900

No. 22 Maryland gymnastics was hoping to carry its recent momentum into this weekend, as it competed in the first session of the Big Ten Championships Saturday afternoon. 

Unfortunately for the Gym Terps, all five of their opponents carried in a lot of momentum as well. That, combined with a few shortcomings in their events, translated to a disappointing fifth place finish with a 195.900 score for the Terps in Iowa. 

The Terps were bested by No. 20 Minnesota (197.250), No. 24 Illinois (196.800), No. 23 Nebraska (196.275) and Penn State (196.200). They only finished above Rutgers, who scored a 195.125. 

Maryland began the day on a bye rotation, something it’s only done once, in last week’s Maryland Five Meet. Coach Brett Nelligan addressed the issue of beginning a meet on bye afterwards.

“It’s not ideal to start on a bye because you get your energy up from the march out and then you gotta go sit,” Nelligan said. “But…it was perfect practice for us, we wanted to get ourselves in that mentality.”

Coming out of the bye, the Terps took on floor. It was a solid performance from the squad, as they posted a 49.075 overall score, with four competing gymnasts recording a 9.800 or higher. Junior Tayler Osterhout led the way, recording a 9.850. Seniors Reese McClure and Emma Silberman followed her up, both notching a 9.825, while freshman Maddie Komoroski continued her impressive first year with a 9.800. 

The Terps moved to vault next, where they recorded an underwhelming 48.900 collective score. Sophomore Josephine Kogler, a leader for the Terps on vault this season, came out on top with a 9.825, tied with graduate student Alexsis Rubio, while junior Olivia Weir recorded a 9.800. Outside of that, the Terps had some struggles. McClure recorded a 9.750 and Silberman recorded a 9.700, two unorthodox scores for the team’s veteran leaders. Freshman Taylor Rech also struggled a little, finishing with a 9.500. 

The Terps went on their second bye after vault. Coming out of that, they competed on bars. 

Bars ended up being their best overall event of the day, as the squad notched a 49.100 overall. This proved to be a bright spot, as it has been a rare occurrence for bars to finish above vault and floor this season. Senior Aleka Tsiknias led the way for the Terps with a 9.875, followed up with a 9.850 by sophomore Sierra Kondo and a 9.825 by sophomore Rhea Leblanc. 

The final rotation of the day for the Terps was on beam, which unfortunately was their worst event of the competition with a 48.825 overall score. Only one Terp, McClure (9.850), finished above a 9.800. Kogler and Komoroski, often the two leaders, both turned in performances that don’t do their previous successes justice. Kogler recorded a 9.700, while Komoroski struggled, finishing with a 9.325. 

Saturday’s competition kicked off postseason play for the Terps. The next meet, which will be the last for the squad in the 2023 campaign, will be the NCAA Regionals, hosted from March 29th to April 2nd.