Preview: Maryland gymnastics gets set for Big Five Meet

After a tough loss in East Lansing against the No. 8 Michigan State Spartans last weekend, Maryland gymnastics (3-3, 2-3 Big Ten) will stay on the road this week, traveling to State College, Pa. to compete in the Big Five Meet. 

The meet will feature conference rivals No. 11 Michigan, No. 21 Illinois, No. 22 Penn State and Iowa. The meet is an annual event for the Big Ten which takes place in two sessions. Although the Terps typically face a different collection of programs year-to-year, these four are the same programs Maryland played last season in the competition. 

Last year’s Big Five Meet was not one to remember in 2023. The Terps came in last by 1.5 points, with poor showings on both bars and beam. Although the team steadily improved as the meet progressed, their sluggish start put them in a hole they could not dig themselves out of.

Maryland will try to put last year’s display in the rearview mirror as it hits the halfway point in its 2024 campaign. But the meet will be the Terps’ toughest test to date. 

Michigan (5-4, 4-1 Big Ten) is not as dominant this year as it typically is. Last season when the Terps competed against the Wolverines, Michigan boasted the No. 3 program in the country. 

But the Wolverines are still one of the best teams in the country, with all four rotations ranked, two of which are in the top 10 (No. 6 floor, No. 8 beam, No. 11 bars and No. 16 vault). Michigan is led by one of the country’s best gymnasts, graduate student Sierra Brooks. Brooks ranks in the Top-10 nationally on floor (No. 6), beam (No. 9) and all-around (No. 9). 

This past week Brooks captured her third-straight Big Ten Gymnast of the Week honor and her fourth of the season. Brooks also recently broke the program record for all-around score in a single meet with a 39.850.

Illinois (7-7, 1-4 Big Ten) has competed through a tough schedule thus far, competing against seven ranked programs, including three ranked in the Top-10 when the Illini faced them. But they’ve held their own and continue to hold a ranked position. Illinois has two ranked rotations (No. 15 bars and No. 25 beam) and is riding back-to-back season high scores (196.550 and 196.850, respectively). 

Penn State (5-4, 1-4 Big Ten) will have the pressure on it this year as hosts of the competition. Still, the Nittany Lions find themselves in a far more favorable position compared to last season, when they were unranked and on the road. Penn State will look to ride its two ranked rotations (No. 13 beam and No. 25 vault) in front of its home crowd. 

The Nittany Lions are currently on a three-meet losing streak, but have put up impressive collective scores, each 196 or higher, along with several new season and career individual high scores. Freshman Kalea McElligott was also named Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Week. 

Iowa (3-4, 1-4 Big Ten) rounds out the list of teams competing in session two. Despite being unranked, the Hawkeyes also have two ranked rotations (No. 24 beam and No. 25 floor). They have struggled against ranked Big Ten competition, but do have some bright spots, namely freshman Eva Volpe, who was awarded Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Week with McElligott. 

Although it will be a difficult challenge, the Terps have a favorable rotation schedule. Last season, they started out on the bye rotation. This year, their bye will fall right in the middle, which may help them balance their efforts. The meet is set to start at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.