Preview: No. 21 Maryland gymnastics prepares for GW Meet against George Washington and Towson

No. 21 Maryland gymnastics (11-7) has taken another jump in the AP poll after a very successful week which featured two first place finishes in its two quad meets. This marks the fifth week in a row where the Terps have been ranked in the top 25. 

The Terps defeated Temple, Towson and West Chester on the road in Philly on Thursday. They put up their second-best score on the road this season with a 196.600, recording a new season-best on beam with a 49.300 collective score.

Maryland successfully defended its home floor on senior day in its first home quad meet of the season, the Terp Quad, besting New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Brown. The Terps scored a season-best 196.950, tying their season-best on beam and recording a phenomenal score of 49.525 on floor, the program’s best since 2004. 

Maryland’s success this week was due in part to its ability to start the meets hot and carry that strong start all the way through, a recent point of emphasis from coach Brett Nelligan. In the collection of meets prior, the Terps got off to sluggish starts but steadily improved as the meets progressed – a good feat, but one that hurt them in the loss column as they faced some high-ranking teams who were hot from the start. 

“We put emphasis on it, right?,” Nelligan said. “We talked about it throughout the week in training and before the meet. We’ve gotta come out of the gates firing on all cylinders, and to come out and put a 49.2 on vault, those were exceptional vaults. That momentum, we could ride that through the rest of the meet, and then you’ve always gotta finish strong. That floor was…I’m speechless. It was really exceptional, one of our highest scores ever, so I’m really proud.”

This week, the Terps will stay local as they head to Washington D.C. to take on George Washington and Towson Friday night in the GW Meet. 

The Terps faced Towson (22-4-1) last Thursday in Philadelphia, with the Tigers taking second, trailing the Terps by less than a full point. They found success on vault in the meet, recording their second-best vault score in program history. Senior Camille Vitoff posted a 9.925, tied for the highest individual score in the meet with Maryland senior Aleka Tsiknias, who recorded the same on bars. The Tigers are coming off a tough road loss at the hands of No. 11 Denver, 198.150-195.950. Despite the loss, they recorded their fourth-best bars score in program history. 

George Washington (15-13) will be a new opponent for the Terps this season, but the Colonials and the Tigers are already familiar with one another, having faced each other twice already, both resulting in Towson victories. George Washington is coming off a last-place finish at the Purple and Gold Classic at No. 6 LSU, which also featured No. 7 California and No. 25 Washington. Despite the last-place finish, it had a good overall day, tying the program bars record of 49.200. 

The Terps are looking to continue their recent positive momentum heading into their final two regular season meets before Big 10 and NCAA championships. On Sunday, the Terps were good across the board, but will be looking for a better effort from their bars rotation, which had a solid performance, but not one that has compared to their previous strong results. 

“Tonight, we just got a little tight, and we made a few mental errors,” Nelligan said. “But that really just tells you how good a team we are. I really think we were an A-plus on three events. I’m hoping it’s going to peak around Big Ten’s and NCAA’s, but once we can put a complete meet together, four events, we’re going to be pretty tough to beat.”

The meet will start at 7 p.m. on Friday.