Coach Brett Nelligan
Coach Brett Nelligan wasn’t content as he sat in an Arkansas locker room following the Terrapins gymnastics team’s fifth-place finish at the Fayetteville Regional Championships a year ago.
The Terps didn’t count any falls in that meet, but they managed a team score of just 194.400. Next year, Nelligan told his team, he wanted his gymnasts to be more aggressive at regionals.
The fourth-year coach got his wish this season. Though they failed to qualify for nationals, the Terps placed fourth Saturday at the Gainesville Regional with a stellar 195.575 score — the program’s second-highest regionals mark — before more than 7,000 fans at Florida’s Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
“I wanted to do something special,” Nelligan said yesterday. “Bars and beam were phenomenal. This will pay off leading into next year.”
The No. 22 Terps held their own against some of the nation’s top-tier teams. No. 1 Florida finished first with a 198.400 team score, and No. 8 Minnesota and No. 12 Auburn came in second and third, respectively, with scores of 197.100 and 196.700. The Gators and Golden Gophers advanced to the NCAA championships, which will be held on April 19 in Los Angeles.
The Terps weren’t focused on their competitors when they entered Saturday’s regional. Knowing the field contained some of the nation’s elite squads, Nelligan urged his gymnasts to focus on themselves.
“We don’t allow ourselves to think about [other teams],” Nelligan said. “We are going to compete to [the] best of our ability.”
Throughout the six-team meet, four programs competed on an event while the other two were on the sidelines. Keeping track of a running leader proved difficult, Nelligan said.
The Terps jumped to a fast start on floor, which has been one of their most reliable events this season. They tallied a 48.750, just a few ticks under their season average of 49.016. Junior Katy Dodds paced the squad with a 9.875.
The Terps then moved to vault, their strongest event of the season. Dodds again shined, securing a stellar 9.900 on the event en route to a team score of 49.050.
After a bye, Nelligan’s team walked to bars knowing they’d need a solid score to compete with Florida and Minnesota.
Senior Kesley Cofsky tied a personal best with a score of 9.850 to lead the Terps to a 48.925. And in her third meet back from a sprained ankle, freshman Kathy Tang notched a 9.750 — her highest score since returning March 17. The Terps scored a 48.850 in their final event on beam.
The showing marks the Terps’ best performance at the NCAA regionals since they notched a 195.850 score in 2001. Over the past 11 years, the Terps have developed into a solid program on the brink of national greatness, but they’ve struggled to excel against the country’s top teams. That wasn’t the case Saturday.
They earned a fitting ending to a historic season that saw the Terps finish atop the conference for the first time in program history. They won’t move on to the sport’s next round, but they certainly made significant progress.
“[This was] a huge step forward for our program,” Nelligan said. “Big step for them to be calm and confident in front of 7,000 fans and go right against Florida, Minnesota [and] Auburn.”
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