On Jan. 31, the Terrapins gymnastics team scored a 195.500 against Iowa, getting over the 195 threshold for the first time this season.
But when the Terps earned a 195.350 on Monday against Penn State, it felt like a breakthrough. In the three-plus weeks between those two meets, the Terps hadn’t earned better than a 194.425.
The team has road meets against New Hampshire and a quad meet against No. 20 George Washington, Towson and Rutgers this weekend. With the regular season winding down, the Terps are hoping to avoid another letdown.
“We were happy with ourselves [after Iowa],” sophomore Abbie Epperson said. “We kind of just expected that to happen again instead of earning it.”
The Terps followed up their performance against Iowa with disappointing scores in the next three meets. After finally returning to form Monday, the team feels confident entering this weekend.
“No one’s gonna let that happen twice,” coach Brett Nelligan said. “Everyone’s committed to keeping us on track.”
No event was more problematic for the Terps (2-8, 0-5 Big Ten) during their downturn than balance beam. The Terps’ highest beam score was a 48.325.
Monday, they hit all six routines, good for a season-high 48.900. Freshman Shynelle Agaran and junior Leah Slobodin both played big roles in that turnaround. The duo’s presence could help settle the beam lineup, which Nelligan experimented with often early in the season.
Agaran missed much of this season with a concussion, and after Slobodin — who deals with pain from a prior Achilles injury — fell on beam in the season-opener, she didn’t return to the event until Agaran’s debut two meets ago.
After the Terps’ resurgent beam performance against Penn State, Nelligan likely won’t make a change to the group before Friday’s meet at New Hampshire (11-4).
The team is in the middle of a stretch of four meets in nine days, which Nelligan told the team Monday is “where we jump back up in the rankings.”
Though the Terps have struggled to post high scores away from Xfinity Center, Nelligan doesn’t put too much stock into his team’s past road performances.
Plus, the team said, a lot has happened since they were last on the road Feb. 8.
“As a staff, we’ve been really patient with them to develop their confidence and mental strength,” Nelligan said. “And if we’re not there [now], we’re really close.”
At the least, they seem to have grown since their high score against Iowa. Nelligan’s team is coming off arguably its best performance of the season, when it completed all 24 routines without a fall. The veteran coach said they’ll use that confidence boost to their advantage.
“We’ll avoid another letdown by not looking back,'” Nelligan said. “We take what we did Monday and we’re looking forward only.”
