Battling through a star’s knee injury and last-minute lineup changes, the Terrapin gymnastics team put together their best performance of the season, even in a losing effort.

Sunday, the Terps placed second in a quad meet at Texas Woman’s University. The Terps scored a season-high 192.625, while Denver won the meet with a score of 195.7. The Terps finished ahead of host Texas Woman’s, which finished with a score of 192.175, and Air Force, which scored 184.125.

With EAGL Rookie of the Year, sophomore Brandi George, sidelined for the vault and floor events, the Terps went to their very young bench and had freshmen Kaitlin Joseph and Alyssa Valbert fill in for George in the floor and vault events.

Sunday afternoon, head coach Bob Nelligan turned to his freshmen duo, expecting a big performance, and it delivered.

“So we said, ‘all right, it’s time to put [Joseph] on floor, and it was time to get [Valbert] to vault,” Nelligan said. “Joseph had a strained wrist since the winter session and had not been in any meets up until this meet. She was at just 80 percent. It says a lot about our freshmen; they are very, very talented but not very much seasoned when it comes to the college setting.”

According to Nelligan, George bruised her knee when she fell off the balance beam in a training session Monday. The team initially feared the worst, but an MRI revealed the injury to be just a bruised knee and not ligament damage.

George competed in the bars and balance beam events despite the bruising.

“Brandi, being one of the strongest athletes I have ever worked with, mentally and physically, said, ‘I can help, I can help,'” Nelligan said. “She trained for all four events during the week; vaulting and floor were definitely out.”

While Joseph and Valbert did not finish in the top 10 in either event, the Terps made up for it with a strong performance on the bars by Allie Dama, who scored the highest on the team for that event with 9.8 points, finishing in third place for the event.

The Terps had two other gymnasts finish in the top 10 on the bars – Lisa Reifschneider and George tied for eighth place.

On the floor, the Terps had three gymnasts finish in the top six: Michele Brenner, Abigail Adams and Gretchen Kittelberger, all of whom scored a 9.8 or higher.

Meanwhile, on the balance beam, George and Talia Tossone tied for third place.

For a young team still finding its way through college, scoring a season high despite injuries and a lineup shuffle really impressed coach Nelligan, who is optimistic about his team’s future.

“I think that it says to everyone on our team that you must be ready at all times,” Nelligan said. “Not only are we a good team, but when we are not at our best, we can achieve good scores. We have not scored 48.9 in years. To take [George] out and put Joseph in was very impressive.”

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