When Dominiquea Trotter raised her arms to salute the vault judges on Friday night, she was brimming with anticipation and nerves.
As the Terrapins gymnastics freshman sprinted down the runway, she tried to focus on her form and execution rather than the announced crowd of 2,091 at this university’s first annual Beauty and the Beast event, in which the gymnastics and wrestling teams hosted simultaneous competitions.
Trotter delivered a high-flying yurchenko full vault with a small hop on the landing to pull in a 9.775 score, setting the tone for a standout performance in her college debut.
“For this meet, I took out confidence, so now I know how it feels being in front of a crowd and having everyone cheering and screaming,” said Trotter, who provided a bright spot on a night in which the Terps finished third behind George Washington and West Virginia. “There were definitely a lot of butterflies, but it felt great.”
Trotter will have another chance to showcase her talents when the Terps host No. 11 Minnesota on Thursday in their Big Ten opener.
While some of the Terps upperclassmen faltered on the uneven bars and balance beam Friday — the team counted four of their six missed routines on those events in the final score — Trotter displayed a composure often foreign to freshmen.
In addition to her 9.775 on vault, she scored a 9.8 on the floor exercise, an event in which the Terps rank sixth in the nation after one week of competition.
Her performance spurred a string of five scores of 9.8 or better on floor to help the Terps close out their otherwise disappointing season opener on a positive note.
“I was so impressed with Dominiquea,” senior Katy Dodds said. “I’d seen her in the gym and knew she had it, but when she was out there on the floor [Friday], something switched. She has that competitive edge to her. I’m excited to see what else she’s going to do this season. You know the crowd obviously loves her, so we expect big things from her this season.”
Though she wasn’t judged, Trotter also performed an exhibition routine on the balance beam with few noticeable wobbles.
Seeing as the Terps’ had three routines with either falls or significant errors in their six-person beam lineup, coach Brett Nelligan left open the possibility that Trotter could become one of the counted routines, perhaps as soon as Thursday’s dual meet against the Gophers.
“With these freshman, you never know,” Nelligan said. “[Trotter’s] great in the gym and that’s what we expected with her, but when the lights come on, you never know what they’re going to do, and she really exceeded expectations. She looked great on vault, great on floor and exhibition beam. She may find her way into the beam lineup.”
The Terps’ third place finish behind George Washington and West Virginia was not how any of the gymnasts or coaches expected their season to begin. It marked the program’s first home loss since Feb. 18, 2012.
When they return to the Xfinity Center floor on Thursday night, Nelligan expects his team to be “extra aggressive” against Minnesota in the program’s Big Ten debut.
“[Losing] fuels us because we never want to feel this again,” Nelligan said. “This is a feeling that we haven’t had to deal with in two years, and we don’t like it, and we don’t plan on doing it again. So, I think that’s just that extra motivation, and we we’ll use it to our advantage.”
