The Maryland gymnastics team has been eliminated from competition for more than a week, but the Terps still practiced Tuesday.
After missing out on a postseason bid by .01 points, coach Brett Nelligan said the Terps were “heartbroken.”
Two days after Maryland learned it had failed to qualify as a team for the Gainesville Regional, though, seniors Sarah Faller and Emily Brauckmuller, as well as freshmen Kirsten Peterman and Alecia Farina, earned bids to compete in the individual circuit.
The rest of the team has begun practicing for next season, which has mitigated what would have otherwise been an awkward atmosphere had it just been the foursome training.
“We’re disappointed that we didn’t make it to regionals as a team, but at the beginning of the year, if you told me that we would have been .01 away from qualifying, I would have thought this was a great season,” Nelligan added. “I’m trying to keep that perspective.”
After the Terps’ season ended, Nelligan gave them 24 hours to lament. The team shifted its focus toward helping the four athletes prepare for regionals.
Faller and Brauckmuller are used to the experience. The seniors competed at regionals their freshman year — Faller on vault and beam, Brauckmuller on floor.
Nelligan said it was only a matter of time until Peterman qualified.
“I wasn’t sure if we would get her there freshman year or sophomore year, so credit to her and her determination,” Nelligan said. “We had a vision for her to be an ‘all-arounder,’ and she wanted it and earned it. It’s hard to compete all-around freshman year and that was something she wanted to do right away.”
Peterman anticipates the competition will mimic a club-style meet because it will be more individual-oriented than Maryland’s meets.
Individuals at the event are paired with teams, which Faller acknowledged can be stressful. The senior said she and her teammates tried to make individual event specialists feel comfortable when they competed with Maryland at past regionals.
“We always make it a point to cheer for them and give them high fives,” Faller said. “We know it’s hard to be there without your team.”
Peterman will compete with New Hampshire alongside Faller’s friend, Jessica Gracia. Faller hopes to introduce the pair, but Peterman will still look to her Maryland teammates as a steadying presence.
“It’s a sense of home and comfort while you’re there,” Peterman said. “It’s definitely going to be fun.”
Faller agreed the meet wouldn’t induce as much stress as one with her team, but said she may succumb to the emotion of her last meet.
“It’ll be a great way to finish off the season,” Faller said. “The memories I’ve made here will last forever. It hits me every once in a while, but it’ll really hit me when I don’t come into practice anymore or when the season starts next year and I’m not there.
“I wish I could stay for my fifth, sixth, seventh year,” she added with a chuckle. “Super, super senior!”
