No Maryland gymnasts qualified for the NCAA Championships after freshmen Kirsten Peterman and Alecia Farina and seniors Emily Brauckmuller and Sarah Faller competed at the NCAA Regional on Saturday in Gainesville, Florida.
Farina, Brauckmuller and Faller, all event specialists, would have needed to win their events to advance. Peterman, who competed in the all-around, would have received an automatic bid if she finished as one of the top two all-around competitors.
Brauckmuller had the best finish of the four Terps, tying for the ninth slot with a 9.80 on floor out of 31 competitors. Faller netted a 9.775 on beam and a 9.650 on vault, while Farina had a 9.75 on floor.
Peterman finished 10th out of 18 all-around performers with a 38.90. She recorded a 9.75 on vault and bars. Before the meet, Peterman admitted she didn’t anticipate qualifying for the postseason as an individual, so she wanted to embrace the meet.
“I’m not putting any pressure on myself,” Peterman said.
With her mother coming from Canada to attend, and three of her teammates at Gainesville with her, Peterman expected the regional would have a “sense of home” to it.
For Faller and Brauckmuller, meanwhile, Saturday marked the last meet of their Maryland careers.
Faller acknowledged the possibility earlier in the week, asking aloud, “What if this is my last meet?”
She wanted to respond with a strong finish.
“I was proud of them,” coach Brett Nelligan said. “I thanked [Brauckmuller and Faller] for their contributions and everything they’ve meant to the program.”
Peterman was proud of herself and her teammates for sticking their eight combined routines, too.
She has a positive outlook for next season, citing Maryland’s incoming freshman class, but iterated she and Farina would ensure they understood the importance of the .01 that prevented Maryland from qualifying to regionals as on of the nation’s top 36 teams.
“They need to come in and buy into the process and buy into what we’re doing,” Peterman said. “The freshmen that just went through all this need to be leaders for them.”
“It’s hard to lose three seniors,” she added, “but I’m just looking forward to this class coming in and getting this new group of girls and having fun.”
