Maryland’s first two rotations doomed its chances at Saturday’s Big Five gymnastics meet. The Terps followed their lowest bar score in seven years with a below-average 48.800 beam performance.
Maryland got a bye for the third rotation and capitalized on the time to refocus, hitting its highest floor score of the season. But the damage was done. Coach Brett Nelligan’s squad finished the afternoon with a season-low 195.100 — a product of numerous small mistakes.
“I thought we just weren’t being ourselves,” Nelligan said. “Those first two rotations, we were kind of sitting back and letting things happen to us instead of making things happen for us.”
Maryland began on uneven bars, an event that had recently shown promise. Tasha Brozowski led off with cast handstands and a stuck double layout dismount that earned her a 9.725.
The Terps’ solid start continued with Victoria Gaztendorfer’s 9.800. Then came the setbacks.
Lindsay Bacheler couldn’t grab the high bar cleanly. She only got her fingertips on it before falling and finishing with an 8.775.
[Maryland gymnastics posts season-low 195.100 in last-place finish at Big Five Meet]
Sierra Kondo followed her to a similar fate. She rotated backward on the high bar, preparing to release into a straddle Jaeger. The skill requires the gymnast to remove their hands and flip forward, keeping their legs in a straddle position. Leaving the bar too early or too late can leave gymnasts too far from the bar to catch it after flipping.
Kondo flipped too far, fell onto a safety mat and was automatically deducted 0.50. She got back up and finished her routine enough to stick her dismount but earned a poor 8.800.
Maryland’s bar unit also struggled with leg separation and small steps on dismounts that led to deductions. The unit scored a 47.825.
“Once those little mistakes creep in, sometimes it’s easy for them to continue, like it’s almost contagious,” Nelligan said. “You’ve got to stop and reset your mind and get going in the right direction again.”
The Terps limped to beam, another previously strong event.
Emma Silberman led off and had a few balance checks on her full turn and back layout. She scored 9.750. Layla Hammer followed with a solid performance and minor balance errors. Both gymnasts also took small hops on their dismounts.
[No. 25 Maryland gymnastics falls to No. 10 Michigan State, 197.550-195.525]
The Terps’ biggest issues resulted from lifted legs and near falls. Natalie Martin mounted the beam and immediately flipped into a backhandspring to layout. The freshman landed but had to lift her left leg to keep her balance.
She managed to finish her routine without falling but took minor balance checks along the way enough to score a career-low 9.650.
Victoria Gatzendorfer struggled in this event. She took a few steps after landing her layout stepout and swung her arms. She continued the routine, but was slow to connect her leaps. Gatzendorfer stuck her dismount, a gainer pike, and notched another 9.650.
The Terps ended the rotation with a 48.800. They were the only team to earn below a 49.000 in the competition.
“We kind of let that go too long,” Nelligan said. “Making these tiny mistakes and then they just build and build and build until we were able to stop and reset.”
Nelligan also noted that Saturday’s judges were more strict than usual.
“It’s still up to us to not worry about the scores and to do our job,” he said. “Unfortunately, we just weren’t able to get it done.”
