Even after Maryland gymnastics recorded its second-best score in program history on Sunday, it remained on the very edge of qualifying for NCAA regionals entering this week.
The Terps would’ve been the last team to qualify for the 36-team national tournament. Entering a double meet week, they needed more strong performances to cement their place in the field.
Maryland accomplished just that on Thursday in Philadelphia. Powered by a strong start on bars and beam, the Terps earned a 197.050, the seventh-best score in program history, at the Temple Quad to top No. 21 NC State, Temple and Penn.
“We are absolutely killing it and we are doing exactly what we’ve known how to do this whole time,” freshman Natalie Martin said. “I feel like we’re really getting out of our head and showing everyone what we are capable of, and I still feel like this team has so much more to offer.”
The Terps got off to a positive start and posted their second best score of the year on bars with a 49.350, just half a tenth off their season high, which they recorded Sunday. Maryland slots in at No. 38 nationally on bars, its worst ranking of any rotation, but tied its fifth-best score in program history.
Strong landings in the back half of the lineup propelled Maryland to that positive start. Alexa Rothenbuescher earned a 9.925 for the second straight meet — tying the team’s best individual mark on bars this season — and every Terp scored a 9.800 or better.
[Maryland gymnastics fills its practices with energy, detailed feedback]
“We’re really hitting our stride on bars,” coach Brett Nelligan said. “We believed all along that bars could be one of our more powerful events and it just took a while to jell and solidify.”
Maryland continued the afternoon with four great performances on beam.
Layla Hammer earned a 9.925 before Martin made history.
Her 9.950 tied a program record on the event. She became the fifth Terp to earn a 9.950 and was the first one to do so since 2013. She’s only the second Maryland freshman to earn that score, doing so 25 years after Gillian Cote did so in 1999.
“Recently, I feel like my beam has not quite been exactly what I wanted, so really just going into it I wanted to show my normal beam because I know that I can do those drills,” Martin said. “I just slowed myself down and that really helped. And then [the] cherry on top is just seeing that score at the end.”
Martin added a 9.850 on vault and a 9.800 on floor as she continued her successful first season in College Park.
“I can’t remember a freshman having such a breakout year,” Nelligan said. “She’s really embracing the moment being out there with her team and I’m just excited to watch her the next three, four years.”
The Terps had to use Emma Silberman’s 9.650, as both she and Josephine Kogler struggled to match the impressive marks of their teammates. Maryland still earned a season-high 49.300 on the event and jumped into first place.
[Maryland gymnastics turned in its best uneven bars performance in two years]
The Terps’ combined for a program-record 98.650 across bars and beams.
That success didn’t continue on floor, which had been their best event of the year. Maryland scored a 49.100 — its third-worst mark on the season. Rothenbuescher continued her strong day with a 9.900 on the event — the joint-best of anyone on floor.
Maryland added a 49.250 on vault, its second-best mark of the season on the rotation, in its final event of the day to record its second straight score of 197 or better.
The Terps’ strong result provides a massive boost to their national qualifying score, which is how teams are ranked and selected for the NCAA tournament. Thursday’s performance raises it from 196.125 to 196.430, which would be 27th in the current rankings — moving Nelligan’s squad firmly off the bubble and comfortably into a NCAA regionals slot.
Maryland heads to Towson on Sunday with another opportunity to improve that metric as the regular season winds down.
“If this is a peak it’s happening at a great time for us, but honestly I’m hoping we can keep going up. I’m hoping this is the start of a run for us,” Nelligan said. “We try not to focus on scores, but at the end of the day, this is giving us a lot of confidence.”
