COLLEGE PARK, Md.— Maryland gymnastics hosted its first meet of the season on Dec. 14 — the annual Red vs. Black intrasquad meet.
This was the first look at Maryland’s team before the competitive season begins on Jan. 9, when the Terps take on George Washington, Long Island University and New Hampshire in the Terrapin Quad Meet.
Head coach Brett Nelligan returns for his 17th season. Last season, he led the Terps to a 16-12 season record and a 4-5 conference record.
Junior Josephine Kolger, fresh off earning Second Team All Big Ten honors last season, is one of several returning stars.
Also returning is Madeline Komoroski, who holds the NCAA record for the NCAA Regional Individual Beam Score Program Record.
The Terps also welcomed 11 new members to the squad this season.
The meet started on the vault, where the Black Team’s Aine Reade and the Red Team’s Katrina Mendez-Abolnik both stuck their vaults.
Mendez-Abolnik had the greatest difficulty of any Terp on the vault, with a Yurchenko 1.5.
Malik Washington led a panel of Maryland athletics celebrity judges. He confirmed his return for his sophomore year just before the meet. The Red team pulled ahead with a 10-point lead, 50 to 40.
The next event was the Uneven Bars, where the Black Team’s Aine Reade had her second stick of the meet. The Red Team Emily’s Defree showed off a floaty Tkatchev and a full twisting double back dismount, but had a small step on the landing.
After Uneven Bars, the Red Team had maintained its 10-point lead, 90 to 80.
The third event was the Balance Beam. The Red Team’s Rayna Engelmayer stuck her beam dismount after a solid beam routine.
The Black Team’s Josephine Kogler also had a stellar routine, with two amazing leap series and a triple skill acro series. Reade also had her third stick of the night. After the third rotation, the Red Team extended its lead to 19.8 points, leaving the Beam with a score of 129.5 to 109.3.
For the final event, the Terps went to the Floor Exercise. Here, the Terps’ energy truly reached a new high. The Black Team’s Josephine Kolger threw a giant double back as her opening pass and Madeline Komoroski showed off a powerful routine with some amazing twisting skills and leap combinations. On the floor exercise, the Black Team overtook the Red Team and won with a score of 159.1 to 159.
This intersquad meet did more than just showcase the Terps’ skills. It also showed the camaraderie between the gymnasts. Dancing with each other on the sidelines, hyping each other after a stick or a fall, these athletes show what being a part of a team truly means.
According to Nelligan, Maryland has been like this right from the beginning. Even though 11 new Terps joined the team this year.
“Seemed like they’ve been here two, three, four years already,” Nelligan said.
Nelligan pointed out Madaline Komoroski and Taylor Rech as leaders on the team, both on and off the mat.
Last year, the Terps ended their season just a few tenths away from a Sweet 16 berth, and Nelligan plans on using that strong regional performance “as momentum” for the season ahead.
“Taking today, cleaning up any mistakes we had, cut the deductions in half,” Nelligan said when referring to opening the season on Jan. 9.
