On Sunday afternoon, as Reese McClure found the opening pose for her anchoring floor routine at her senior meet, the rest of the Maryland Terrapins revealed a surprise they’d been planning for her. They donned round, wire-rimmed glasses with tinted lenses and brought out a miniature disco ball to match the ’70s theme of her routine. Moments later, as the Terrapins laughed and celebrated while removing their glasses, a season high score of 196.950 appeared on the JumboTron and a floor rotation score of 49.525 entered the record books as the team’s best since 2004.
What fellow senior Emma Silberman describes as “the combination of focus and fun” is key to Maryland’s process this year, and it’s working: After several seasons where flashes of brilliance were balanced by depth challenges and inconsistency, the team has found a new level of resilience. The Terrapins are currently ranked No. 21 in the country, and if that ranking holds, it’ll be their best finish since 2001. What’s working so well? It’s a process that starts in the gym at the beginning of each week, according to head coach Brett Nelligan.
“I’ve always told this team that their superpower is the way they train in the gym,” Nelligan said. “After a meet where we’re not happy with our results or our performance, they come in the gym and they train really hard. Then after a meet when we set a school record, they’ll come in and train even harder.”
This competitive mindset, as well as the concept of building on past success, informed Maryland’s aggressive scheduling this season. The Terrapins have double-meet weekends scheduled for both of the final weekends of the regular season. It’s an ambitious strategy that balances the opportunity to pad the team’s NQS as the finish line approaches with the risk of fatigue.
“I know doubles are challenging,” said Nelligan. “If you want to move up in the rankings, you want to avoid that first round play-in at regionals. These end-of-year meets are critical, and I felt like because of how we strategically place them, physically the team could handle it. We’ve been on that bubble before.”
With the dreaded bubble—and hopefully the regional play-in—safely avoided, the Terrapins can move on to their next goal: making the Sweet Sixteen. After a third-place finish in their regionals semifinal last year, they’re hungry to go farther in 2023.
Still, a senior meet is a time for thinking about endings, as well as well as postseason hopes. For Nelligan, moving on from a senior class that’s contributed so much to Maryland gymnastics won’t be easy to do. Luckily, COVID years are a possibility.
“I’ve told them, this whole group is so special to me, my staff, and the program,” Nelligan said. “I would love to have them back—I almost feel like I need to do my best recruiting job ever and see if I can get them to come back. Man, I would love to see them in the red and black again next year.”
While several of the team’s true seniors already have graduate school plans for the fall, others are still considering their options.
“I’m not taking anything off the table yet, but there’s definitely a lot that goes into wanting to do that mentally and physically, as well as finding the career path that we want to take,” McClure said.
“I’m not really sure yet, to be honest!” laughed Silberman.
As life after gymnastics beckons, both know that the moments they’ll miss most are celebrations after hit routines with their teammates and the best friends they made along the way. To Nelligan, those emotions are what keep his team improving.
“They love each other,” he said. “They believe in each other, and they have each other’s back no matter what. That’s what allows them to come out here and put on a performance like this.”
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Article by Rebecca Scally
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