Feb. 17, 2004

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Following two outstanding performances last week at George Washington and against No. 8 Iowa, sophomore Rachel Martinez has earned the EAGL Gymnast of the Week award for Feb. 16-21. This marks the second time this season she has received the award and the fourth time in her young career.

Martinez, the 2003 EAGL all-around champion, posted two of the conference's top all-around scores last week. In a win against George Washington on Feb. 11, she took the all-around title with a 39.50 score. Highlighting her performance was a school-record 9.95 on the vault as she finished first on the event. She also placed second on bars (9.85), fifth on floor (9.80) and tied for first place on beam (9.90).

In a loss to the No. 8 Iowa Gymhawks at home on Feb. 14, Martinez finished second in the all-around with a score of 39.475. She helped the Terrapins earn a season-high team score of 196.325 which marks the fourth-best score in program history. Martinez finished second on floor (9.9), third on vault (9.90) and fourth on bars (9.85) and beam (9.825). Her high vault mark aided in the Terps' team score of 49.025 on the apparatus, which is also a new school record.

In her last three meets, Martinez's all-around scores of 39.50, 39.50 and 39.475 give her three of the top 10 all-around scores in the conference. Next up for Martinez and the Terps will be a quad meet on Feb. 22 at No. 23 West Virginia where they will also compete against No. 13 Michigan.