Sept. 7, 2004

The University of Maryland gymnastics team, ranked No. 29 in GymInfo's preseason poll, recently signed Alabama recruit Angie Watkins to join the team in 2004-05. Watkins was a Level 9 Vault Champion in 2002 and a Level 10 Junior Olympic competitor for two years. She specializes in vault and floor exercise, but could contribute to the Terp squad in the all-around in the wintertime. Assistant coach Wendy Marshall said of Watkins, "We scouted Angie at the College Bound Invitational in St. Louis, Missouri. She was a standout gymnast that needed to be on our team. She is very energetic and has a great attitude. Her parents, Warren and Cheri Watkins, are very proud and excited that Angie was late-signed and headed to a great destination: Maryland." Angie is planning to major in theatre at Maryland and attended Southwest Christian High School. She also has her own published cartoon called "Crazy Tracy". The team also recently offered walk-on Rebecca Ruppert a scholarship for the 2004-05 season. The junior from Lakeridge, Va. competed on vault in all 14 meets a year ago. She notched a season-high 9.850 on vault vs. Stanford on March 6 and tied for third on vault at Rutgers on February. On February 11th, she scored a season-best 9.775 on floor at George Washington. An EAGL All-Academic team nominee last season, she had season and career highs of 9.850 in the vault and 9.775 in the floor exercise in 2003-04. Prior to Maryland, Ruppert was a two-year Junior Olympic competitor and five-year member of Cardinal Gymnastics.