April 12, 2007

Two Maryland gymnasts will compete Saturday in the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship hosted by West Virginia University. The competition will be held in the WVU Coliseum at 6:00 p.m.

Maryland did not qualify to compete as a team; however, freshmen Brandi George (Orlando, Fla.) and Talia Tossone (Virginia Beach, Va.) qualified individually. George will compete in the all-around and Tossone on the beam.

George competed all-around in all eleven regular season meets; she won the title six of the times. The 2007 EAGL Rookie of the Year's Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) is a 38.990 and season high score is a 39.225.

Tossone proved that consistency pays off; she hit all of her twelve beam routines this season. Her RQS score is a 9.770 and season-high is a 9.850.

George will begin the competition on the uneven bars and will rotate with the LSU gymnastics team. Tossone will compete on beam in the third rotation with North Carolina.

In order for George to receive an automatic berth to nationals, she would have to be one of the top two all-around competitors who is not part of one of the top two advancing teams. For Tossone to qualify, she would have to win the balance beam event. NCAA National Championships will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah from April 26-28.

Senior Angela Ferg (Bel Air, Md.) qualified for the second year in a row to compete on the vault; however, she will not be able to participate due to a career-ending injury that she suffered at the EAGL Championship.