Jan. 21, 2011
Complete Results
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland gymnastics used a fourth-rotation rally to earn a pair of wins in Saturday's tri-meet against Ball State and Towson in the Comcast Pavilion. Terrapin senior Abigail Adams won the balance beam and floor exercise competitions while freshman Katy Dodds and senior Kaitlin Joseph won on the vault and uneven bars, respectively.
"I'm proud of the way the team dealt with the adversity tonight," said head coach Brett Nelligan. "Having Kelsey [McDermid] and Ally Krikorian out...it was good for the team to step up and protect our home court. We got out of here with two wins and we represented our home field. I'm happy with that."
Closing out Maryland's first roation, Dodds received an event-high 9.775 on vault while Adams continued her dominating season with a 9.500 on uneven bars to ensure Maryland's lead at the halfway mark. Despite Adams' event-high 9.850 on the balance beam, the Terps saw their lead dwindle as four of Towson's six gymnasts received scores of 9.725 or higher on the floor exercise.
With McDermid and Krikorian out of the line-up, Coach Nelligan watched as his event-minimum five gymnasts secured Maryland's pair of wins with an impressive finish on the floor exercise. Joseph opened on floor with a 9.650, followed by a pair of 9.775's by junior Kyra Phillips and sophomore Kesley Cofsky. After a then team-best 9.825 by Dodds, Adams reset the mark with an event-high 9.925 to close out the meet.
"I want to recognize the floor exercise line-up," said Nelligan. "At the end of the meet, we were kind of behind on points and we knew we had to hit five in a row, back-to-back and that is what they did. It's hard to pick any one person who stands out. It was a real team effort."
With the tri-meet, Nelligan and the Terps improved to 4-0in the confines of the Comcast Center.
Towson came in second with a 190.325 while Ball State finished in third with a score of 189.75.
Saturday also marked the return of Towson head coach and former Maryland assistant Vicki Chliszczyk.
The Terrapins will travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., on Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. for a quad-meet against Illinois-Chicago, Kent State and Michigan.
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