Dec. 9, 2011

College Park, Md. - The Maryland gymnastics team kicked off the 2011-12 season on Friday night with the annual Red and Black Intrasquad meet at Comcast Pavilion. With the regular-season opener a little under a month away, the Red team won bragging rights with 177.82-176.555 victory over the Black team.

"Overall, it was great. Intrasquads are for working out the kinks," said head coach Brett Nelligan. "I think that's what we did today. By the time the first meet rolls around we'll be ready to go. I like the way the team came out and fought and were aggressive."

The meet provided fans and supporters a chance to see the squad in action before the Terps open the season in Morgantown, W. Va., against Penn State and West Virginia on Jan. 8.

The highlight of the evening was the floor routines in the final rotation of the evening. Three Terps received perfect scores from the judges. Freshman Shannon Skochko started things off strong for the Red squad with a score of 10.0. Junior Ally Krikorian ended the rotation for the Black team with a perfect score, and not to be outdone, sophomore Katy Dodds ended the meet with a 10 for the Red squad.

Both teams opened on the vault. Junior Kelsey Cofsky and freshman Stephanie Giameo posted 9.9s for the Black team, but the Red team countered with a 9.9 from senior Kyra Phillips and Dodds to put the Red team up 39.575-39.550.

The two teams split the next two rotations on the bars and balance beam. The Red squad posted six scores above 9.9 on the beam including two perfect scores from sophomore Elizabethe Manzi and Skochko.

Phillips and Dodds turned in a great effort on the bars. Phillips closed the event for the Red squad with a 9.980 after Dodds scored a 9.9.