The Maryland gymnastics team takes on the postseason on Saturday, April 5 at 4 p.m. at the 2014 NCAA University Park Regional competition at Penn State. The Terps will compete against No. 1 Florida for the second consecutive regional competition.
In addition to Florida, Maryland will compete against host No. 15 Penn State, No. 12 Oregon State, EAGL-foe No. 23 New Hampshire and No. 29 Kentucky. The top two teams will advance to the NCAA Championships in Birmingham, Ala., on April 18-20.
Maryland has only faced New Hampshire previously this season and fell to them in both regular season meets in addition to finishing second behind the Wildcats at the EAGL Championships.
Maryland is scheduled to start the meet on beam and then receives a bye. After that, the Terps head to their second event, floor, followed by vault third and then another bye. Maryland will end the meet on bars. Each team in the competition has a bye after beam and vault.
Terps Nationally
The Terps rank 35th in the nation with a 195.175 RQS. Stephanie Giameo posts an RQS of 9.870 on beam, which is 27th nationally. Karen Tang ranks 44th on floor with an RQS of 9.880.
Last Time Out
The Terps finished second at the EAGL Championships where they posted a season-best score with a 195.700. Giameo took home the beam title with a season-best 9.900. Karen Tang tied for a share of the bars title with a 9.875. Kathy Tang hit the Terps' best score on vault with a 9.825 for third place.
Maryland boasted seven gymnasts on the all-tournament first and second team:
All-Tournament First Team Honors:
Vault
Kathy Tang (9.825)
Nikola Chung (9.800)
Bars
Karen Tang (9.875)
Jessie Black (9.850)
Beam
Stephanie Giameo (9.900)
All-Tournament Second Team Honors
Vault
Stephanie Giameo (9.775)
Bars
Sarah Faller (9.825)
Beam
Sarah Faller (9.800)
Floor
Karen Tang (9.850)
Ebony Walters (9.825)
Last Year at Regionals
In the 2013 NCAA Gainesville Regional meet, Maryland took home fourth place with a team score of 195.575. Florida won the regional meet and then went on to win the 2013 NCAA Championship.
Katy Dodds had a stellar night with two top-ten performances as she finished seventh on vault with a 9.900 and sixth on floor with a 9.875. The Terps' current director of operations, Kesley Cofsky, hit great routines in the regional meet last year as a senior. She also had two top-ten event finishes earning 10th place on bars with a 9.850 and eighth on beam with a 9.850. All-around, Cofsky finished ninth with a 39.175.
Giameo notched the team's second-best score on bars with a 9.800 for 17th place. She finished 21st on beam with a 9.750 and 11th all-around with a 38.975. Karen Tang finished 23rd on bars with a 9.775 and Kathy Tang finished 26th with a 9.750. On beam, Ebony Walters scored a 9.800 for 12th place and Elizabethe Manzi added a 9.700 for 25th. Walters and former Terp Ally Krikorian hit the Terps' second-best scores on floor behind Dodds, both scoring 9.800 to tie for 29th place.
| University Park Regional |
| Team |
Rank |
Record |
Conf. Record |
Conf. Tourn. |
RQS |
| Florida |
1 |
9-1 |
6-1, SEC |
2nd (8 teams) |
197.895 |
| Oregon State |
12 |
14-7 |
4-2, PAC-12 |
5th (8 teams) |
196.615 |
| Penn State |
15 |
20-3 |
5-2 B1G |
5th (8 teams) |
196.475 |
| New Hampshire |
23 |
14-4 |
6-2, EAGL |
1st (8 teams) |
195.880 |
| Kentucky |
29 |
9-10 |
2-5, SEC |
6th (8 teams) |
195.585 |
| Maryland |
35 |
11-7 |
6-6, EAGL |
2nd (8 teams) |
195.175 |
Fans are encouraged to visit Championship Central for additional information about the meet.
During the competition, @TerpsGymnastics will have updates on Twitter and fans can also follow along with live stats by clicking here.
Video will be available event-by-event here:
Vault
Bars
Beam
Floor
