Maryland Gymnastics Red vs. Black Intrasquad
The Maryland Gymnastics Team’s Red vs. Black Intrasquad was open to the public, so I grabbed my chauffeur and note taking buddy (my mom) and headed out to College Park to check out what the Terps are up to this season! The intrasquad was in the Xfinity center and we got there early to get some great center seats and see all four events.
The first big news of the meet was seeing one of the Terps’ stars Reese McClure on crutches with her ankle wrapped up. There was no announcement on how long she might be out, but she is certainly a loss for Maryland.
Note: I didn’t start writing down the lineups until halfway through bars - so the early lineups are from memory.
Vault Lineup: Samantha Gilbert, Olivia Weir, Josephine Kogler, Audrey Barber, Taylor Ostenhout, Alexsis Rubio.
High Points: Barber and Rubio’s fulls are very clean and look season ready.
Low Points: The Terps are obviously VERY thin on vault and feeling the absence of McClure here. Gilbert sat her vault to start off the meet, so they will hope that she can keep her yurchenko 1/2 to her feet. It was concerning that only six athletes went.
Bars Lineup: Athlyn Drage, Elizabeth Debarberie, Lindsay Bacheler, Emma Silberman, Aleka Tsiknias, Barber, Sierra Kondo, Osterhout, Rhea LeBlanc, Weir, Sophie LeBlanc
High Points: The Terps have A LOT of options on bars and a bunch of really nice double layout dismounts. Although she seemed to be in the first alternate position, Freshman Kondo’s dismount was one of the strongest of the bunch. This is the only event that Freshman Bacheler competed, but she was quite clean. As always, Barber was lovely to watch.
Low Points: The Terps need to work some of their handstands to make sure that this deep lineup can score their best during season.
Beam Lineup: Rubio, Silberman, Weir, Kogler, Debarberie, Barber, Sophia LeBlanc, Leksana Andrews.
High Points: The Terps are deep on beam again and most of the lineup was able to hit their routines. They have a lot of interesting skills and leaps and jumps that land in side position. Barber continued her stellar performance.
Low Points: The Terps should be working on fine tuning their dance skills and making sure that they are always hitting full split position on their side jumps for the highest scores! They seem to be able to cover the hole left by McClure, but they may miss her scoring potential.
Floor Lineup: S. LeBlanc, Sanya Glauber, Rubio, Osterhout, Alexa Rothenbuescher, Barber
High Points: Although her tumbling didn’t look quite ready - she had a spot on her two double salto passes - Rothenbuescher is one of the best dancers of the bunch. Barber showed off a full in - with a spot.
Low Points: Again, the Terps are THIN in their floor lineup and will need all six to be on the top of their game come January.
Overall, I was very impressed by Audrey Barber - as expected - and I think that she is setting up to have a great super senior year. Freshmen Kogler looked great on her two events, and even though Bacheler only went on bars she was GREAT. Rubio and Tsiknias look to be back to lead the team again this year.