EAGL Championship on line for gymnastics at GWU

During a team practice at the Public Health building in early December, Terrapin gymnastics coach Brett Nelligan made clear his expectations for the upcoming season.

"We should be the team to beat in the EAGL this season," he said.

To an outside observer, Nelligan's confidence may have seemed misplaced. He had lost six seniors from a team that went 7-5 in conference play and placed sixth at the East Atlantic Gymnastics League Championships last season.

But as the No. 30 Terps prepare for tomorrow's EAGL Championships at George Washington's Charles E. Smith Center, Nelligan's team is poised to fulfill its coach's preseason declaration.

After going undefeated in conference play for the first time in program history, the Terps (17-5, 8-0 EAGL) hope to ride a late-season surge into another team feat: their first-ever EAGL title.

The Terps posted four scores of 195 or better before scoring a 194.600 Sunday at their season-ending home quad-meet against George Washington, Kentucky and North Carolina. During that five-week stretch, they averaged 195.245 points per meet — a notable improvement over the 193.441 they had averaged over the previous six meets.

"Even though people may say we're the best because we're the only team that went undefeated in conference, we don't feel like we've reached our full potential yet," senior Abigail Adams said. "If we just stay confident and focused, we know we can continue to grow."

Adams has been pivotal throughout the Terps' second-half emergence. She captured the regular-season EAGL All-Around title and finished within the top two gymnasts in three events: uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.

Adams also was named EAGL Gymnast of the Week twice to close the regular season. Over a three-day span last week, she earned a pair of all-around titles without scoring lower than a 9.700 through eight events.

Even with Adams leading the charge, the Terps will need a dominating performance to top the eight-team conference.

Despite their undefeated conference record, the Terps enter Saturday's meet as the third seed. The two teams ahead of them, No. 25 NC State and No. 28 West Virginia, will likely present their biggest tests.

NC State (6-9, 4-1), which lost to the Terps at a March 4 tri-meet hosted by Penn State, is seeking its third conference title in five years. Buoyed by freshman Stephanie Ouellette's average all-around score of 38.716, the Wolfpack has scored higher than a 194 in all but one of its 11 meets.

And after competing against five top-25 opponents this season, NC State won't be intimidated by anyone it will face at EAGLs. It ranks first or second in the conference on beam, bars and floor and scores less than the Terps in only one event: vault.

While NC State boasts a balanced attack, West Virginia (9-7, 6-1) relies heavily on its vault routines. Led by freshman Hope Sloanhoffer's conference-leading 9.825 vault average, the Mountaineers top the EAGL in that event. They also rank second on floor — the only event that finds the Terps outside the conference's top five.

West Virginia, which is the only EAGL team the Terps haven't seen this season, already boasts six conference titles. That's not only the most of any conference team, it's also six more than the Terps have ever won.

So while teams like NC State and West Virginia approach Saturday's meet intent on continuing their proud traditions, the Terps are hoping to start one.

Their program has been cut three times in its 32-year history. It still shares a practice facility with the School of Public Health's Gymkana Troupe, and it didn't get its own locker room until September.

Those realities are not lost on Nelligan, who took over the program from his father two years ago.

"You know, winning EAGL is what it's all about," he said. "That would mean a lot to this program, but it'd even mean more to our seniors. They've been through so much with us and I can't imagine a better way for them to go out."

letourneau@umdbk.com