TOWSON, Md. — The Towson gymnastics team continues racking in weekly awards. This time, it’s sophomore Chelsey Dennis bringing home EAGL Rookie Specialist of the Week for the second time.
It’s an award representing patience and resilience for a sophomore who’s having a tremendous second year.
“Chelsey has definitely been thriving. I think she has done a great job just mentally preparing for every practice," says Jay Ramirez, Towson gymnastics head coach.
Year two for Dennis has been a revelation.
Coach Ramirez says as a freshman, the transition from high school to college weighed on her mentally, but in September is when a switch flipped.
"She came to us, first day of practice and just [said] I’m ready to be locked in, I’m locked in. I’m ready to go. So, I think that was just a testament to how she had her freshman year and she wanted to really kind of contribute to the team," says Ramirez.
“Year one, I was just getting the jitters out. I feel a lot more confident. I knew what to expect this year and I knew what I had to do and I worked really hard this summer and I came back with the right mentality and I locked in," says Dennis.
This year Dennis has thrived on bars and beam. But it was on the bars where Dennis recently recorded her career high of 9.9.
"You know it was just copy/paste what I’ve been doing in practice you know just got rid of the nerves. Finally, I was in my home meet, so it was a lot of fun and went out there and did what I had to do," says Dennis.
This sophomore season has been a testament to figuring life as a student athlete out but also being hungry for more and staying confident.
"We call it the sophomore fire. Sometimes freshman that struggle a little bit in their first year, they kind of learn their lesson and then they come in just on fire," says Ramirez.
With more success comes more responsibility. Coach Ramirez says you may even see Dennis on the vault in the near future.
Up next for Towson is a meet in New Haven Connecticut against Yale.
