The gymnastics team’s three freshmen have caught the eyes of their teammates and coach with their performance this season.

Coach Mark Stevenson said Olga Bodrikova, Lauren Deuser and Taylor Seaman have impressed him with how well they’re doing just two meets into their college careers.

“One of the things about our freshmen is that they came in already at a really high level in gymnastics,” Stevenson said. “And it’s made it really great, because instead of teaching a lot of basics to kids, you’re actually teaching at a higher level right off the bat.”

Seaman has even been named East Atlantic Gymnastics League Rookie of the Week for her performance in Sunday’s meet against Georgia, Iowa and Ohio State, when she had the team’s best finish on the bars and the team’s second-highest finish on the vault and the floor.

Junior Heather Zolton said the first-year gymnasts’ performances thus far have inspired the confidence of their teammates.

“We [hadn’t] seen them compete at all, so we were a little bit nervous. But they went out. They hit their routines,” Zolton said. “So we know that we can count on them and trust them with their routines and everything. And I think it just really helps motivate all of us too as a team.”

And Bodrikova, who has been recovering from wrist injuries, said the excitement of the first meet was a great experience for her. She added it has been a pleasant adjustment to be team-focused, as opposed to the individual focus of gymnastics in high school. She said the mutual support of teammates is the best part of college gymnastics.

“The energy, that not only you [are] helping your team, but the team helping you and everything just put together. Everybody’s cheering on for each other,” Bodrikova said. “It’s a great sport.”

Meanwhile, Seaman noted that traveling with teammates to meets is much more fun than the individual traveling done in high school.

She also said the team has provided a great avenue for adjusting to a new place.

“Being a part of a team really helps you adjust to the school too because you know you’re part of an organization. I came from Pennsylvania, so it was a big move,” Seaman said. “But the team really helps you to make the adjustment from high school to college.”

And as for being so far from home, Seaman said it hasn’t been too tough.

“I love the South. I love the weather. I love everything about it. Raleigh’s a great area,” Seaman said. “I’m not a homebody, so I wasn’t homesick or anything.”

Bodrikova, who was home-schooled for her last two and a half years of high school, said she has seen a decrease in practice time — from 34 hours a week to about 20 hours a week now. She added, though, that academically it has been a process of adjustment because of having more teachers for her classes.

“It was different for me,” Bodrikova said. “But I’m feeling good about it right now.”

And Lauren Deuser, a walk-on who is on a full academic scholarship, was somewhat of an unknown, according to Stevenson.

“We knew that she had potential,” Stevenson said. “We weren’t quite sure how good she was going to be.”

But after the first two meets, Stevenson said she is doing a “great job.”

“On bars, she swings big and pretty,” Stevenson said. “And she’s got a great look and no form deductions.”

As the three freshmen are finding their place in the program, junior Kelsey Lee said she’s just hoping to serve as a calming influence on them.

“I’m a goofy person, so I kind of calm their nerves down if they have any,” Lee said. “Our first away meet they were kind of nervous, and I believe that I brought their level of nervousness down.”

But more so than nerves or anything technical, Stevenson said the biggest thing his first-year gymnasts are dealing with is no longer being the best on their team. Rather than being able to practice routines at whatever pace they want, the freshmen are having to perform in a more intense practice environment.

He said his policy in practice for the bar routine prepares the gymnasts for meets. The policy requires them to do the routine correctly twice before they can stop.

“Learning how to manage their minds as far as, ‘OK, if I make my first two, I’m done,’ learning how to do that just makes a tremendous difference in how they compete because in the meet, you only do one routine,” Stevenson said. “And you can’t miss it.”