12:16 p.m.: All that glitters -- Compared to the men, the junior women at the 2009 U.S. Championships are literally sparking. The light in here catches the light of leotards decked with rhinestones, of which there are many. Others, including WGA Texans coaches Debbie and Donna Kaitschuck and their athlete Lizzy LeDuc, are going for a more space age look -- the coaching twins are wearing bright silver jackets with navy pants (I think Donna Strauss from Parkettes sported one a couple years ago too), and LeDuc is in silver with black at the neck and a few colorful stars.
The four WOGA girls -- Briley Casanova, Sophia Lee, Madison Kocian and Grace McLaughlin -- are wearing the same maroon and spangled leotards they showed at the CoverGirl Classic. 2004 Olympic silver medalist Terin Humphrey, who is here as a commentator, wandered by in a calf-length black dress with whit roses on it and spaghetti straps.
We're in the third rotation of warmups. LeDuc, who is famous on Youtube for her tough beam routine and enthusiastic performances on floor, struggled to land a Yurchenko full during warmups.
Also spotted: Amanda Jetter with the other Cincinatti Gymnastics Academy girls in blue. Competition favorite Sabrina Vega will be rotating with those girls, but I don't see her in the warmups.
McKenzie Wofford of Stars Houston looked very good in the warmup on bars as well.
Gym Max gymnasts are in bright green, and....was that an Amanar just thrown by McKayla Maroney? Why yes, I think it was. She just did it again. Her coach looks quite happy.
12:45 p.m.: You know you've made it in gymnastics when you make an Olympic team, because then you become one of those gymnasts known only by her first name. Nastia, Chellsie, Ivana and Bridget have this distinction at the moment. Sabrina Vega is still "Sabrina Vega" at the moment, but with a good competition today, this favorite could take the first steps to becoming just Sabrina.
12:47 p.m.: I asked Dwight Normile, editor of International Gymnast Magazine, why junior men's champion Cameron Rogers (16-18 year olds) was deducted 0.3 on high bar yesterday for wearing navy blue pants that he was told were "too dark." Normile said that men aren't allowed to wear dark pants anymore because they can camoflauge bent legs and that sort of thing.
12:49 p.m.: The athletes have cleared the floor, and we're preparing for march in.
12:53 p.m.: A reporter asks Humphrey what she's doing at this meet. Working for [her old coach] Al Fong, Terin says, until this evening, when she's doing "media." "What does that mean?" the reporter asks. Humphrey shrugs and smiles.
Appropriately, the montage that's being shown on the big screen from last year's U.S. Championships is to the song "I'm Not Over." At the moment, none of the Olympic team members -- Bridget Sloan, Samantha Peszek, Nastia Liukin, Chellsie Memmel, Alicia Sacramone and Shawn Johnson -- have officially retired for good.
1:00 p.m.: The athletes are marching in.
Rotation 1: Vega on bars: hit set with full in dismount.
Claire Boyce, vault: Yurchenko full, very clean.
Ericha Fassbender, floor: Fell on first pass. Competing to "I'm Shipping Out to Boston" from the movie "The Departed." 12.0
Kiana Winston, beam: Fall. 12.9.
Hallie Mossett, vault: Yurchenko full, hop back.
Madison Kocian, bars: Stalders, stuck, full twisting double back. Nice form throughout. No release though. 13.55.
Keely McNeer: Energetic music. Full in with a hop.
Nicolette McNair, vault: Yurchenko full, hop. 13.75.
13.6 for Vega on bars.
Brenna Dowell, vault: yurchnko 1.5 with small hop.
Lexie Priessman, bars: hits her feet on Jaeger on the high bar. 11.45.
Aly Raisman, floor: Sacramone's clubmate is using her old msuic. Overrotated triple full first pass, but it was nice. Double tuck.
Lee, bars: Missed toe on half, covered. Jaeger. Bail. Full twisting double, stuck.
Jetter, bars: Nice long lines. Nice Jaeger. Pak. Ray to high bar, full turn. Double front with a hop.
Morgan Smith, floor: 13.75.
Katelyn Ohashi, vault: FTY.
Mackenzie Brannan, vault: FTY with hop.
LeDuc, beam: Wobble on sheep jump. Bhs, layout.Front tuck. Roundoff, 2.5 twist dismount.
Goregeous DTY from Kyla Ross of Gym Max.
Maroney attempts Amanar and sits it down. 14.5.
Wofford, floor: Ends with 2.5. Jazzy music.
McLaughlin, bars: Hit set to big applause.
Fall from Kennedy Baker of Texas Dreams on beam. The Texas Dreams girls are wearing what seem to be patchwork quilt inspired leotards, mostly red with squares of white, pink and black and a v-neck.
Talia Chiarelli., floor: Solid tumbling.
Madeline Hanley, Parkettes: Bent legs on 2.5 dismount.
Ashley Lambert, beam: Bhs, layout with a wobble. Punch front, steps forward, fights and falls. Back pike, wobble. Side somie, same thing. Roundoff, double back. Looked nervous throughout.
End first rotation. Standings: 1. Ross (15.15) 2. Maroney, 14.5. 3. Caquatto 14.4. 4. LeDuc 14.3.
Second rotation: Priessman, beam: Front aerials, wobbles and grabs the beam. Punch front.
Hall, floor: 2.5 twist. Double back, double pike.
Raisman, DTY on vault. Looks like Sacramone.
Ross leads after the first. And she should -- that DTY was great.
Second rotation: Priessman, beam: Front aerials, wobbles and grabs the beam. Punch front.
Hall, floor: 2.5 twist. Double back, double pike.
Raisman, DTY on vault. Looks like Sacramone.
Ross looked good on bars in warmups.
Smith, vault: DTY with slightly low landing and step back.
DeJesus, floor: Double Arabian, 1.5 to front layout, double pike.
Dowell, bars: Nice form. Double layout, only moved one foot slightly.
Wofford, vault: FTY.
Douglas, beam: nice layout to two feet.
Chiarelli, vault: Yurchenko 1.5.
Ross, bars: Goregous Jaeger, bail, full turn, double layout with a step forward.
LeDuc, floor: Big smile, double back. Very cute routine, and she sells it. 2.5 twist to end.
Dowell, bars: 12.95.
Ohashi, bars: Boy, she's tiny! Nice set, punctuated by a full twisting double dismount.
Hanley, floor: 1.5 to front full. Triple twist to end -- again, a little bit of leg form, crossed legs in the air. Spanish guitar music.
Maroney, bars: Pak.full priouette, double pike.
Baker, floor: Handspring front full to end.
Brannan, bars: Jaeger, stalders, bail, double layout with a hop.
Casanova, beam: Switch, back tuck. Bhs, layout. Fall on side somi. Double back. 13.45.
Lambert, floor: Full in. Fun, kooky music. Double back, popa. Running Rudi. Double pike. 13.5.
Boyce, bars: Very nice lines. Hop full, form break. She off and jumped down. Stalder Jaeger combo. Nice double layout dismount.
Vega, beam: Back handspring, layout. Big wobble but she saved it. Solid front tuck to back tuck. Sitch to back pike. Switch ring. Slight wobble on turn with leg up. Double pike with a step. No smile after this routine, conferring with coach Teadora Ungreanu.
Jetter, beam: Fall on standing full. Side somi, standing arabian, front tuck. Back pike. Double back.
Winston, floor: Front layout to immediate front double full.
Mossett, bars: Jaeger. Pak. Ray. Full twisting double back, stuck.
Kocian, beam: Switch leap, straddle jump -- high. Bhs layout to two feet with a step back. Side aerial. Double back with steps.
Caquatto, floor: Roundoff 2.5. Double pike to end. Also Spanish guitar music. End second rotation.
Standings at the halfway point: 1. Ross 2. Raisman 3T. Chiarelli and McLaughlin 5. Cauqatto 6. Smith
Rotation 3:
LeDuc, vault: Made the Yurchenko full, although done with some form breaks.
Smith, bars: Hit routine included Tkatchev
Ross, beam: Hit routine with step forward on punch front. Nice high double back dismount. Very nice routine from the 12-year-old Californian.
Wofford, bars: Fall right off the bat. Toe on full to Tkatchev. Jaeger, stalders, bail. Full in dismount.
Jetter, floor: Double Arabian. 2.5 to front full. 1.5 to Rudi. Double back.
Maroney, bars: Full pirouette to bail, Geinger, clips her foot on low bar on giant, double pike.
Winston, vault: Big FTY.
McLaughlin, floor: Double pike. 1.5 to Rudi. 2.5. to front layout.
Nice DTY from Caquatto.
Stuck Yurchenko 1.5 from Hall on vault.
Brannan, beam: Backhandspring, layout. Standing tuck, little wobble. Switch half. 2.5 twist.
Casanova, floor: Open full twisting double pike. Front double full. Double pike. Looks pleased with that routine.
McNeer, bars: Doesn't point her toes. Tkatchev. Break on bail -- legs apart. Full twisting double layout with a step.
Boyce, beam: Bhs, layout, sheep. Double tuck.
Vega, floor: Full twisting double pike. 2.5 to front layout, little slip. Nice layout and good choreo. Looks more polished every time she does that routine. Little stumble forward after double back -- maybe she wasn't quite sure of herself? Double pike with little hop back. A very nice routine aside from a few tiny stumbles.
Kocian, floor: 1.5 to front full. Choreo feels a bit similar to Rebecca Bross's. Swiutch ring, switch side. Double tuck.
Raisman, bars: Stalders. Bail with slight leg separation. Double front with a step. Like Sacramone, she swings gingerly, as though she's not too comfortable with it.
McNair, beam: Fall on bhs, layout after a good fight. Side somie.
Priessman, floor: Full in. Front layout to front full. Double turn. 2.5 twist.
Douglas is down after landing her double Arabian stiff legged on floor. She's carried off to appreciative applause. End third.
Kyla Ross is well on her way to winning her first junior national title!
Rotation 4: Maroni, floor: Sits down Arabian double front, full twist. Cool headstand move. Handspring front layout, front full. 1.5 to full again. Looks like she's capable of harder tumbling.
WOGA girls are making their vaults.
Vega, vault: FTY. 13.6.
Casanova, vault: 14.25
Baker 14.0 on bars.
Fassbender, beam: A few wobbles here and there. Double back with a step.
Nice high FTY from Kocian.
Lambert, bars: Full in dismount. Made her routine.
Nice DTY from Priessman. 14.9.
Brannan, floor: Double pike. 1.5 to full. Tourjete half. Front full. 2.5 twist.
Lee, vault: Best FTY of the day -- high, legs straight and together, and totally stuck. Great.
McNeer, beam: Back tuck. Long pause before dismount, two bhs to double full.
Boyce, floor: Whip to a nice triple full. Double pike. Front double full, had to lunge back to make it. Nice clean 2.5 twist and very good presentation.
Caquatto, bars: Tkatchev, Ray. Missed something on a cast and jumped down. Tkatchev, full twisting double back with a step forward. 12.9.
Raisman, beam: Press handstand, switch leap, layout stepout. Bhs, layout to two feet. Wolf, split. Punch front with a step. Back pike, back tuck. Full turn with leg up (wobble). Stuck double pike. Good routine.
Mossett, floor: Arabian double front. 2.5 to punch front. Tango music, and she's quite expressive in her movements. Double back. Double pike.
DeJesus, bars: Fell on low bar skill to start. Too bad, because she's got very good lines and swing.
McNair, floor: Arabian double front,
Smith, beam: Went after the landings on this one. Double back.
LeDuc, bars: Fell on Tkatchev. Toe opn stalder, bail. Full pirouette. Double layout with a big step forward and may have touched her knee down.
Wofford, beam: Switch leap. Straddle jump. Front ariel to bhs, layout to two feet. Side aerial to layout stepout. Onodi. Sheep. Roundoff, bhs, double pike -- overrotated and fell to her back.
Dowell, floor: 2.5 punch front. Fun routine.
Hanley, bars: Ray. Piked Jaeger. Tkatchev. Clear hip
Ross, floor: Double Arabian. Nice full twisting double back. 1.5. to double full. Switch ring to tourjete half. Double tuck. That could be your junior champion.
Ohashi, floor: Double pike. Switch ring, switch side. 2.5 to front layout. Double back. Lovely routine from this GAGE gymnast.
So after day one: 1. Ross (57.85) 2. Raisman (56.65) 3. Caquatto (56.35) 4. Smith (55.85) 5T. Jetter and McLaughlin (55.8).
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Hey Blythe! Anne & I are live-tweeting @Gymnastike and @amygym!
:( Blythe's server is down so she can't post! She is live-typing though, I promise guys!
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