11:06 a.m.: Dallas's American Airlines Center, home to the 2009 U.S. Artistic Gymnastics Championships (the trampoline and tumbling events will take place elsewhere) looks exactly like all the venues the U.S. Championships have been held in for the past several years. The backstage area is huge, a world obviously built for basketball players -- or maybe everything's just bigger in Texas, like they say.
So, the task at hand. The junior men are warming up, most of them stretching on the floor. A few stand by the equipment very carefully with their eyes closed, just visualizing. One guy did a squat through on vault.
The commericals that will be broadcast throughout the meet -- the new Nastia Liukin Cup meet, and for GK leotards -- are already blaring intermittently and will probably for the duration of the championships.
11:30 a.m.: By all accounts, the guy to watch at this competition is New Yorker John Orozco, 16, who will begin on pommel horse. Orozco, winner of last year's junior title in the men's 14-15 category, has huge skills for a guy so young -- at the J.O. Nationals earlier this year, he threw a full-twisting double back dismount on parallel bars and an unusual 1.5 twisting double back from rings. At the J.O. Championships, he won everything except pommel horse, where he finished second.
Rings does seem to be a weaker event for him, however -- he's a bit heavier, which makes the holds harder for him. Nonetheless, he's absolutely dominated the junior division for the past couple years. More on Orozco from The New York Daily News is here.
"I want to be the best in the world, that's what I'm training for," he says. "I want to win the all-around gold in the Olympics. It's always been my dream, I just want it so badly."
Also to watch: Sam Mikulak from SCATS in California, and Cameron Rogers from Weyandt's of North Carolina. But really, anyone could emerge here -- that's the fun of the junior competitions.
12:14 p.m.: Old-time gymnastics is being shown on the big screens in the middle of the American Airlines Center -- flying rings and some kind of event where two people do pommel horse at the same time.
Also just aired: A segment where the junior men's gymnasts are asked their favorite skills (most like doing Tkatchevs on high bar) and who they want to give shout-outs to (many said their parents.)
Warmups: Spotted so far -- at least two people are doing double twisting double backs from rings. Orozco threw a double twisting double layout dismount from high bar and a nice straddle Tkatchev, though his reverse hecht was a bit too close to the bar.
Jesse Silverstein, the smallest guy in his warmup group, threw a triple back off high bar with his legs glued together (at least on the first two flips).
1:03 p.m.: The athletes are marching in. There are a couple hundred people in the audience, but it's by no means packed in here.
1:13 p.m.: And here we go.
Hit routine from Parker Raque on floor, ended with full in.
Alex Barrera 14.55 on vault for tsuk 1.5
Clean tsuk full on vault from Eric Schryver of WOGA
Hodges 12.9 on pbars
Rogers took an extra cast to handstand on high bar --12.35.
Really nice clean form from Mackenzie Dow on fx -- big step on 2.5 twist, though.
Sma Mikulak on pbars -- hit routine with good form.
A little bit of form from Orozco on pommels, but a hit set
Colton Wulf looked like he might have blown his knee on vault, where he did a Yurchenko 1.5. He's in pain and being assisted. 14.15 -- he landed short on a tsuk 1.5
Alex Powarzynski of Black Hills on floor -- 12.75.
Preston Ellsworth of WOGA on vault landed his vault very low, nearly hurt his knee on that.
Jesse Glenn of SCATs stuck his double back off pbars. Wyatt Aycock looked good on high bar, too -- he's got one of those powerful swings.
The SCATs contingent here looks quite good.
Full twisting double layout from Kyle Voissem of Swiss Turners on rings, nice routine.
Adrian de los Angeles on pbars from SCATs -- young guy, nice form, but sat on the bars a little at one point at the beginning of his routine.
CJ Schaaf from Cypress msucles through the dismount of his pommel horse routine but got it around, albeit he'll have a bit of a deduction for that.
Richard DePalma has a little trouble cointrolling the strength moves on still rings. Everyone nearly rotates before Silverstein can perform, but he's got every eye in the building on him at the moment.
Silverstein: Very nice line and handstands, iron cross, double front pike to double front tuck, dismounts with a double front pike. Very good. End first rotation.
Standings after rotation 1: 1. Orozco 2. Mikulak 3. Maximilian Mayr 4. Jake Martin 5. Trevor Howard. (Ages 14-15)
1. Klein 2. Barrera 3. Raque 4. Schryver 5. Wulf (Ages 16-18)
Rotation 2: Wulf is apparently not hurt despite being helped into a wheelchair after landing stiff-legged on vault. He's warming up pbars.
Disastrous set from Mario West on high bar -- a fall, then a flop to his stomach on his dismount.
Schryver on pbars -- sat on the bars at one point, big step on his double pike dismount.
Valdez on rings: 12.95.
Orozco on rings: Planche, double pike front to double tuck front, giant, stuck 1.5 double back dismount to big applause. 14.55.
Rogers 14.15 on floor.
Wolting 12.85 on floor.
Mikulak on high bar: Covered up a little after ittle close on reverse hecht, stanlder, Tkatchev, double double layout dismount.
Wulf on pbars: Hit set with a double tuck dismount, bent his knees this time and seems fine.
Whip double Arabian on floor from Jake Martin of Orlando Metro -- showing some style here, with a pike Shushunova floor and a side aerial. nice triple twist dismount. Nice.
Silverstein sat down his handspring double front vault.
Steve Lacombe on floor: 13.8. Alex bubnov on pommel: 12.4. Dylan Akers 13.75 on rings. DePalma 14.35 on vault.
Tsuk 2.5 on vault from Zachary Chase of Cascade Elite. Landed a little low with a hop, but a big vault.
Ellsworth falls off on his Diamadov on pbars. Double tuck dismount. 11.45.
Raque fall on pommels, little bits of form throughout the routine.
Jonathan Deaton 14.05 on vault.
14.15 on floor for Aycock. 12.95 ofr Jordan Valdez on rings.
Jesse Glenn hit routine on high bar. Nice form but little bits of form from Maximilian Mayer on pbars, but his coach is delighted to see him hit this routine.
Konnor Ackerman 10.6 on rings. Trevor Howard 12.55 on high bar -- he did a double double layout and stuck it, but tucks it down at the end.
de los Angeles on high bar: Nice stalders, very nice lines, Tkatchev, full twisting double with a hop.
Another hit routine on pbars, this time from Louis Klein (nice lines), and another jubilant embrace from his coach, who's really fired up.
Joseph Hodges's hand slipped off the bar twice on high bar -- once on a regrab from release, and the second time he jumped down. Full twisting double layout. End second rotation.
Standings after rotation 2: 1. Orozco 2. Danny Berardini 3. Jake Martin 4. Mayr 5. Mikulak (ages 14-15)
1. Barrera 2. Silverstein 3. Dylan Akers 4. Zachary Chase 5. Matthew del Junco. (Ages 16-18)
Third rotation: Orozco hand down on his tsuk 2.5. 14.65.
Very clean set from Mikulak on floor (14.4). big hop on front double full.
Dow 12.4 on rings
Arabian double front, running Rudi, double tuck, 2.5 twist from Jacob Dastrup.
11.6 from Wolting on pommels. Riley Kerr 11.2 on high bar.
Jindra 13.7 on vault.
Howard 14.0 on high bar. Martin 13.35 on pommels. Bubnov 12.2 on rings. Ackerman 14.4 on vault. Wasef Burbar 12.3 on pbars.
Yurchnko full from Danny Potemski on vault -- clean, 14.4. Cycock 13. 8 on pommels. Schaaf 14.35 on vault. Voissem 12.8 on pbars. Klein 11.75 on high bar.
Hit set from Mayr on high bar, capped with a nice double double layout.
de los Angeles ends with 2.5 on floor. 13.7 for Glenn on floor. 13.15 for del Junco on rigs.
Great facial expression from Raque on rings while trying to hold his iron cross.
Barrera on high bar -- great clean routine, double double layout. He's very pleased with this one -- a little elation after saluting the judges.
10.65 for DePalma on pbars. 13.5 for Mayr on high bar.
Jordan Valdez 14.7 on vault.
Chase on pbars: Fall during routine and on dismount. Looks sheepish coming off the podium.
Schryver on high bar: Long lines, Jaeger pike, 1.5 pirouette, jam, full twisting double to huge applause.
Christopher Turner looks cool and focused on rings. Stuck dismount.
Diamadov full, double back with a hop for Joshua Ungar of Tim Daggett's gymnastics on pbars. Nice set. End third rotation.
Standings: 1. Orozco 2. Mikulak 3. Martin 4T. Berardini and Glenn. (Ages 14-15)
1. Dylan Akers 2. Silverstein 3. Barrera 4. Aycock 5. Valdez (Ages 16-18)
Fourth rotation: Nice pbars set from Jindra.
Wulf on floor ex: double back, flairwork, good form, 2.5 twist.
13.95 for Powarzynski on vault.
Akers on pbars: kip handstand, two giants, diamadov full, nice double pike. Hit routine.
Dastrup 13.7 on pommel.
Tsuk double with a step forward from Reaque -- little bit low.
Double pike with several steps from Ackerman on pbars.
Powerful tsuk double full from Dow on vault.
Schaaf on pbars: Good form, double tuck with a step. Couple of hand clips
Silverstein on high bar: Beautiful form, but can't quite get that triple back around and puts his hands down. Great work though.
Schaaf struggles a little on pbars, but makes the routine.
Barrera on floor: Full twisting double, stuck. Flairs up to handstand. Pres handstand. Taking his time, nice and easy. Double full. Roundoff Arabian. Front layout to front full. Punch rudi. Good.
Jordan Valdez: Hit pbars routine.
Orozco on pbars: Nice work, front somie, really good, little stumble on one of his handstands. Has to leap to the side to save his full twisting double back, but doesn't put his hands down. Very athletic.
Deacon on high bar: Full twisting double layout.
Kerr on floor: double back with a step backward, front layout to rudi, Russian travels -- haven't seen those yet today -- runnig front full, double full. End fourth rotation.
Fifth rotation: Fall from Akers on high bar on Tkatchev (11.5). He was leading Barrera by 1.35, so this might not knock him out of first place. 11.5...hmmm.
Raque struggled on pbars, hands down on double pike.
Schaaf on high bar: Tkatchev, Egale grip, full twisting double layout. Not the greatest form on his swing, perhaps.
Voissem 13.0 on floor, Ellsworth 10.75 on vault.
Rogers DTY with a low landing.
Glenn 12.0 on rings.
Alex Strait 14.45 on vault. del Junco 12.5 on pbars. Ackerman 13.55 on high bar.
Silverstein wears blue tumbling shoes to match his blue shorts on floor exercise. Double arabian with a hop. Russian travels, double twisting front. This guy has nice style.
Wolting stuck FTY on vault.
Overrotated double Arabian for Chase, puts his hands down. Front double full. This is definitely one of his better events; he's a nice tumbler. Rudi -- looks like he might have tweaked an ankle because he's hopping everything he's landing like he's trying to be careful. Sat down 2.5 twist dismount. Too bad, because he has good potential here.
Orozco on high bar: piked Tkatchev, straddle Tkatchev, hop 1.5 prioutette, jam to kip, nearly stuck double double layout.
Scryver 13.3. on vault, Mikulak 13.6 on rings, Dow 13.2 on pbars, Valdez 13.7 on high bar.
Jindra on high bar: Stalder to Higgins roll, jam through to el-Grip, stuck double layout.
Kerr 13.3 pommel horse
Dastrup 11.8 on rings. Powarzynski 13.65 on pbars.
Stuck double Arabian, nice front double full, press handstand from Beradini. 2.5 twist to end it. Nice routine. End fifth.
Standings: 1. Orozco 2. Mikulak 3. Martin 4. Berardini 5. Deaton (Ages 14-15)
1. Silverstein 2. Turner 3. Akers 4T. Rogers and Aycock (Ages 16-18)
Sixth rotation: Nice stuck double back off pbars from Aycock, who also gets a hug from his coach.
15.150 on vault for Glenn
Silverstein 13.5 on pommels
Mayr 13.55 on rings.
Schaaf 12.6 on floor.
Missed Kovacs from Dow. Repeats and makes the skill. Double layout with a small hop.
Turner 13.35 on floor.
Orlando Metro's Martin finishes his day on pbars
Orozco on floor: Arabian double pike with a hop, laid out Thomas, flairs, double Arabian, 2.5 twist to end. Great routine.
Jindra on floor: Double layout with a step forward, sat down running double front. 11.15.
Akers on floor: High double Arabian, whip half to Rudi, 1.5 to front full, triple full that he kind of fell out of, but a strong routine overall.
Klein 11.7 on rings, Berardini 10.85 on pommels.
For 14-15 year olds, Orozco has the high score on everything except vault, where he put his hand down. Incredible.
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