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| Friday, August 18, 2006 |  |
A race to the finish
By splitleap @ 8:31 AM :: 2508 Views ::
0 Comments :: Gymnastics News, Splitleap Article |  |
This year’s senior women’s field boasts three current world champions, as well as some untapped young talent. The first night of competition was fierce and held some surprises.
One such surprise was Shayla Worley’s withdrawal due to a hamstring injury. The American Cup runner-up was sure to score big and make it into the crème de la crème of the field.
Another surprise was the tug of war played with the top spot. Nastia Liukin had the lead after the first rotation and didn’t get it back until the final rotation. Liukin began on balance beam, where she had a couple little balance breaks (arm wave on side somi, wobble on full turn), but otherwise performed solid acrobatics (bhs, layout stepout, two-foot layout; triple full dismount). She scored a 16.3 (6.7 difficulty, 9.6 execution).
After sitting down her much talked-about double front on floor in warm-ups, she stuck it cold (albeit very cowboyed). Her dance was balletic, but she lost momentum in her last pass (2 ½ twist) and stepped out of bounds. She initially scored a 14.70, but her score was later raised to a 15.0. Liukin’s Yurchenko 1 ½ on vault was solid and garnered a 14.9, but it left her in fourth place.
She took charge on the uneven bars (Tkatchev; Geinger; slight waver on Ono to half turn) and scored a meet-high 16.4 (6.9 difficulty; 9.5 execution).
Natasha Kelley snuck up in the rankings throughout the evening, beginning on vault with a double-twisting Yurchenko. She swung a clean bar routine that included a Hindorff and double front dismount for a 15.8.
Kelley completed a trick-filled beam routine (tucked full; Arabian; ro, bhs, double pike) but compositionally, the routine was rather weak. Still, it was good enough for a 15.85. Kelley moved into second place after a 15.10 on floor exercise (double layout; double Arabian; front double full side pass; two whips to 2 ½; double pike).
Chellsie Memmel looked relaxed and confident throughout the meet. She started on uneven bars, where she hit her Hindorff and jam dislocate to double front for a 15.5. On beam, she had a small break on her standing Arabian, but stuck her double pike dismount. A cheering section with letters spelling out “Chellsie” painted on their stomachs followed Memmel from one end of the arena. After Memmel’s beam routine, her fans screamed and Memmel acknowledged them with a wave. Memmel took the lead after two rotations.
Memmel added a front full side pass to her floor routine, and landed with a shuffle of her feet. She landed her other tumbling passes authoritatively and scored a 15.25. Memmel vaulted a Yurchenko full for a 14.5 and third place heading into finals.
Stoic Jana Bieger of Coconut Creek, Florida began the competition on floor exercise, where she took out the full twist on her opening double layout. She next tumbled a tucked full through to triple twist and took a large step on the landing. Other passes included a double Arabian (low landing), layout full side pass and double pike dismount.
Bieger moved to vault, where she performed a Yurchenko 1 ½. She did a second vault (fhs, front full) to put her in contention for an event medal. She stuck the landing, but got almost no block off the vault, causing some spectators to gasp.
Bieger performed an ambitious bar routine (Stalder full; Ricna; Stalder full to Tkatchev; full-in dismount) for a 15.45. She was solid on balance beam (barani; front aerial, back pike; front tuck; bhs, layout stepout; side somi; stuck double front dismount) for a 15.50 and fourth place after preliminaries.
Ashley Priess and Alicia Sacramone rounded out the top six after the first day. Priess got off to a good start on uneven bars (Stalder full; high Tkatchev; Khorkina; double layout) with a 15.75. She showed some nerves on balance beam, however, with a step forward on a front aerial and other little balance breaks. She landed low on her double pike dismount and scored a 15.10.
Priess went to floor, where she opened with a piked full-in, but stepped out of bounds on her final pass (double pike). She closed the competition with a Yurchenko 1 ½ done with good form for a 14.95.
Sacramone erased any memory of last year’s beam routine on night one of Nationals when she fell. Opening her routine with a piked front mount, she glided through a routine that included a switch full; layout stepout to two-foot layout; piked front; and bhs, bhs double pike dismount for a 15.3.
Sacramone delighted the crowd with awesome tumbling (piked double Arabian; triple; front full; 2 ½ to punch front; double pike) and expressive dance. A highlight of the evening came on vault, where Sacramone blasted a piked Rudi for a 16.0. She vaulted a Yurchenko double for a 15.35 and a 15.675 average.
After three rotations, Sacramone held a slight edge as the leader. However, she rotated to uneven bars, an event on which she has improved, but still struggles. She sailed through a giant-full to Geinger (caught close to bar) and double layout dismount for a hit routine and a big hug from her coach, Mihai Brestyan. Her low difficulty and poor execution score moved her back to sixth place at the competition’s conclusion.
In seventh place, Orlando Metro’s Kassi Price had only a few small errors here and there, but performed a great bar routine. Randy Stageberg moved into eighth place despite a fall from balance beam. Liukin’s teammate Christine Nguyen and Parkette Amber Trani tied for ninth place, rounding out the top ten.
Results after day one:
1. Liukin 62.600
2. Kelley 61.500
3. Memmel 61.050
3. Bieger 61.050
5. Priess 60.750
6. Sacramone 60.700
7. Price 58.850
8. Stageberg 57.350
9. Nguyen 57.25
9. Trani 57.250
11. Britney Ranzy 56.350
12. Jacquelyn Johnson 56.200
13. Darlene Hill 56.150
14. Kayla Hoffman 56.100
15. Cortni Beers 55.850
16. Morgan Evans 55.500
17. Geralen Stack-Eaton 55.300
18. Alaina Johnson 55.100
19. Hillary Mauro 52.600
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