The juniors, in general, weren't all that impressive. Not that they aren't great athletes and yada yada. I mean, of course they are but there were a lot of falls and frankly nothing that can give the top Seniors much to worry about next year. Of course, there were some highlights!
- STEVE NUNO LIVES! Loving that familiar mustache and sweatsuit. Never change Steve, never change
- And speaking of, Emily Gaskins is beautiful on floor.
- Laurie Hernandez at it for the first time since 2013. She needs more difficulty for next year but she competed awesome in her big debut. Her floor was great and had my completely clueless about gymnastics sister very entertained.
- Jazzy Foberg and Laurie Hernandez friendship...so cute. They were so happy for each other and always together.
- Deanne Soza, girl looked great for being out for so long last year. She had that one fall but she didn't let it break her. Her leotard was awesome and she was all business, she is my top pick for 2020 right now.
- Morgan Hurd, she is so adorable that I want to take her home. As a glasses wearer for 12 years, I love that she's rocking that strap. I even had a foam one that floated in the water.
- Ragan Smith can perform the crap out of a floor routine!
Between the Junior and Senior sessions my family and I went to eat a nearby restaurant and I filled the layman sister in on all the hot gym gossip. Needless to say, she was very excited for the seniors. I wanted to get to the arena nice and early to avoid the stress that had taken place earlier but wouldn't you know it? My dad needed to stop for some bottled water. And that led to him dropping my mom and sisters and I off about a half mile away from the arena while he waited in the looooong line to park.
We did make it in time to see the girls introduced which I was pleased about but I swear, this has aged me ten years.
The senors were oh so exciting! I was sandwiched between the layman sister and the 16 year old slightly upgraded four year fan sister. We had a grant ole time watching together. Leaving my mom to sit next to my dad who kept calling Gabby Douglas Gabriel. The only thing that put a damper on my watching experience was the two little girls behind me...SO ANNOYING. Loud, obnoxious yelling for Gabby Douglas. Why did their mom not shush them? I'll never know.
Highlights!!
- Simone, Simone, Simone. That floor, that vault (especially the second one-holy wow!), and the fact that girl cannot be touched. Seeing her compete in person was just as great as last year, if not even better.
- The return of Aly, her floor was amazing minus that fall but it happens and I'm sure she'll be great before nationals.
- Sabrina Vega, give this girl the credit she deserves. She's had injuries, surgeries, time off and she is not giving up. I admire her tenacity no matter what happens.
- And speaking of giving credit, can we get a round of applause for Maggie Nichols? She is not messing around. She gets AIR on floor and just sort of floats down. Rio is in her cards if she keeps this up.
- Kyla's (attempted) upgrades. Yes, she missed it but how nice is it to see some potential added difficulty in there? And I think she can do it. I hope to see her try it again at P&G's.
- And Brenna's bars, they would have been amazing without that fall! My sisters and I are rooting for Brenna so much and I'm pretty sure they'll tune in to Nationals just to see how she does. Team Brenna here at G's Gym Blog.
- Nia Dennis's bars looked great and I love those releases!
- Bailie Key...I was excited for her but to me she's like a Jordyn Weiber. Certainly great but boring and not a standout on any one event. I want Bailie in Rio because I feel like she almost earned her spot as a junior alone and she has the potential. I hope she takes this year to upgrade and add some pizzaz to her style.
- Gabby's floor, was not my favorite. New choreo and music would do her some good.
- Ashton Locklear was entered as an exhibition, I really wish that had been made clear because I was very confused! :)
- I'm usually not into Madison Kocian's bars but they looked good in person.
- Aly's lipstick scared me a little, like it made her mouth look a bit strange. I'd ditch that in the future.
- I pointed out Tim Dagget and his giant teeth to my little sister and she was legitimately frightened.
- Shawn Johnson!! We were sitting right below the private area that her and Asac were in. I didn't realize until I saw a small line of girls forming by the steps and saw that she was signing autographs. I got up and took my spot. A security guard told us to leave her alone but Shawn said she didn't mind and kept going. Meanwhile, Asac was a few feet away sipping her drink lol. When it was my turn I told her congrats on getting engaged and that she was one of my favorite gymnasts and blah blah blah. She was very nice and took a selfie with me. I look terrible but who cares! There was a more formal signing event between sessions involving waiting in a long line for 2 hours outside in the heat. After enduring that last year for Maroney, I was more than happy to skip it!
- Nia Dennis. After it was over, my dad forgot where he parked our van so that gave me time to wait in a giant line by the back doors for some of the girls to come out! Score one for disorganization. Before I asked for a photo, Gabby Douglas's mom came over and they were hugging and saying how much they missed each other. It was really sad actually. I told Nia I liked her bars and she was really nice.
- Sabrina Vega. I don't think anyone in the line really knew who she was but I called her name and asked for picture. She is really pretty in person and so sweet. I told her good luck and that i was rooting for her.
- Maddie Kocian and Alyssa Bauman. They powered through the line, and stopped for one picture but my dad called me right as I was about to swoop in so I missed them. They seemed eager to get out of there.
- Ashton Locklear, she was right by me but did not look like she wanted to be bothered so I left her alone.
- Terin Humphrey and Marta Karolyi. Both were booking it to their car. Marta was hurrying so much that she dropped her camera and said, "Zat vas not good."
- Maggie Haney and Jazzy and Laurie are the like the three musketeers. Seems like a great coach/athlete relationship. They were laughing together but also regarding her seriously when she gave corrections.
- Aly was pissed as heck after the fall on floor. She stood by herself, leaning onto the podium for a good 5 minutes.
- Kyla was cheering for Gabby and Aly a lot, sort of quietly but you could see her murmuring encouragement, it was sweet.
- Aly and Gabby appear to really get along well, on and off camera.
- For only being together a short while, Steve and Emily seem to have a good relationship.
- Bauman was also ticked off after falling from beam, she seemed angry for the rest of the night.
- Valeri Liukin seemed super bored for much of the night. But gosh, why do I still have this weird crush on him??
