I'm sorry this is so late, but better late than never, I guess! Here we go.
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| Photo Credit-USA Today |
At the same time though, Gabby was only 2 TENTHS away, even though she had a fall on beam. It makes sense that Gabby could come out ahead of Aly with a fall, because of Aly's very weak bar set, but I can still hardly believe that she almost beat Jordyn. Again, I'm predicting that Jordyn will come back very strong for Trials. She doesn't like to lose.
Right now, I feel fairly confident in saying that the first four spots on the team will go to Jordyn, Gabby, Aly, and Kyla. Here are some of the things I noted about the people challenging for the last spot:
Sarah Finnegan is the one that most people are choosing for the fifth spot. She is a wonderful all-arounder, and came in sixth even with a fall. I think she could contribute most importantly on floor--she could definitely compete floor in TF. My problem with her is that bars is her weakest event, and we definitely don't need another girl who is weak on bars. She also doesn't have much experience, so I'm a little bit worried about how she would deal with the pressure.
McKayla Maroney is another favorite for the fifth spot. I would love to see her take this spot, as I feel that she deserves the chance to take her vault gold. I wish we had been able to see her compete on Day 2, but I think that her floor will be good enough to lead off in TF. She gets solid enough scores on beam as well, and she has Worlds experience.
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| Photo Credit-Stew Milne |
One surprise came from Elizabeth Price. Although she wasn't televised, she came in fifth in the all around. At this point, I think I might take her instead of Finnegan. She's a true all-arounder and she brings in a higher vault and bars score than Finnegan would. They both have very limited experience, so that isn't really a factor in deciding between the two. Lauren Hopkins from The Couch Gymnast wrote a lovely piece about Elizabeth Price, if you'd like to learn more.
I could also see Sabrina Vega being thrown in as a fifth all-arounder for the team. She has more experience than people like Price and Finnegan, and she solid scores on every event. She definitely proved herself at Worlds last year and I think we could count on her to hit on whatever event she was needed.
Bridget Sloan is another girl that could challenge as an all-arounder. While I wouldn't put her in now, I would not count her out. She shows up and hits at the right times, and I definitely think she'll show improvements for Trials. She also has a ton of experience, which will work in her favor.
Alicia continues to make her case stronger. She only did an FTY for her second vault, but I'm not worried about her there. Her beam is looking very nice, and I really feel like we could count on her to hit and handle the pressure extremely well. I know she wants to redeem herself and I would love to give her that chance.
I've never been a Rebecca Bross fan, but I do feel sorry for her. She looks so incredibly upset every time she falls on her Patterson (which is, by the way, almost EVERY TIME). I was about to completely write her off in favor of Nastia, but from what we've seen so far, she might actually be more valuable. Her bars are great, but I don't think Martha would consider her now that shes fallen about a million times on beam and hasn't changed anything.
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| Photo Credit-Heather Maynez |
Finally, onto Queen Nastia. I actually think that she'll do well at Trials, but I don't know if two good performances are enough to convince Martha to take her. I love her beam, but that's obviously not what we need. If she comes back with a very strong bars set (with a real dismount), she definitely has a shot.
Well, that's about it. Only two weeks to Trials!
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