So, obviously the first thing we have to talk about is THE BEAM SAVE.
And then, in the realm of beam saves, we must not forget the Leah Clapper Beam Moments. On night one, she held on with the jaws of life in ultimate refusal to meet the mat, which always gains my respect-- it might not be reflected in the score, but the character it shows!
While we're on the topic of beam, we also really need to talk about the horrible relationship the US has with beam construction this year. First of all, as I already referenced, the doubling up on wolf turns one right after the other. Let me make this clear, I like well-executed wolf turns. I don't like well-executed doubled up wolf turns. They are hideous, QED.
And then there are the side-stand half-twisting jumps. Fortunately, for the most part, they were better-executed here than at Classics, and the ones which hit split and weren't accompanied by a large balance break were decently pleasant enough. But some were still cringe-inducing. Ragan's beam from night one basically just stood as a monument to the pitfalls of contemporary US beam construction:
There are so many aesthetically-pleasing routes to beefing up the D score in the new COP that the US just... isn't utilizing. I can't think of a single senior who's putting the mixed connection potential to use, and with all the upgrades in mounts they're just sticking with their same A mounts. I know the minimize risk, maximize reward strategy, but... is it really working? We had the wolf turn errors and the twisting jump errors, so are they really the most risk-free options? (I feel vaguely like Umbridge talking about risk-free conditions.) Surely it would be better to risk not getting SB than those errors? And not to mention, it's not just the acrobatic mounts that got upgraded! THE HOMMA WAS UPGRADED!!! (Please, just anyone from anywhere do a Homma.) There are plenty of low-fall-risk options for higher difficulty mounts.
On a completely frivolous note at the other end of the aesthetic spectrum, the Texas Dreams leos night one were fab. I'm still not completely sold on the gathering on Ragan's, but it was a cool different touch and otherwise so regal! I loved the red/white/black/gray look, and how they were different but complementary. Just a nice touch of flair!
And, of course, with Texas Dreams, we must discuss Ragan. She was clearly the best by far, and will definitely be the US's hope for the World title in Montreal. She's been one of the most consistent at the end of the summer, and has been topping the scores, so she is going in a favorite. Her bars both nights missed the strength of her Classics routine, but she made it through securely both times, still. While her beam will never be scored that way at Worlds, her night two beam was FANTASTIC! It was steady and precise for almost the whole routine, and her biggest slip involved one of the lovely "no need to notice my foot just completely missed the beam, it didn't affect me at all or anything" moments. All in all, she is establishing herself as the top class at this point.
And, of course, the weirdness of her floor. Well, her choreography fits the new opening music better than it did for the car horn IT WAS CHOREOGRAPHED TO, so good for that. Also, side eye to Dominic Zito (he is still her choreographer?) It's no longer the bizarro Addams Family mess, but still... we know she can do so much better!! There's a proclivity toward butt shelving and there seems to have been a shift toward constructing her routines with static movements that wasn't there in her junior routines. They went from her cuteness just being a natural facet of the routine to the routines screaming "Look! She's cute and little! We give her beads for motivation! We're going to keep pretending she's five!!" This infantilization I just don't get.
Riley both did and didn't do her job here. She had an overall pretty much hit meet (those bars and floor E scores night two were ridiculous, though, floor significantly more so), which was an improvement along the lines she needed to show. However, it came along with a downgrade and, of course, two routines with significant errors. I am more convinced now that issues for her won't mean complete mental implosion and safety-threatening errors, which had been my big hesitation where she was concerned. I do wonder if doing the FTY might have been behind the increased consistency. With her problems at American Cup, I wondered if maybe going for the DTY threw her off. If you took her day one performance, she made a good case. And her day two beam was lovely.
I was totally on the Marz train to make the podium, but actually looking at the scores, it was a fairly unlikely ask of her to get that score on beam. Still, I truly do think she had one of the best overall performances at nationals. She beat both of the other medalists in steady performance. Plus, her floor is just really fun!
Trinity Thomas's coaches must be really bugged this isn't a team year, because if it was, she'd be a shoe-in for her consistency and the competitive scores she can bring on three events. It's such a shame she couldn't have a more difficult vault!
And, oh, Morgan. Especially night 1. *Sigh* And she finally hit the beam routine, too!
But, on the topic of Morgan's beautiful gymnastic, she dealt a huge blow to the artistry in the world when she shaved down her ending choreo!!
Fortunately, however, the void has been filled by the SJS night two routine:
Moving from magnificent artistry to pure power, Jade Carey's performance... wasn't what we wanted it to be. Neither Amanar was up to scratch. I wonder if at this point it might be better just to do a DTY instead of the Amanar (that is legal right? I always get confused with whether you can have two vaults with the same number of twists) and go for a safer and cleaner route.
And then, rounding out the major players, Ashton still didn't bring the inbars. The routine with the inbars and Ashton-execution would be quite formidable, but there is the question of bringing a routine she hasn't shown in competition this year. Still, there will be an element of risk whatever Worlds team is chosen.
And the juniors!
I like both of the top two, but I was definitely rooting for Maile going in, so I was glad to see her defend the title! Of course, I was not happy that it came with an error from Emma Malabuyo. But, after the issues she had as Classics, it was great to see Maile go 8-for-8 here. These juniors are insane. How much do you want to bet Valeri has a countdown in his office for the number of days until 2018 and these girls are seniors? I know Maile's standout event is beam, but her day 2 bars are what really stuck with me:
It was such a shame that Emma had her stumble day 2 on her beam dismount! She has such lovely gymnastics. She really should have been in the lead after day 1, she had such a clean and polished day. But she's had a great year otherwise! Though her day 2 beam was the cause of her downfall, her day 1 beam was glorious, and I love her arabian! But the highlight of her performance had to be her day 1 floor.
And, speaking of floor, ADELINE KENLIN BROUGHT THE PODKOPAYEVA
But, of course, the big thing that caught my attention here was the new GAGE girls! Dang, they are lovely gymnasts. While Leanne and Kara have been getting the lion's share of the attention, I am a major fan of JaFree's beam composition. But, like everyone else, the one I could watch on loop is Kara's:
And, of course, I can't finish the post off without talking about the Worlds team. I don't envy the selection committee this year, not because there are so many viable solutions, but because this looks like a puzzle where not all the pieces fit yet.
Ragan is obviously going for the AA. Riley is obviously going in some capacity. Since she would have beaten Jordan even with the rough spots and the FTY if the US didn't have its own values, probably AA. The rest is... eh.
Jordan's rumored Lopez is the biggest wrench in the plan. With Carey's issues, another option would be nice. This brings multiple routes and questions into play. The first is looking at comparing her and Carey for a vault spot. If Carey keeps not Amanaring well, Jordan could be the favored option for vault. Except she hasn't done the Lopez in competition. And then the, y'know, "having other competitive events" issue. Pfft. Jade clearly beats her on floor, making Jade the more-viable-potential-medals option.
But then there's another option of Jordan going for the AA, having two vaulters, and bring Riley as a UB/BB specialist. Riley may have been ahead of Jordan using, y'know, the criteria they'll actually be judged by, but Jordan didn't hit her peak. So what if she turns up at camp looking fab? At this point, probably, "You needed to do this in an actual competition with people, sorry." But of course, Riley's consistency isn't her greatest strength either. Does either's consistency record make a better case? And, the bigger question in my mind, should Riley go back to the DTY option, will she still have her newfound hit-ness even with the upgrade? The lack of consistent AAers with competitive difficulty levels is what really messes the decision up here. But Riley's definitely the clear favorite for the second AA spot. The Ragan-Jordan-Jade-Riley option just fits the best, but probably wouldn't maximize outcome.
Ashton and Riley were the only two to beat Ragan on bars, therefore making them the only two worth bringing for bars. Ragan and Riley were also 1-2 on beam, making anyone else for a beam spot illogical unless they can outweigh the collective benefit of Riley. Ashton without the inbars is less compelling than she should be, but if she has them securely at camp, I would think that would be good enough for her case. She's still one of only two beating Ragan, so unless Riley doesn't go as an AAer, she's got a claim to a spot where no one else can really make a compelling argument.
With all the pieces in play at this point, the Ragan-Riley-Jade-Ashton team definitely seems like the most solid option of what we've seen and what I'd expect, but an underwhelming top choice. Like I said, the issue is there are a bunch of puzzle pieces which don't really work together.
And then, of course, there's the ideal option of Trinity Thomas suddenly gets a DTY that looks great, there's a consistent second AAer who can bring in some nicely competitive scores on individual events, and we get a solid second AAer and more balanced team both in the bag. If you add in the D score she would have gotten from a DTY (because of course her E scores would have been exactly the same) she comes in second at nationals. It really would just be the best solution.
Ah well, a girl can dream, right?
