Covergirl Classic Seniors Results, Videos and Analysis

I had a chance to watch the Covergirl Classic today on Universal Sports (you can still watch the stream here), and it was certainly an interesting meet. Although many gymnasts only competed one or two events, there were some strong all around performances, notably Chellsie Memmel who hasn’t competed all around since 2008. While she still lacks some difficulty, she hit every single routine and definitely looks ready to contend for a few spots in world line-ups with a little boost. We can count on her.

Alexandra Raisman rallied after a complete disaster on bars to win the event. I was very impressed by her first pass on floor, but it will always be a hard pass for her to keep in bounds. Still, it may be one of my favorite tumbling passes ever. I was not as impressed by her Amanar, and honestly didn’t expect it to score so well. Her leg form was less than perfect and it looked a bit under-rotated. She finally landed it- now she just needs to clean it up.

Shawn Johnson looked pretty good from what we saw, but I’m not sure her chances at going to worlds this year are very high. She has a lot of the skills she needs, but the difficulty scores still aren’t quite high enough. I don’t think Marta would ever use her 5.5 bars in team finals, or even her 5.9 beam. Beam could improve, but bars probably can’t, at least not enough. I doubt she’ll get her Amanar back. That leaves floor, where she could make a big impact if she wasn’t injured. We’ll see- she’s on the right track, but she needs a little bit of time.

Alicia Sacramone looked fantastic on all three of her events. Besides going out of bounds on three of her tumbling passes, her floor routine was truly amazing. Her choreography is spectacular and much more interesting than it has been in the past. She was super solid on beam and vault, as expected.

Jordyn Wieber looked great on bars and beam, which is pretty obvious because she took home a pair on 15.2s and event titles. She didn’t quite look ready for some of her upgrades, but she has a little bit of time to polish them before Nationals and ultimately Worlds.

Sabrina Vega made some nice upgrades, including the double twisting yurchenko on vault, and could have won without an extra swing on bars. Still, I’m not sure I believe it when Tim calls her one of the stars of the team. She can put up a good all around score, but she doesn’t have the difficulty to contribute a top 3 score for such a deep team.

I’m shocked that McKenzie Wofford managed to hold it together enough on bars and beam to hold the lead after the second rotation, but her scores indicate that she did a great job. After that, however, it was a little bit rough.

The trio from Legacy Elite (Anna Li, Mackenzie Caquatto and Bridgette Caquatto) all looked very good on bars, with the exception of Li’s fall on a transition. Li, however, has the most difficult routine of the three and would have scored 15.3 without the fall, which is extremely impressive. Mackenzie had the same routine as last year and looked solid; Bridgette added some new skills such as the Maloney 1/2, but looked a bit shakier to me.

Gabrielle Douglas=possibly the savior of team USA on bars. We can assume that Bross and Wieber will probably do bars in team finals for the USA, so that leaves one spot. There are a couple of girls who are at or near Gabrielle’s level on bars, but Gabrielle is potentially able to contribute on every single event, with a rumored Amanar, a high 6 beam routine and a low 6 floor routine.

A few others: It was sad not to see McKayla Maroney’s Amanar on the big screen for the first time. Her beam was good, though, and her floor has the potential to be spectacular. I’d like to see her control that 3 1/2 twist the way she controls her Amanar. Casey Magee looked like a veteran of elite competition- she had some amazing saves. I missed the Garrison, though.

Note: Videos will be linked to results as they appear on youtube. Some videos contain more than one routine.

	Name	VT	UB	BB	FX	AA
1	Alexandra Raisman	15.1	12.45	15	14.7	57.25
2	Chellsie Memmel	14.2	14.4	14.7	13.65	56.95
3	Sabrina Vega	14.6	13.5	14.5	14.25	56.85
4	McKenzie Wofford	13.15	14.6	14.8	13.05	55.6
5	Sophia Lee	14.1	13.2	14.25	13.4	54.95
6	Bridgette Caquatto	14.2	14.9	13.35	12.3	54.75
7	Jessica Howe	13.65	12.9	14.3	13.2	54.05
8	Casey Magee	13.65	13.2	14.2	12.1	53.15
9	Brandie Jay	13.975	14.2	13.15	11.65	52.975
9	Hallie Mossett	14.1	13.1	12.9	12.7	52.8
11	Lauren Beers	9.8	12.25	13.2	13.1	48.35
12	Alicia Sacramone	15.1		15.2	13.9	44.2
13	Jessie DeZiel	14.8		13.35	13.4	41.55
14	Sophina DeJesus	13.05	11.75	13.25		38.05
15	Jordyn Wieber		15.2	15.2		30.4
16	Mackenzie Caquatto		14.75	14.1		28.85
17	Grace McLaughlin		14.1	14.4		28.5
18	McKayla Maroney			14.55	13.45	28
19	Amanda Jetter		14.3	13.65		27.95
20	Shawn Johnson		13.55	13.3		26.85
21	Aja-Monet Sims		13.5	13.2		26.7
22	Jaclyn McCartin	10.5			12.3	22.8
23	Gabrielle Douglas		14.95			14.95
24	Anna Li		14.3			14.3

Additional Videos:
Shawn Johnson interview- Gymnastike
McKayla Maroney interview- Universal Sports
Chellsie Memmel interview- Gymnastike
Alexandra Raisman interview- Gymnastike
Alicia Sacramone interview- Gymnastike
Sabrina Vega interview- Gymnastike 
Jordyn Wieber interview- Universal Sports
McKenzie Wofford interview- Gymnastike

Qualification rules: 54.0 AA, 41.25 3 events, 28.0 2 events.

Qualified from Classics (some are already qualified): Raisman, Memmel, Vega, Wofford, Lee, Caquatto, Howe, Sacramone, DeZiel, Wieber, Caquatto, McLaughlin and Maroney. Johnson petitioned and it went through. Was Li already qualified?

A junior report will be posted tomorrow.

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