I was lucky enough to get to see the Secret Classic live in Hoffman Estates on July 25th. I sprung for platinum seats this year which were not only amazing, but also allowed me the chance to meet two incredible gymnasts that never in a million years did I think I'd ever meet -- Alicia Sacramone and SHAWN JOHNSON! Shawn is my 3rd favorite gymnast of all-time (behind Elise Ray and Tasha Schwikert) and meeting her was just unreal!! I can still hardly believe it happened when I think back on it! I also went down early Friday for the HOPES meet and was lucky enough to meet almost the entire group of seniors that were competing (minus Gabby Douglas) as well as many of the juniors, coaches, and former gymnasts and Olympians! I also got to meet one of my friends from the gymternet that I'd been talking to via Twitter and her and her daughter were wonderful!! We had the best time. I put my pictures together in two collages below.
It was seriously the most incredible weekend ever! I couldn't have ever asked for a better experience!
So, lets get to the meet!! I was super excited to be able to attend this one, mainly because it was Aly and Gabby's first US meets back. Also, Classics is always interesting because other than American Cup and international meets we haven't seen full routines from the gymnasts or any upgrades that they might be working on. There's always speculation through rare training videos and Instagram posts and such, but we never really know for sure what they will throw until this meet begins.
Other than Aly and Gabby, of course I was excited for Simone and to see what other amazingly ridiculous skills that she could come up with for her routines! I was also anxious to see how Kyla would do and if there were any upgrades added in to her bars and beam routines. Other than those obvious headliners, I was very happy to hear that my personal favorite gymnast of the quad, Madison Kocian of WOGA, would be competing. Along with her, all the other members of the 2014 World Championships team were also there (minus Madison Desch, who qualified from the Pan Am Games). I was also very excited to see how Bailie Key would do in her first senior Classics competition and of course, another of my favorites is Maggie Nichols who went down with an injury last year before after Pan Am Champs. Lastly, I was psyched to see Brenna and Sabrina back in the line-up! So mainly I was excited about almost everyone! Here is how it all played out…
All Around
1. Simone Biles 62.400
2. Gabrielle Douglas 60.500
3. Maggie Nichols 60.000
4. Bailie Key 59.450
5. Alexandra Raisman 59.050
Again, Simone wins All-Around by over 2 whole points. She is utterly unstoppable right now. Simone started off on beam in Rotation 1. Her beam was solid, minus a couple missed connections and a lapse after a front arial. Her full in dismount was off the charts as usual. Seeing Simone's floor exercise in person was amazing. Her opening pass is now a full twisting DLO, which was just through the roof. Oh and you know, not to mention her other three -- DLO half out, double double, and full in. Like are you SERIOUS?! Love the new music as well. Vault was close to perfect as usual, I cannot wait for hopefully an upgrade shown at P&Gs! I'd love for her to win the World Vault title this year. And to finish, her bars were clean and solid.
Wow, Gabby Douglas is BACK. She was the biggest surprise to me of the entire meet. Did I ever expect her to finish second in the All-Around? NO WAY. Maybe fourth or even third, but I never expected this. Okay, started off on bars - while it was a great and solid routine, I feel it may have been overscored just a tad. There were little form breaks here and there but overall it was great. Her presence and calmness on beam may have been what impressed me the most. She hit her acrobatic series cold, which is the part of her routine she always seemed to struggle with back in 2012. She also nailed her standing back with a full. Very, very impressive! I really enjoy her new floor exercise routine as well. The music suits her perfectly and she already has a considerable level of difficulty back in her routines with her passes - double Arabian, full-in, double pike, and double tuck. She hit a beautiful DTY to close out her night.
I wanted Maggie to medal so badly. She is one of my new favorites this quad, and I was so sad when she was injured last year and not able to get a spot on the Worlds team. Maggie was leading after the first rotation because of her Amanar. Huge power, good form, and just a small step to the side. I absolutely love her bar routine and the way she just ATTACKS it, yet still looks elegant and graceful at the same time. Perfect combination. On beam she had a couple little wobbles, but was still overall very strong and stayed on the apparatus. Her last rotation on floor exercise was also consistent and it was very fun to watch and see her get into the routine so much.
I actually expected Bailie to medal in the All-Around, but she wasn't far behind in fourth place. This is still one of her first competitions as a senior and she did a wonderful job! She started out on the beam with a great acrobatic series but had a missed connection and a couple balance checks which I think affected her score. She is beautiful to watch on beam, however. I absolutely love her floor exercise music, it is so unique! She added a DLO in this season, and it is awesome!! On vault she did a great DTY but she had a significant step back. Her bars routine was definitely her personal best of the day and she received the third highest bars score of the meet. We know that anyone who can impress on bars can definitely catch Martha's eye!
Aly Raisman also proved her comeback is legit by placing fifth All-Around even with a major error on floor exercise. She started off on Vault. I think its crazy amazing that she already has her Amanar back, however definitely lots of form breaks (bent knees) in the air and she incurred a mandatory deduction on the landing for an out of bounds and also a couple for the step. Her bars to me look better than they did in 2012. She definitely is not messing around there. Of course there was the usual form issues, however I think that she can work to make this much better by next year. Aly's beam was really good except she had two significant checks - one on a leap and one on an acrobatic skill, however she hit almost all of her connections and stuck her Patterson dismount! Love, love, LOVE her new floor routine. The piked Arabian to punch front will be AMAZING when she hits it, which I'm sure she will at P&Gs. Very proud of Aly and this comeback, I know she's been giving it her all.
Other gymnasts who didn't factor into the top five but who I will be watching …
Alyssa Baumann was a member of the 2014 World Champion gold medal winning team last year in 2014. She finished 6th in the all around after suffering a very uncharacteristic fall off of her best event (beam). It seemed like other than her first pass (DLO), the rest of her landings were a little clunky on floor exercise. She also had a bad landing on her DTY in the next rotation. Her bars were clean and okay, but it just seemed like she had a bad day overall.
MyKayla Skinner was also on the Worlds team from last year winning gold with the team and a bronze on vault. MyKayla is coming back from an ankle injury and this was most definitely not her best meet. She fell off of the beam in the first rotation and on what is normally one of her best events, floor exercise, she had bad landings throughout and a major problem on the last pass and put her hands down. I am not a fan of her new music at all. For vault she did her Cheng and a DTY, and actually had a quite solid performance on her weakest event (bars) to close out the night. Hopefully the ankle will continue to heal and not be a problem at P&Gs.
Madison Kocian is my favorite gymnast of this quad. She only did beam and bars at the Classic. Her beam routine could definitely have been better. She nailed all the big parts of it, however, those leaps and jumps were where she had a few wobbles. She will for sure want to be better on this event next week. I am so so proud of Maddie being the 2015 Secret Classic Uneven Bars Champion!!! Her bars set was gorgeous!! I also heard rumor that Maddie may be doing the All Around in August at P&Gs, which would be super amazing!! I know it will be an uphill battle for her but I hope she makes Worlds again this year.
Ashton Locklear is also coming back from surgery and I don't even think she was scored at Classics. She only did beam and bars, however, looked pretty good for coming back from injury. I am wondering if she will be fully back and able to compete at the P&Gs next week.
Of course, Kyla Ross is always someone to watch. Kyla had a pretty disappointing meet, however. On her best event, the bars, she missed her hands on her new upgrade called the Bhardwaj. She then came off again on a fairly simple element. We were speculating that maybe she had a grip problem or something of that sort. Either way that is a shame. Her beam routine was average, however, no upgrades and wobbles here and there didn't allow it to contend for top scores at this meet. Kyla is supposed to be doing All-Around at P&Gs, I hope that she can go out there and really make a run for the podium.
Brenna Dowell had a scary dismount off beam where her foot missed the beam and she almost fell directly on her neck. Its incredible that she was okay and came back out to watch the rest of the meet. However, she also had a fall off of the bars, so she really needs to improve before Championships next week. I hope she can do it, I'm always rooting to see her succeed.
Also a shout out …
To Sabrina Vega, who competed at her first meet in three years. She was unable to qualify to P&Gs with a low beam and floor score. Sabby, we love you and hope to see you back in 2016!! Don't ever ever give up girl! So happy I got to see you compete live and also meet you! You're wonderful.
This takes us onto the P&G National Championships next Thursday and Saturday nights. This will be a huge chance for the gymnasts to prove that they are worthy of being considered for a spot on the World Championship team that will go to Glasgow to compete in October. There is so much talent and depth on this team I just don't even know how to go about choosing.
I think that there is one lock right now, obviously Simone Biles, however, the other four spots are completely up for grabs. They have so many strong all-arounders (Gabby, Aly, Bailie, Maggie, Alyssa and more) that I don't even know what will happen to the specialists. And lets not forget that the senior gymnasts who were on the Pan American Games team (Amelia Hundley, Madison Desch, Rachel Gowey, Emily Schild, and Megan Skaggs) will factor in as well.
Also, my favorite leos from Classics were:
1. WOGA (umm AND their warm ups too)
2. Texas Dreams
3. Aly Raisman
4. Maggie Nichols
5. Kyla Ross/Simone Biles (because they were almost identical).
I'm so excited for the Road to Rio to start at the P&G Championships!
