The Aussie Invasion

Can't you hear, can't you hear that thunder?
You better run, you better take cover!

Hurrah hurrah hurrah. Have returned from yet another fantastic night of standup in Flinders Lane (Jono's video got as far as Tasmania, Scotland, Germany and Thailand, in case you were wondering) to discover AWESOME results for Aussies in their USA comps.

She'll be right on the night, mate!

Dasha and Lauren went 1-2 in the all-around at the Friendship Classic (by the looks of the field, I was hoping she'd top it) despite a few bobbles and both only doing Yurchenko full vaults. They went 1-2 on vault as well despite that latter fact. Apparently Dasha dislocated a finger before vault, hence the Y-full, but insisted on competing all four events anyway. What a trooper!

Vault: Dasha 1st, Lauren 2nd
Bars: Dasha 1st, Lauren 3rd
Beam: Lauren 1st, Dasha 2nd
Floor: Lauren 1st, Dasha 2nd

Get some quotes and additional coverage of the event here. Remember the name, indeed!

Over at the Golden State Classic, Aussie elites blitzed the field. Shona Morgan of Waverley Gymnastics Centre - the club formerly known as Waverly Advanced Gymnastics boasting one of the best, if not THE best, 'non-institute' programs in the country - won the all-around with a 60.2(!) as well as floor and beam AND vault by the looks of things (Yurchenko double, yeeha), and Ashleigh Brennan who came second behind her was tops on bars (over Olivia Vivian of all people); interesting, as it's not her strongest event but it certainly is Olivia's. Given the scores at Nationals/National Clubs/WOGA, I am a bit suprised by how inflated the scores here were. Dasha's inventory of skills is somewhat more complex than Shona's, I'm surprised Shona cracked a 60. But good on her, anyway. Emily Little won the junior competition with team-mate Britt Greeley coming second. Good on all the girls for competent showings, this will be a real morale booster for all of them after Stuttgart. Though perhaps Peggy is re-thinking Ashleigh as the third Pacific Rim Championships [formerly PAC] team member and really wishing she'd picked Shona? Hurray for non-institute girls putting up solid routines, Shona really outdid herself and performed for the team in Stuttgart last year. My hopes in the team are certainly a lot higher now!

Thanks bundles to folks who upheld the news feeds while I was out; it was nice to come home to good news!

ETA: Video of Lauren's brand spanking new floor routine [including a very nice piked double arabian, new for her] is up! You can also view some great photos here so mammoth-sized thanks to 'gymmy64' and 'gymstuff' for granting us international fans access to their wonderful little nuggets of media.