Saturday, July 10, 2010

WAG Nationals: Senior/Junior AA Wrap-Up



(courtesy of Gymnastics Victoria)

My apologies for missing last night but my biggest bundles of thanks to Brindabella for keeping me updated throughout the night!

Click through to the previous post's comments to read scores and observations. Read GA's wrap-up here.

This bit made me sniffle...

“It feels so strange. I never thought I’d be a national champion. I never thought I was that girl."

Awwww, Georgia! Your time would surely come. You're ace. You are that girl, you just didn't know it yet!

Congratulations to last night's all-around medallists!


Senior:
Georgia Bonora - Gold
Maryanne Monckton - Silver
Shona Morgan - Bronze

Junior:
Angela Donald - Gold
Svetlana Sanders - Silver
Amelia McGrath - Bronze


A Waverley double-header! A Victorian trifecta! And a podium finish for everyone's other favourite person nicknamed Mez! I gave the loudest 'yay' ever heard in a Melbourne bar when I got a text bearing the news.

Congratulations must also go to Naazmi Johnston who won her third consecutive(!) senior rhythmic all-around title yesterday.

Oregon State did a catch-up with National 10 Champion Olivia Vivian here.

Best wishes to Ashleigh Brennan (among others!) for a speedy recovery - she was withdrawn from this second day of competition due to injury.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would kill for some videos if anyone would be kind enough to share?

Anonymous said...

Looking at results- Comm Games should be Bonora, Morgan, Mitchell, Monckton (bars specialist at minimum), Brennan (beam floor vault) and maybe Little (so solid and clearly consistancy has been an issue).

The selection will be super interesting!

Anonymous said...

Mary-Anne is not a bar specialist! I'm sorry but 14.175 is not a good score by international standards, and a 5.6 d-score is even lower than Mitchell's and exactly the same as Wheeler's. Mary-Anne got a 12.775 on the first night which is obviously poor, and didn't make her case for a beam spot either with zero consistency on that event. I love Mary-Anne and think she's great but to take her because she supposedly has great bars is just not right. Larrissa is the best choice for the VT/UB spot - nice FTY and far better bars than MaryAnne and even Wheeler is much more logical for a VT/UB spot because she will likely have upgrades on vault by then and can complement a BB/FX worker.

Anonymous said...

I agree with anon 7:32pm. As much as I love Mez, I just cannot see her making the cut. Just not enough of a solid history behind her plus an injury cloud.
Peggy has some tough decisions to make.

Anonymous said...

That's the problem with having trials months in advance. We have no idea how much better the girls may be in October. I'ld prefer if Peggy just named a squad of about 8 girls that will serve as the worlds and comm games team. Then closer to the date the actual teams can be chosen when a better idea of their form and their difficulty and execution is known.

Anonymous said...

That is exactly what Peggy would do if she were able. The problem is that the CWG Organising Committee require all competing nations to submit their teams now. That's why NZ have already announced theirs. Peggy does not have that luxury. No doubt she will take into consideration how the girls might be able to upgrade between now and then.
Tough call.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:13 I had no idea that was the case but it makes sense now.

Anonymous said...

Monckton is a lock, she has said so herself. This is not a rumour or something that has been heard on the grapevine, it comes straight from the horses mouth.

She has been assured a place on the team, all she had to do was come in the top three AA. Lets face it the team had been picked before the competition had even started. This is not the first time it has been done like this.

I am sorry to confirm all the rumours, but Monckton will be named in the team. The team will be Lauren, Bonora, Emily, Monckton and Ashleigh.

Anonymous said...

When is the team announced?

Anonymous said...

IDP AA and apparatus finals are over. Eliza Freeman (Vic) won AA, UB & BB. Scarlett Vizec (Vic) won vault and Rianna Mizzen (Qld) won floor.

Anonymous said...

Well couldn't Mary-Anne easily just add a straddled version of the Shushunova to the routine to get up to 6.0? It would replaces a C element with a G which is 4 extra tenths?

What worries me about Mary Anne is her vault:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UCuAoCfC4E&feature=related

It isn't well done or upgradeable at all right now.

Anonymous said...

If anon 9:25 is correct then maybe Maryanne will be focusing on bars. She may be able to upgrade and have a decent d score. It could be Lauren, Georgia and Emily AA, Maryanne UB and Ashleigh VT/BB/FX. I can understand why GA wouldn't take Larrissa. She has done well on bars in the past but unless she can start hitting very soon then there is probably not a place for her. I understand that Larrissa's d score is far higher than Maryanne's but if she can't stay on the apparatus then there is no point in having a high d score. Maryanne does still have time to upgrade and bars is the one apparatus where her troublesome ankles is not as much as a problem.

I think Peggy and the selectors have a really tough decision to make. I hope people aren't too critical of their selections because selecting the CWG now is something I would not like to do.

nade00 said...

This selection is certainly a painful one. I wish they could all make the team!

I would be happy to see Mary-Anne get a reward for sticking with it through all these injuries and surgeries and making it to nationals with some great skills.

I want Georgia Wheeler to make it because she has clearly worked very hard with all her upgrades and could definitely use the experience gained in future meets. I think she will be very important in the coming years.

I want Shona to make it because people never seem to appreciate how consistently solid she has been for the team for several years now. She would have made beam finals in Beijing if she wasn't the first-up sacrificial lamb. I really think she deserves a CWG experience.

I want Emma to make it because she has always been on the cusp of teams like this but has had bad luck with injuries and hasn't really been able to show just how good she is. She is one of the loveliest, most elegant gymnasts out there.

I want Ashleigh to make it because she has also been of great service to the team and did not just take the easy route by retiring after the Olympics. I admire her for having another crack at Commonwealths.

I want Larrissa to make it because she has also worked very hard to upgrade her bars and work on her AA prowess all with an injured foot. I was amazed by her breakthrough in 2009 and hope she can build on it. I think we need her bars, and even if she is shut out of Commonwealths I think she should 100% be on the worlds team.

There is no easy way out on this one!

Mez said...

Nade, I am with you on that last comment (the whole of it!) 100000%!

Anonymous said...

Yes well said Nade. There are six deserve the two remaining spots.

Anonymous said...

IDP10 results in - Eade beats Godwin by .1! Godwin got hammered on execution - it was lower than her d-score on beam.

Nicole Grout's beam in IDP8 sounds amazing. Her d-score was 9.5, 3.5 over the base score.

Anonymous said...

Mary-Anne is not a bars specialist. She, from what we saw as a junior, is more of a beam and floor specialist. But we dont need any more beam and floor workers, we need bars...so maybe she should keep working at bars, and upgrade beam and floor. Then the score would contribute to the team and AA.

Anonymous said...

Tough, tough selection. I think Shona will make it - she's too consistent not to. She did place 2nd the first night % 3rd the second night right? That's consistently in the top 5!

Just out of interest anyone know how the really crappy job of informing the gymnasts who didn't make it is done? I assume Peggy would tell them?? Ahhh....that would be really hard, but I suppose that's the business they're in - the girls train knowing it is tough to make oz teams and you need luck on your side injury wise.

Mez said...

Anon 9:25, are you sure you have spoken to the girl in question and heard it from her yourself?


Because I call bulls**t.

Mez said...

And I meant to add - I have it from the AIS that Monckton DOES have significant upgrades across VT, BB and FX to get under her belt, that were in fact being worked on prior to ankle surgery.

Anonymous said...

Same could be said for all of the girls Mez. Who's not working on upgrades?

Anonymous said...

It appears to me that you are a little bias Mez, and I don't mean to put you down here. It's just all girls are competing with some sort of injury and all girls are working higher skills but you seem to think it is only MM.

I am sure that the AIS would tell you that MM is working higher skills. I am sure that all programs would say that about their gymnasts.

MM is struggling with the routines she is competing at the moment, so regardless of what she may and may not have been working before surgery, she cannot upgrade before she can get what she is doing now consistently.

Lets support all girls evenly and not show bias towards favorites.

Anonymous said...

Argh I am nervous about this afternoon, there is so much at stake! Hope all the girls can do their very best to make their case for selection.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:14 Shona didn't come second on the first night she came fourth behind GB, AB & MM.

Good luck to all the girls in today's apparatus finals.

Mez said...

I just think I have a right to stand up for someone who is one of a few being singled out (particularly when she is being quoted as saying something she most certainly did not say).

I'm not saying the other girls aren't working on upgrades (it's obvious all of them are, in some manner). It's simply that people are stressing "MAM NEEDS to upgrade!" and I'm saying "She IS, her progress has just been interrupted!"