Pick of the Vics

It was a mixed bag of performances from the seniors and juniors last night.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed that not a great deal of publicity seemed to be given to the guest MAGs - basically the entire Commonwealth Games team was competing except for Jefferis - which was extremely exciting to watch. Then again, this isn't their state so precedence of course would go to the hometown boys.

Now, I did film some routines but they will take a while to go up as I am still without a working high-speed internet connection. So until then, check out Nade00 or MistySakura's channels at YouTube. They did a cracker job capturing the many routines that zigzag your eyes around the arena as MAGs and WAGS compete side by side!


Extended notes for anyone who didn't catch my tweets at twitter.com/ozgymblog:

- Angela Donald was withdrawn due to injury. Georgia Bonora was on the sidelines with her foot in a boot, and was wearing her Australia tracksuit top to help hand out the team medals at the end. Amelia McGrath did not compete. Zoe Lorenzin and Tierra Exum watched from the stands. A tweeter on the ground told me Brittany Engellener of JETS sustained a back injury in vault training.

- Everyone kept thinking they were watching Angela Donald, but it was impressive lookalike Ulln Sternburg in the Waverley leotard instead. Not much is known about this intriguing newcomer, although I did see her being interviewed by The Couch Gymnast so we may have some insight before the weekend is out! I only caught half of her beam routine which included a switch split leap to back tuck, dainty Korbut flic and roundoff double twist to finish.

- Peggy Liddick and Stacey Umeh were watching from high up in the stands. Oh, to be a fly on the wall!

- For a girl who is reportedly injured, Maryanne Monckton put it in one of the performances of her career. The only significant error was a fall on her bars release (to be named after her if successfully performed at a Worlds) but she recovered from it to stick her double layout dismount. She vaulted a Yurchenko full if memory serves. Beam had a few significant wobbles but a nice double pike dismount, as she turned out to be one of the few to avoid a fall on that apparatus. Floor was absolutely stellar, with dramatic choreo, a nice triple twist, Y-pirouette, double tuck and double pike to boot! The VWHPC girls were cheering their lungs out for her.

- Britt Greeley also put in a commendable comeback performance after a prolonged back injury. Vault was a stuck Y1.5 with bent knees. She showed a lovely double pirouette on beam and a switch leap to back tuck but fell on her BHS LOSO and her double tuck dismount. Floor was a great effort with her "Remember The Name" music, but she sat down her double arabian opening pass and had a low chest landing on her double tuck and double pike.

- Georgia Wheeler showed some big skills but seemed a little off tonight. She was another to show off a nice double layout dismount off bars (I am loving those!) and a nifty tkatchev, but couldn't save an otherwise error-dotted routine. It had a bizarre start where she saluted, mounted with a glide kip and then paused; cast, Weiler kipped and paused; remounted to do a very nice Shaposh then lost her rhythm, then hopped off and re-mounted to go on and complete the routine with a small form break before the end. Her new floor routine (to techno) definitely gets the crowd going and is full of energy, but almost too much energy - she stepped OOB on her double arabian to open and her punch layout full (1.5?) twist through to double tuck.

- Ashleigh Brennan competed with poise, and praise for her HPC teammates. She showed a lovely bars routine but downgraded the double layout dismount to a double tuck and had to take one step. She showed a rock solid beam routine (all Beijing skills back in there) until she fell on her side somi (which always seems to be the clincher for her), only to recover with a stuck double pike dismount. She showed off a new floor routine to classical-techno music with vocals, similar to Georgia Rose Brown's. The new choreo is stylish and striking, she showed great form on her tucked full-in mount but unfortunately put her hands down on a double pike dismount.

- Speaking of Georgia Rose Brown, have I mentioned enough times that I could watch this girl all day? Even just warming up choreography on the sidelines? She showed beautiful lines in her giants and toe-on on full on bars, catching her gienger and straddle jaeger well and making a good job of her double front dismount. Vault was a Yurchenko full with good form throughout and a not-too-shabby landing. Her dance on beam was just divine, she showed great leaps and a nice Y-pirouette with a slight wobble, but fell twice and practically faceplanted on her double pike dismount. Floor showed some of the most elegant dance of the whole session, and she executed her layout 1.5 to punch front nicely. She had a large pause before her last pass, a double pike, and finished behind the music.

- Alex Eade didn't have the best of outings. She stumbled backward and fell onto her back in her Yurchenko full. She then lost her rhythm early into her bars routine after a neat tkatchev and had a few small form breaks, stumbling forward on her double layout dismount. Beam was dainty (walkover mount was nice to see) but she seemed uncertain in just about everything, going on to fall twice. Her BHS back whip was fantastic, as was her pike jump. She had a huuuge wobble after her side somi, showing how much of a bugbear that skill is for the women on beam, and one step back on a double tuck dismount. On floor she debuted her flamenco routine which has lots of fun facial expressions to go with cheeky choreography and "clap along!" moment. She did a layout full twist that seemed like she had suddenly opted out of a double. Her twisting passes are nicely executed overall and her double pike dismount needed just one step back to control.

- Isis Lowry competed with the help of the world's loudest and most upbeat cheer squad - JETS clubmates! Showed a lot of attack in each of her beam skills and unfortunately suffered a fall in the process. Her BHS LOSO was one of the strongest and neatest shown in the competition and got some serious air on her double back dismount. Opened her floor routine with a slightly overcooked double pike that showed great height, and managed to keep her twisting passes in bounds. She sassed up the choreo to the max (jazzy version of Rage Against the Machine's "Kiling In The Name", hilariously enough) and showed she is definitely one to keep an eye on!


- Prashanth schooled EVERYONE on pommel, scoring 6.6/9.5 for a 16.1! He got a huge cheer as he finished his routine, making up for a less-than-stellar routine on parallel bars earlier in the competition.

- Skills of note - Clare O'Donnell's press to double stag planche beam mount, Stella Savvidou's nailed double pike on floor, Sam Simpson's double layout to front tuck on floor (which got a massive cheer), Monckton's triple twist, Luke Wiwatowski's high bar release (Voronin? Gosh I am rubbish at identifying releases!), Georgia Wheeler's huge pike jump on beam.


- The crowd got to meet Bounce, the GV "spokes-sugar glider", who is as nimble as he is cute with his gigantic mammaly head.


- My sincere apologies for not recording scores, there was just SO MUCH GOING ON AT ONCE!

- In terms of the standings, the visiting Christchurch team (who reeked adorableness in spades) won the women's IDP10 team title, and MLC took top honours for jnr/snr combined team. The WAG all-around standings after Day 1 are Monckton 1, Brown 2, Brennan 3. It is unclear yet whether I will attend Monday's session but if all falls through, AGB's helper elves are sure to make up for my absence.

Read The Couch Gymnast's previews, reviews and interviews at GV here.