2012 Visa Championships

Priessman hangs on; wins Junior Title

Priessman hangs on; wins Junior Title

Jun 10, 2012 by Danny Sierra
Priessman hangs on; wins Junior Title


Despite a fall from balance beam in the first rotation, Cincinnati's Lexie Priessman was able to hold off a talented group of juniors and claim her first junior national title, scoring 116.4.

Priessman was off on her back handspring-layout series, falling to one side.  Priessman fought through the rest of the exercise, managing only a 12.6 to open the second night of competition.  

Priessman came back strong on the remaining events, however, hitting a key Amanar (15.65) that put her back on top in the third rotation.  On bars, her last event, Priessman hit her routine, ending with a full-twisting double layout dismount (14.4) to seal the deal.  Priessman also won the floor exercise, scoring 29.8 over two routines.

In fourth place after prelims, Madison Desch of GAGE started day two with a bang, posting a 15.05 on floor.  Desch stuck a difficult whip immediate double arabian mount, and dismounted with a fully rotated triple twist to take the lead after rotation one.  

Desch hit cleanly the rest of the way (14.85 on vault and beam), but a low score on bars (13.9) took her out of the top spot, and she settled for second (115.85).  Desch won the meet on beam, hitting a difficult series ending in a full-twisting layout (29.15).

Secret Classic champion Simone Biles (115.6) finished third, not quite able to overcome modest scores on bars and beam.  Biles vaulted her way to the title there (31.8), however, hitting a fabulous Amanar on day two that earned a 16.0.  

Bailie Key of Texas Dreams ended up in fourth (115.05), putting together another solid meet on day two, highlighted by a 14.7 on floor.  Key notched top-three finishes on vault (29.6), beam (28.65) and floor exercise (29.4).  

Defending champion Katelyn Ohashi of WOGA (114.9) performed much better on day two, despite opening the meet with scary landing on an undercooked double-twisting Yurchenko (13.8).  Ohashi looked better on bars (14.35) and beam (14.9), hitting her full-twisting layout that she missed in prelims and at the Secret Classic.  

She ended the night on floor, with a superb performance that garnered a 15.2.  Despite an underwhelming competition overall, Ohashi still won the bars title (28.7) and placed second on beam (29.1) and floor (29.6).  

Rounding out the top six was Amelia Hundley (114.0), who again hit all of her routines on day two.  Hundley finished third on bars (28.2), showing an improved swing and confidence on the event.  

The top six all-arounders make the junior national team, with additional athletes named at the discretion of the selection committee.

Watch more video of 2012 Visa Championships on gymnastike.org



For full results, click HERE.