Seniors To Watch For At The 2015 Secret U.S. Classic

Jul 20, 2015 by Becca Reed

The 2015 Secret U.S. Classic is less than a week away and it serves as the final tuneup and final qualification opportunity before the 2015 P&G Championships, USA’s national championships. The roster contains multiple World and Olympic medalists and there will surely be a high level of gymnastics. While back to back World all-around champion Simone Biles is the favorite, there are still many other gymnasts you should watch for and below are the gymnasts you can't miss. You can check out the full senior’s roster here.

Simone Biles

Biles dominates nearly every competition she enters, and not just by tenths but sometimes by points. Biles has competed twice this year, at the American Cup and at the Jesolo Trophy, winning both meets. She has added even more jaw-dropping skills to her already world class routines and debuted a full twisting double layout on floor this year. At the Classic, she is planning to add a Barani to her beam routine (a front tuck half) and is expected to show off new floor choreography.

Brenna Dowell

Dowell will be making her return to elite after a successful freshman season at the University of Oklahoma. She announced her elite comeback just a few weeks ago and the Secret Classic will be her first elite competition since the 2014 P&G Championships. Dowell was known for exciting and high level skills but didn’t always display the consistency needed for a top elite gymnast. As a college gymnast, she displayed much more refinement and consistency and it will be interesting to see how those improvements will translate to elite gymnastics.

Nia Dennis

Dennis will be making her senior debut at the Secret U.S. Classic and we haven’t seen her in competition since the 2014 P&G Championships where she placed second overall to Jazmyn Foberg (Foberg is still a junior this year). At the beginning of 2015, she had a foot injury that kept her out of training and out of the running for the Jesolo Trophy. Last month she named to the Pan Am Games training squad but was ultimately not chosen for the team. We visited Buckeye in June and you can see our Beyond the Routine featuring Nia here. Just last week, in a surprising turn of events, she moved from Buckeye, where she had trained her entire life, to Legacy Elite where she now trains with head coach Jiani Wu. It will be interesting to see what shape Dennis’ routines are in for her first senior competition.

Bailie Key

First year senior Key competed earlier this year at the Jesolo Trophy where she placed second to Biles in her much anticipated senior debut. She missed the second half of the 2014 season due to injuries but looked to be in great shape in Jesolo. Key reworked her bar routine and now connects her Ricna to Pak and also performs a new stalder Shaposh to shoot over. She performed the same tumbling passes and her beam was similar but with a new double pike dismount. She vaulted a Yuchenko double full at Jesolo but we know she is capable of pulling out an Amanar, however she might not pull it out for the U.S. Classic. She is definitely one to watch for with her combination of artistry, elegance, consistency, and power.

Mykayla Skinner

Skinner started 2015 with the American Cup in which she placed second all-around to Biles. Known for her incredible level of difficulty and high flying skills, Skinner has been working on refinement and execution. She was on the 2014 World Championship gold medal winning team and she also placed third on vault and fourth on floor. While Skinner may not pull out all of her big tricks for Classic, she is still one to watch for not only in the power events but also in the all-around competition.

2012 Olympians: Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, and Kyla Ross

If you didn’t know, these three gymnasts were part of the 2012 Fierce Five Olympic team. Clearly, they are ones to watch for and they have all displayed an impressive level of gymnastics as they aim to return to another Olympic Games.

Ross has competed consistently since the last Olympics but Douglas and Raisman made their return at this year’s Jesolo Trophy. Watch all of Team USA’s routines from Jesolo here. The duo will likely have the same routines that they showed in Italy but Douglas is looking to debut a new floor routine. You can hear her new music and see that routine in our latest Beyond the Routine here. This will be a key competition for Douglas and Raisman in proving their consistency and any improvements since Jesolo.

Ross is known for her consistency and doesn’t compete a skill until she is sure she will nail it. In a recent video by Deanna Hong, you can see her training a Pak full on bars and like most of her skills, it is clean and elegant and hopefully we will get to see it this weekend.

New Faces: Kylie Dickson and Alaina Kwan

Dickson and Kwan both train at All Olympia Gymnastics Center and this is their first Secret U.S. Classic. Both gymnasts display beautiful artistry with clean, strong skills. Dickson is committed to Alabama and placed 5th all-around at 2014 JO Nationals. Kwan is committed to Kentucky and placed third all-around at the Region 1 Championships this year with a 38.425. Watch Kwan's 9.7 floor routine from the 2015 Texas Prime here. Watch Dickson's 9.75 bar routine from the 2015 Region 1 Championships here.

Also worth noting is Sabrina Vega's return to competition after nearly three years out and Ashton Locklear's return to competition after a serious shoulder surgery.