Bailie Key Crowned U.S. Junior National Champion

Aug 17, 2013 by Jennifer Teitell

The 2013 P&G Championships Junior competition wrapped up just moments ago in Hartford and Bailie Key of Texas Dreams takes home the all around prize with a 118.550. Key closed her meet scoring an impressive 15.550 on beam. Key is coming off of big all around win at the Secret U.S. Classic. Key trains with the famous coaching duo of Kim Zmeskal Burdette and Chris Burdette

Day two of the junior women's competition at the 2013 P&G Gymnastics Championships started out with plenty of exciting routines.

Current national team member, Polina Shchennikova was the meet's first competitor on beam. Despite some shakiness, Shchennikova showed off her beautiful lines and difficult skills, including an Onodi to sheep jump, full twisting back handspring, and back handspring layout stepout. Sstarted shaky, wobbling on some elements and missing connections, but stayed on the beam and hit her dismount. She earned 13.85.

Current national team member, Nia Dennis of Buckeye, showed off her power with a clean double twisting Yurchenko, which she landed slightly lock legged, scoring 15.0.

Lexi Ramler of Kidsport followed with a beautiful, stuck full twisting Yurchenko, scoring 13.7.

Next on beam, Alexis Vasquez of Chow's performed a beautiful front aerial, front aerial, side aerial combination and hit nice jumps. Her back handspring to two layout stepout series was equally solid and she connected a leap to back tuck, and showed nice flexibility in her turn and scale. She dismounted with a two and a half twist, with just a small side step. Vasquez, who was in sixth place following day one of competition, scored 14.8.

Norah Flatley during the junior final at the 2013 P&G Championships
photo byMelissa Perenson

Next on beam, teammate Norah Flatley, who was tied for fourth place after day one. Flatley had a shakier routine than usual, nearly falling on her handspring, handspring, layout to two feet series, and wobbled after her second front aerial, missing the connection to her side aerial. Despite the troubles, she showed nice leaps and jumps, including a switch ring leap, sheep jump, and split jump to scissone. She dismounted with a powerful two and a half twist with two large steps forward. Flatley, who tied with leader, Bailie Key of Texas Dreams, for the highest beam score of day one (15.35), scored 14.6 on day two, with her massive 6.3 difficulty score.

Over on floor, Nica Hults of Texas Dreams had a great routine, featuring beautiful choreography and a stuck double pike dismount, for a score of 13.6.

Next on floor was MG Elite's Laurie Hernandez on her signature event. Hernandez wowed a cheering crowd with her powerful double arabian to stag leap, piked full in, front layout to punch double twist, clean double pike, and engaging choreography. She dismounted to raucous applause, earning 14.8.

At the start of the second half of rotation two, Felicia Hano of West Coast Elite peeled off the bars twice at the beginning of her routine and could not complete the exercise.

Amelia Hundley of Cincinnati, the leader on beam after day one, took to the bars next. Hundley showed a clean routine with a nice low bar Endo, stalder full, Maloney, and Ricna. Despite losing some momentum on her pak, she regained her swing for a nice Maloney half and full out dismount. She earned 14.0.

Next on floor Bailie Key of Texas Dreams, who led the all-around and floor exercise after day one and recently won the 2013 U.S. Secret Classic. Key continued her streak of hitting all her routines, performing a clean routine with stuck landings, featuring a double Arabian to stag leap, one and a half twist to triple full, nice switch ring leap, two and a half to punch front, and double pike dismount. Key scored 14.95, 0.15 better than her score on day one of the competition.

Teammate Grace Quinn followed on floor, performing a one and a half twist to a triple twist, a tucked double back, double pike, and dismounting with a front handspring to double full, which she saved after some trouble on the landing. She scored 13.5.

After the first rotation, the standings remained largely the same as on day one. Key was in the lead with in the lead with a combined two-day total of 74.15, followed by Laurie Hernandez with 72.8, and Nia Dennis with 72.2. Norah Flatley remained in fourth with 72.2. Amelia Hundley moved to fifth place, with 70.75. Alexis Vasquez remained in sixth place with 70.15, followed by Alyssa Baumann of Woga and Nica Hults.

Rotation two started with Nica Hults' one and a half twisting Yurchenko. Hults had clean form and a step on the landing, scoring 13.9.

Flatley started with a solid triple full, but bounced out of her double pike after landing slightly lock legged. On her third pass, she completed a nice two and a half twist to layout, but landed with both feet out of bounds, a 0.3 deduction. Flatley ended the routine on a high note, and scored a 13.3.

Laurie Hernandez during 2013 P&G Championships
(c) Melissa Perenson

Next was Laurie Hernandez with a powerful double twisting Yurchenko, which she piked down slightly, scoring 14.9.

Amelia Hundley took to the beam next, recovering from her shaky routine and fall on day one and hitting a solid, beautiful routine. Hundley started with a solid standing full twist and continued with a back handspring layout stepout. Hundley showed nice leaps and jumps, as well as a solid punch front and nice side aerial. Hundley dismounted with a clean handpsring, handspring, two and a half twist with a small foot shuffle on the landing. She earned 14.2.

In the second half of rotation two, Bailie Key performed her strong, clean Yurchenko double full with a small hop forward on the landing, earning 14.75.

Next on vault was teammate Grace Quinn, performing the same vault, a bit piked down, scoring 14.45.

Day one vault leader, Ariana Agrapides of MG Elite, then took to the vault. She performed her gorgeous, clean, double twisting Yurchenko with just a small hop on the landing. Agrapides scored 15.4, with a tremendous 9.6 for execution and topping her 15.35 score from day one.

Polina Shchennikova next showed her beautiful artistry and long lines on floor, but had trouble on her first two landings, including stepping out of bounds on her first pass. She rebounded to stick her double tuck, scoring 13.15.

Over on bars, the powerful Nia Dennis fell on her piked tkachev, as well as on her straddled tkachev. Dennis rebounded well, trying again and performing a sky-high straddled tkachev and a nice full twisting double back dismount. She scored 11.1.
Last on floor was Alexis Vasquez with a beautiful floor routine featuring a clean double pike, one and a half layout, beautiful leaps, a Memmel turn, and stuck double tuck dismount. She scired 13.5

After two rotations, Key and Hernandez held on to the top two spots, with 88.9 and 87.7, respectively. Hundley leaped into third place after her strong beam routine, with a combined total of 84.95. Flatley remained in fourth with 84.65, followed by teammate Alexis Vasquez, who moved to fifth place with 83.66. Nia Dennis dropped to sixth,, with 83.3, followed by Alyssa Baumann and Grace Quinn.

The third rotation started with a huge double layout from Amelia Hundley on floor. Hundley later performed a nice a one a half twist through to a double pike for her third pass, and, with the crowd clapping along to her music, Hundley ended with a nice double tuck, scoring 14.5
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Next on bars, competition leader, Bailie Key. Key continued her calm, consistent performances of the weekend with a clean bar routine featuring an in-bar stalder, toe-on half pirouette, Jaeger, overshoot, stalder full, and full out dismount. Key scored 14.1 to retain her lead midway through the third rotation.

During the second half of the third rotation, Nia Dennis rebounded from her two falls on bars to start with a huge standing Arabian, high jumps and leaps, good handspring layout stepout with a slight wobble, and a good double back tuck dismount. She scored 14.95.

Polina Shchennikova next took to the vault, where she executed a clean full twisting Yurchenko, scoring 13.9.

Alexis Vasquez followed, beautifully performing and sticking the same vault, for 14.05.
Teammate Norah Flatley was up next with the identical vault, also to a stick. Flatley scored 13.8.

Nica Hults then showed nice in-bar work and a well-executed Jaeger. Hults stuck her full twisting double back, scoring 14.65.

Laurie Hernandez was up next on bars, performing two major release moves, nice stalder work, and a clean, stuck dismount for a 14.20.

After three rotations, Key and Hernandez retained their first and second place positions, with 103.0 and 101.9, respectively. Amelia Hundley and Norah Flatley remained in third and fourth, with 99.45 and 98.45, respectively. Nia Dennis was in fifth 98.25, followed by Alexis Vasquez in sixth with 97.9. Nica Hults was in seventh and Alyssa Baumann in eighth.

Bailie Key completed her meet on beam. Showing the consistency and confidence that has become her trademark. Key saved her flight series after landing off on her hanspring layout, and went on to perform a solid punch front scissone. Key wobbled slightly on her switch leap switch half, but showed a beautiful switch ring. She hit her triple twist dismount, landing with a just a small step. Key scored 15.5 on her way to her first national title.

Nia Dennis went to floor, where she showed her power and sky-high tumbling, scoring 14.3.

Next on bars was Polina Shchennikova, who has the highest start value of the competition, 6.0. Shchennikova performed a shaposh stalder full to tkachev, pac salto, and shaposh half. Shchennikova ended with a full out dismount, scoring 14.1.

Next on beam was Grace Quinn, who hit a solid routine with some wobbles and ended with a nice triple twist dismount, scoring 14.15.

Over on bars, Alexis Vasquez had some difficulty on her final event of her first national championships. Vasquez missed her change to el grip and had to remount the bar. She next fell on her Jaeger, and fell again after an in-bar skill. Vasquez recovered to a nice pak salto, but struggled to regain momentum after her toe shoot to the high bar. She dismounted with a nice full in, scoring 8.6.

In the second half of the last rotation, teammate Norah Flatley performed intricate pirouetting skills and a nice Jaeger, ending with a stick-straight double layout to a large step back. Flatley finished her first national championship with 13.95.

Veronica "Nica" Hults of Texas Dreams
photo by Melissa Perenson

Nica Hults ended her competition on beam, performing a solid handspring handpsring layout, side aerial to scissone, and front aerial split jump. She wobbled on a sheep jump but saved it nicely. Hults dismounted with a solid handspring, handpsring, two and a half twist. Hults scored 14.6.

Amelia Hundley completed her competition on vault, a strong event for her. Despite a step to the side on her landing, Hundley's powerful double twisting Yurchenko scored 14.3.

On floor, the sassy Sydney Johnson-Scharpf captivated the arena for the second time of the weekend, performing her energetic, engaging floor routine for 13.8.

Meanwhile, on beam, Laurie Hernandez performed confidently, sticking her handspring layout stepout, sheep jump, punch front, and side aerial, and dismounting with a powerful, slightly over-rotated double pike. Hernandez, who was just recently added to the national team, scored 14.75 on her way to a second-place finish in her second national championships.

At the conclusion of the final rotation of day two of the P&G Championships, Bailie Key earned her first national title, with a score of 118.55. Laurie Hernandez was second, with 116.65, followed by Amelia Hundley with 113.75. Nina Dennis moved up to the fourth spot after a strong floor performance, ending with 112.55. Norah Flately ended her first national championship in fifth place, with 112.4, followed by Nica Hults with 111.9. Alyssa Baumann was in seventh, and Polina Shchennikova in eighth.

The highest combined event scores were Ariana Agrapides' 30.75 on vault, Amelia Hundley's 28.550 on bars, and Bailie Key's 30.900 on beam and 29.750 on floor.
At the conclusion of the competition, Bailie Key, Laurie Hernandez, Amelia Hundley, Nia Dennis, Norah Flatley, Nica Hults, Alyssa Baumann, and Polina Shchennikova were named to the junior national team.

2013 P&G Championships Junior All-Around Results

1. Bailie Key, Montgomery, Texas, 118.550

2. Lauren Hernandez, Old Bridge, N.J., 116.650

3. Amelia Hundley, Hamilton, Ohio, 113.750

4. Nia Dennis, Westerville, Ohio, 112.550

5. Norah Flatley, Cumming, Iowa, 112.400

6. Veronica Hults, Coppell, Texas, 111.900

7. Alyssa Baumann, Plano, Texas, 110.900

8. Polina Shchennikova, Arvada, Colo., 109.850

9. Grace Quinn, Arlington, Texas, 109.500

10. Emily Gaskins, Coral Springs, Fla., 108.400

11. Vanasia Bradley, Lincoln Park, Mich., 108.050

11. Jordan Chiles, Vancouver, Wash., 108.050

13. Christina Desiderio, Hackettestown, N.J., 108.000

14. Nadia Cho, Plano, Texas, 107.400

15. Alexis Vasquez, West Des Moines, Iowa, 106.300

16. Samantha Ogden, Allen, Texas, 106.250

17. Ragan Smith, Dacula, Ga., 106.150

18. Ariana Agrapides, Bayville, N.J., 105.500

19. Lauren Navarro, La Verne, Calif., 105.400

20. Molly Frack, Nazareth, Pa., 105.200

Vault

1. Ariana Agrapides, Bayville, N.J., 30.750

2. Vanasia Bradley, Lincoln Park, Mich., 30.200

2. Nia Dennis, Westerville, Ohio, 30.200

4. Bailie Key, Montgomery, Texas, 29.850

5. Lauren Hernandez, Old Bridge, N.J., 29.700

photo by Melissa Perenson

Uneven bars

1. Amelia Hundley, Hamilton, Ohio, 28.550

2. Lauren Hernandez, Old Bridge, N.J., 28.450

3. Polina Shchennikova, Arvada, Colo., 28.300

4. Bailie Key, Montgomery, Texas, 28.050

5. Nadia Cho, Plano, Texas, 28.000

Balance beam

1. Bailie Key, Montgomery, Texas, 30.900

2. Norah Flatley, Cumming, Iowa, 29.950

3. Alexis Vasquez, West Des Moines, Iowa, 29.400

3. Lauren Hernandez, Old Bridge, N.J., 29.400

5. Veronica Hults, Coppell, Texas, 29.350

Floor exercise

1. Bailie Key, Montgomery, Texas, 29.750

2. Lauren Hernandez, Old Bridge, N.J., 29.100

3. Amelia Hundley, Hamilton, Ohio, 29.000

4. Nia Dennis, Westerville, Ohio, 28.550

5. Alyssa Baumann, Plano, Texas, 27.950

5. Megan Skaggs, Marietta, Ga., 27.950