2018 Junior Pan American Championships

Team USA Set For Junior Pan American Championships

Team USA Set For Junior Pan American Championships

The USA is competing in the 2018 Junior Pan American Championships for men’s and women’s gymnastics June 13-15 at the City of Buenos Aires (Argentina) Club.

Jun 11, 2018 by Becca Reed
Team USA Set For Junior Pan American Championships

Team USA is set to compete at the Junior Pan American Championships this week in Buenos Aires. The men's and women's competition will be held June 13-15 and consists of a team competition as well as individual all-around and event competitions.

USA women competing are Jordan Bowers, JaFree Scott, Tori Tatum, and Leanne Wong and the U.S. men's team is made up of Brandon Briones, Taylor Burkhart, JR Chou, and Isaiah Drake. Lilly Lippeatt is the women's non-traveling alternate and Joshua Karnes is the men's alternate.

Bowers, from Solid Rock Gymnastics, recently made her international debut at the Pacific Rim Championships where she took gold all-around and helped USA claim the team title. 

For Scott, Tatum, and Wong, this meet will be their first international assignment as part of Team USA. Tatum competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy this year in March where she placed seventh all-around, representing her club team Twin City Twisters. Scott and Wong are both from GAGE where they are coached by Al Fong and Armine Barutyan.

The organizers are expected to provide a live stream of the competition on their YouTube page here.

Schedule: (full schedule here)

June 13: WAG Individual Event Qualification, WAG Team Final, WAG All-Around Final 

June 14: MAG Individual Event Qualification, MAG Team Final, MAG All-Around Final

June 15: WAG and MAG Event Finals Competition

This competition is a FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) continental championship and serves as a qualifier for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, which will be held in Buenos Aires in October. Pan Ams also "may be a part of qualifying a full team to the 2019 Junior World Championships," according to USA Gymnastics. USA Gymnastics has also stated that they will not be trying to qualify for a women's artistic spot at the Youth Olympics--they will be looking to qualify for men's artistic, rhythmic, and trampoline.

Read USA Gymnastics' press release here.