The U.S. Classic Senior Guide

A companion piece to our junior guide, below you can find a list of every single senior who will make an appearance at the U.S. Classic in Columbus this weekend, including who they are, what they’ve done, and what you should know about their best skills and events.

SHANIA ADAMS
11807224_886510001397220_7089752072178179952_o.jpg Age 16
Hometown Plain City, OH
Gym Buckeye Gymnastics
Experience A member of the national team in 2016-2017 and in her fifth year at the elite level, Shania has competed at three national championships, finishing 11th in her first year as a senior last summer. At the recent American Classic, Shania won silver in the all-around and the bronze on every event but bars, and her performance at this meet will be in front of a home crowd.
2018 Scores 53.250 (American Classic)
51.650 (April Verification)
What to Watch Shania is a super consistent and well-rounded all-arounder with every event as good as the others, but if I had to pick, I’d probably go with beam or floor. She’s a clean and dynamic performer on both.
STEPHANIE BERGER
Screen Shot 2018-07-26 at 2.50.26 PM Age 15
Hometown Groton, MA
Gym Brestyan’s American Gymnastics
Experience Stephanie has been a level 10 since 2014, and has competed at J.O. nationals four years in a row, earning her best finish this season where she was the silver medalist in the all-around and on beam. A month later, she qualified to elite with an all-around win at her gym’s meet, and this will be her first meet as an elite gymnast.
2018 Scores 51.850 (Brestyan’s Qualifier)
What to Watch Stephanie is fabulous on vault, where she has a solid FTY that could be easily upgradeable in the future, and I also love her beam, which is simple but strong, with an especially solid triple flight series.
SIMONE BILES
Olympic Preview: Team USA Media Summit Age 21
Hometown Spring, TX
Gym World Champions Centre
Experience Where do I begin? The reigning Olympic all-around, vault, and floor champion and a three-time world all-around champion, Simone has a total of 19 world and Olympic medals in just four years of senior elite competition making her the most decorated U.S. gymnast of all time and the sixth-most decorated gymnast internationally.
2018 Scores N/A
What to Watch Literally everything she does from the second she walks into the arena until the moment she leaves. At her comeback meet in particular, we’re excited to see upgrades (yeah, she’s throwing upgrades after not competing for two years) on bars, where she’ll add a Fabrichnova dismount, and on floor, where she’ll perform a front full through to a tucked full-in and will finish with a double double.
SLOANE BLAKELY
5953d3e684893 Age 15
Hometown Frisco, TX
Gym WOGA
Experience Sloane qualified to elite in 2016, making nationals on her first try, where she finished 18th in the junior division. She missed all of last year due to an injury, but returned with a fantastic performance at the Auburn qualifier this spring, winning vault and placing second everywhere else to easily make her return to elite.
2018 Scores 53.750 (Auburn Qualifier)
48.800 (American Classic)
What to Watch Sloane is fantastic on beam! She has an awesome front handspring front tuck series, and I love her front aerial to split jump to split jump half. She also performs with a ton of power on floor, where she has a gorgeous arabian double front.
LUISA BLANCO
Screen Shot 2017-07-23 at 5.47.05 PM.png Age 16
Hometown Little Elm, TX
Gym WOGA
Experience After winning the silver medal in the all-around at J.O. nationals last year, Luisa began competing at the elite level, kicking off her career with the silver on beam and bronze in the all-around at last year’s U.S. Classic. Early this season, Luisa won bronze on beam at the WOGA Classic before competing at Gymnix with her club, where she made the finals for both bars and beam.
2018 Scores 51.868 (Gymnix)
51.100 (WOGA Classic)
What to Watch Luisa is exceptional on beam, where she has incredible style and difficult skills, and she does a fantastic job working high-level dance skills, like a switch ring to sheep jump combo. On top of that, she’s also a beautiful floor worker!
JADE CAREY
Screen Shot 2017-07-23 at 5.48.47 PM.png Age 18
Hometown Phoenix, AZ
Gym Arizona Sunrays
Experience Jade had a whirlwind start to her elite career, going from a J.O. gymnast to the 2017 world vault and floor silver medalist in just a few months. She also won gold on vault and floor at the U.S. and American Classic meets last year, and she’s the reigning U.S. national champion on vault.
2018 Scores 12.65 UB, 12.15 BB (American Classic)
What to Watch Vault and floor are where Jade is miles ahead of the rest of the field, with a big Amanar and tsuk double in addition to powerful and super clean tumbling. But the U.S. Classic will mark Jade’s all-around debut as an elite, so while she’s not as strong on bars or beam, keep an eye on her there as well!
JORDAN CHILES
Screen Shot 2017-07-23 at 5.50.32 PM.png Age 16
Hometown Vancouver, WA
Gym Naydenov Gymnastics
Experience An elite since age 12, Jordan made her debut with the U.S. national team at Jesolo in 2014 and has since won nine medals internationally, including the gold on vault and floor at Pac Rims and the bronze all-around at the Stuttgart World Cup this year. Last season, Jordan won the silver all-around medal at nationals, where she gained attention when she turned a mistake on her wolf turn into an ‘accidental’ triple pirouette.
2018 Scores 54.100 (April Verification)
52.932 (Stuttgart World Cup)
What to Watch Jordan’s top scores always come in on vault, where she had an Amanar but lately has been sticking to a more dependable DTY. Historically, she’s been pretty balanced on her other three events, but this year she’s really stepping up her game on floor with huge tumbling, including a 1½ through to double arabian and a lovely double layout.
AUDREY DAVIS
377308 Age 16
Hometown Frisco, TX
Gym WOGA
Experience In her first nationals last summer, Audrey surprised to finish sixth, earning a berth onto the national team with her solid performance in both days of competition. She hasn’t been quite as successful this year, facing some little struggles in some of her meets, but she was a bars standout at the American Classic and has a lot to offer there.
2018 Scores 51.300 (WOGA Classic)
51.200 (American Classic)
50.118 (Gymnix)
What to Watch Bars is where Audrey truly shines. She showed a gorgeous one-armed front full pirouette into a layout Jaeger at the American Classic, and she also performs a lovely toe full to Pak and double front dismount on this event.
OLIVIA DUNNE
Screen Shot 2018-07-26 at 4.41.21 PM Age 15
Hometown Hillsdale, NJ
Gym ENA Paramus
Experience Four years ago, Olivia made her elite debut when she was just 11, and she’s been on our radar ever since, climbing the ranks over the years to finally earn a national team spot and a trip to Jesolo in her last junior season in 2017. Olivia finished 9th all-around at nationals last summer, and then returned to Jesolo with her club this year, where she placed 15th in the super strong senior field.
2018 Scores 51.133 (Jesolo)
50.750 (April Verification)
What to Watch So, I’ve been obsessed with the elegance, style, and confidence Olivia has brought to her performances on floor ever since she first started competing. This has only gotten even better as she’s grown up, and on top of that, she has phenomenal leaps on this event. Though bars tends to be Olivia’s lowest-scoring event in competition, she’s been working tons of upgrades here and looks gorgeous, so hopefully she’ll be able to tie it all together for competition this year!
KARA EAKER
431196 Age 15
Hometown Grain Valley, MO
Gym GAGE
Experience Kara’s first elite experiences came last year, her final year of junior eligibility, where she was one of the biggest surprises of the season with her bronze all-around finish on top of becoming the U.S. junior beam champion with one of the best scores and highest start values in the world. Now a senior, Kara has struggled a bit this year, missing out on a couple of international opportunities, but she easily won beam at the American Classic earlier in the month and won silver on floor, so things are definitely looking up for her.
2018 Scores 54.000 (Auburn Qualifier)
53.100 (American Classic)
50.550 (April Verification)
What to Watch Beam. Kara has the potential highest difficulty in the world on this event, going for a 6.8 with a set that includes  front aerial to split ring jump to back handspring, a side aerial into two layout stepouts, a split leap to side somi, and a switch ring to back handspring to switch half to Korbut.
JAYLENE GILSTRAP
rCn4t6Hq_400x400 Age 16
Hometown McKinney, TX
Gym Metroplex
Experience A first-year senior, Jaylene has been on the elite scene since 2015, though she missed most of last season due to injury. Before her injury, Jaylene and several of her club teammates competed as guests at France’s Top 12 team competition, with Jaylene beating out several of Europe’s biggest stars — including several Olympians! — to win the bronze all-around medal in a field of 70. This year, she’s competing every event but bars, but she had a fantastic American Classic meet on all three of her events.
2018 Scores 13.400 VT, 12.000 BB, 12.850 FX (American Classic)
13.500 VT, 12.700 BB, 13.050 FX (Brestyan’s Qualifier)
13.050 VT, 12.600 BB, 11.800 FX (Auburn Qualifier)
13.200 BB, 12.600 FX (WOGA Classic)
12.450 BB, 12.600 FX (Buckeye Qualifier)
What to Watch Jaylene is super talented on floor, where she doesn’t have a ton of difficulty, but she’s super tight on everything she does in her super NCAA-esque routine, which features a double pike, front layout to Rudi, double tuck, and double full. The Utah commit also vaults a solid Yurchenko 1½.
OLIVIA HOLLINGSWORTH
03 Age 16
Hometown Seabrook, TX
Gym World Champions Centre
Experience Olivia made her elite debut in 2016 and first qualified to nationals last year, placing 25th as a junior. In between seasons, Olivia decided to change gyms, moving to WCC, though three falls at the American Classic put her last in the senior standings, so she’s hoping for a bit of redemption — and her nationals score — this weekend.
2018 Scores 48.000 (American Classic)
What to Watch Her beam is super promising, with a tuck full series definitely the highlight! She also has a double arabian and 1½ through to double full on floor.
MORGAN HURD
Screen Shot 2017-07-23 at 5.59.17 PM.png Age 17
Hometown Middletown, DE
Gym First State Gymnastics
Experience Literally everyone on earth noticed Morgan for her super clean skills when she appeared at the Nastia Liukin Cup in 2014, and it wasn’t long until she qualified elite. With four national championships under her belt, Morgan had never reached the all-around podium, but she had a killer worlds camp last fall and Valeri Liukin added her to the worlds team, much to everyone’s surprise. But boy did she deliver, becoming the 2017 world champion in addition to winning the silver on beam in what was only her third international meet! This season, Morgan dominated at the American Cup, and was looking likely to take the Pac Rims title as well, but an uncharacteristically rough performance on beam held her back, she still managed to pick up the silver.
2018 Scores 56.599 (American Cup)
54.500 (April Verification)
53.300 (Pac Rims)
What to Watch Okay…I’m going to sound like a Morgan stan, but honestly, every event she does is great. Her DTY gets better each time we see it, and she has a ton of difficulty across her other events, some of the highest in the world. I’m obsessed with her standing full on beam, and I also love her solid double double, double layout, and front layout to front double full to stag jump on floor. ALL OF IT. I love it all.
MADELEINE JOHNSTON
1WRzoeU Age 16
Hometown Boyds, MD
Gym Hill’s Gymnastics
Experience Madeleine qualified for elite in 2016, and though she earned spots at nationals in both of her junior seasons, she didn’t get to complete either turn due to injuries. Third time’s a charm? Madeleine kicked off her first senior season this year placing 4th at the WOGA Classic and then placing 6th at Gymnix, where she also made the bars, beam, and floor finals. At the American Classic, she looked incredible, winning the bronze on vault, where she debuted her brand-new Yurchenko 1½.
2018 Scores 53.168 (Gymnix)
53.150 (American Classic)
52.250 (WOGA Classic)
What to Watch Bars and beam are my favorites of Madeleine’s, but she’s solid everywhere. On bars, I’m obsessed with her hop change to toe front to straddle Jaeger, and she also has a fabulous double spin on beam.
SHILESE JONES
Screen Shot 2018-07-26 at 5.02.21 PM Age 16
Hometown Westerville, OH
Gym Future Gymnastics
Experience Shilese, who turned 16 today, made her first appearance in elite when she was 11. Back then, her 1½-twisting double tuck — named for her in J.O. competition — was the talk of the town, so it’s no surprise she made nationals that year and every year that followed. Unfortunately, an injury kept her out last year, but her senior debut was excellent, seeing her win the all-around, vault, and floor titles at the American Classic.
2018 Scores 53.900 (American Classic)
51.700 (April Verification)
What to Watch Definitely vault and floor. Shilese has a strong and dependable DTY, and though she no longer competes her signature double back with 1½ twists, it’s no big deal because now she has an amazing double double, which she pairs with a double arabian, tucked full-in, and double tuck.
ADELINE KENLIN
267524 Age 15
Hometown Iowa City, IA
Gym Iowa Gym-Nest
Experience Adeline drew massive attention when she dominated the Hopes competition at ten, after which she followed up with four solid junior seasons, finally making her international debut at Jesolo in 2017. The beam champion at last year’s U.S. Classic, Adeline went on to win the bronze on this event at nationals, and she also competed at Jesolo with her club this year, finishing 7th all-around.
2018 Scores 53.468 (Jesolo)
52.800 (April Verification)
What to Watch I always say beam for Adeline, and it’s still definitely my favorite of hers throughout her career, but she’s been growing tremendously as a bars and floor gymnast as she gets older and I love the attention that has gone into both of these events. Her bars has a great inbar to stalder full to Ricna combo and a fierce double front half-out dismount, and on floor she has a double front half-out that looks easy for her in addition to a casual Randi for her second pass. So…keep watching her beam, but know that she’s SO much more than just a beam kid now.
EMILY LEE
Screen Shot 2018-07-26 at 5.07.08 PM Age 15
Hometown Los Gatos, CA
Gym West Valley Gymnastics
Experience Lee made her elite debut in 2016, and she was one of the more promising juniors that year, finishing 20th all-around, but then an injury forced her to miss the 2017 season. She returned at a qualifier this January, winning the gold on beam and floor in addition to topping the all-around to get her classics score, but then a scary fall on bars at the American Classic earlier this month caused her to withdraw from the rest of the meet, putting the pressure on her to get her nationals score this weekend.
2018 Scores 53.350 (Desert Lights Qualifier)
What to Watch Emily’s beam is INSANELY GOOD! She’s confident and lovely there, performing a punch front to jump series, a floaty layout, a side aerial to layout stepout, and a strong double pike dismount. I also love her big double layout and 2½ to front full on floor.
ISABEL MABANTA
Screen Shot 2018-07-26 at 5.10.59 PM Age 16
Hometown Frisco, TX
Gym Denton Gymnastics
Experience When she was younger, Isabel bounced around in the elite system, competing at the American Classic as a junior in 2015 before dropping to Hopes and placing 5th in that year’s Hopes Championships. She attended another junior qualifier in 2016, but then dealt with an injury and dropped back to level 10 for two seasons. Isabel got some international experience with her club at the Top Gym Tournament in Belgium last fall, qualified to elite as a senior in March, finished out her J.O. season with the beam title at nationals, and then returned to elite at the American Classic, competing all but bars.
2018 Scores 51.100 (KPAC Qualifier)
What to Watch Beam is where Isabel is clearly at her strongest! I love her tour jeté half and the front aerial into her jump series, which she connects super well and it’s clear that the dance elements come easily to her.
EMMA MALABUYO
Screen Shot 2018-07-26 at 5.16.39 PM Age 15
Hometown Flower Mound, TX
Gym Texas Dreams Gymnastics
Experience Emma looked promising in her elite debut back in 2015, but between that and the next season, she worked incredibly hard on upgrading and perfecting her skills, getting added to the national team the following spring. Emma won 16 international medals in her junior career, and last year she was one of the best floor workers in the world, winning the titles nationally at the U.S. Classic and U.S. Championships in addition to also getting the gold at Jesolo and then at the Junior Japan International. Emma has been taking it slow this season, not going to the verification camps, though she did travel to Jesolo with her club, where she won her first senior titles in the all-around as well as on beam and floor. Expect her to be one of the top seniors this year!
2018 Scores 55.868 (Jesolo)
What to Watch She’s the kind of gymnast who is almost equally great across all four events, but while I think most would consider beam her strongest event, floor is my absolute favorite for her. She has one of the most difficult sets in the world, but in an understated kind of way, bringing in a great combination of big tumbling and fantastic dance elements. Her double double, double layout, front double full, and tucked full-in are all super polished, she has a gorgeous switch ring to tour jeté full, and to top it off, she performs super well.
GRACE McCALLUM
screen-shot-2018-07-08-at-11-19-02-pm Age 15
Hometown Isanti, MN
Gym Twin City Twisters
Experience Grace was late coming into the elite world, not attempting to qualify until her final year of junior eligibility, but she made a major impression pretty much immediately winning the all-around bronze at last year’s U.S. Classic. This year, she defeated world champ Morgan Hurd at the verification camp in April to earn a spot on the Pac Rims team, and then she was able to take advantage of Morgan’s falls on beam to get the all-around title there as well, in addition to winning silver medals on vault and floor. Grace also traveled to Jesolo with her club this year, winning bronze on floor in her international debut, and she competed only two events at the American Classic earlier this month, but won the silver on bars with a gorgeous routine.
2018 Scores 54.850 (Pac Rims)
54.700 (April Verification)
53.933 (Jesolo)
What to Watch I love watching Grace’s twisting passes on floor. She has a beautiful front double full to front tuck and a brilliant triple full that she rotates perfectly and can stick cold. But she truly doesn’t have a bad event, reminding me a bit of Maggie Nichols in that way, with beam the ‘weak’ spot for both, though for a ‘weak’ event, it’s still pretty fab when she hits!
RILEY McCUSKER
392351.jpg Age 17
Hometown Brielle, NJ
Gym MG Elite
Experience Like many of MG Elite’s girls, Riley went from zero to 60 in no time at all, debuting at the American Classic in May of 2016 and then winning four silver medals at nationals — all-around, bars, beam, and floor — six weeks later. No big deal. She made her senior and her international debut at the American Cup, where she struggled a bit, but then went on to win the all-around and beam titles at Jesolo before snagging all-around bronze in addition to the bars title and the silver medal on beam at her first senior nationals. This year has been a low-key for Riley, who is battling some nagging injuries, so it’s unclear if we’ll see her do the all-around just yet. Her bars and beam looked nice at the American Classic, though, so I’m hoping she’ll be able to improve on a few minor issues there as we get closer to worlds.
2018 Scores 13.500 UB, 14.000 BB (American Classic)
13.200 UB, 13.300 BB (Brestyan’s Qualifier)
What to Watch Bars and beam, for sure. Her form is textbook on the majority of her skills, and if she can get over a few of her nervous adjustments on beam that she showed at the American Classic, I’m sure she’ll be getting huge E scores.
ALYONA SHCHENNIKOVA
Screen Shot 2017-07-23 at 6.15.13 PM.png Age 17
Hometown Evergreen, CO
Gym 5280 Gymnastics
Experience Alyona followed in her older sister Polina’s footsteps to become a junior elite in 2014. With four U.S. Championships on her resume, Alyona has also competed internationally at Jesolo twice, and she made the bars final there this year, ending up 4th in a difficult field. At the American Classic earlier this month, Alyona won the bronze on bars, her strongest event.
2018 Scores 52.350 (April Verification)
49.433 (Jesolo)
What to Watch Bars, absolutely. Throughout her career, Alyona has connected everything that can possibly be connected, but I love her most recent routine, which includes an inbar full to Komova II to Tkachev, a Ricna to Pak to Chow, and a stalder half to front giant directly into a half-in double back (she does the half-in fully laid-out, which looks amazing!).
RAGAN SMITH
6ESpvOM.jpg Age 17
Hometown Lewisville, TX
Gym Texas Dreams Gymnastics
Experience Ragan has spent years on the national team as both a junior and senior. The junior beam and floor champion in 2015, Ragan went on to win the silver all-around medal in her senior international debut at Jesolo the following year before becoming the Pac Rims beam champion and then being named an alternate to the 2016 Olympic Team. When Ragan returned in 2017, she was the clear leader of the senior team, kicking off her year with the American Cup title, and then she also nabbed the bars and beam titles at the U.S. Classic followed by the beam, floor, and all-around titles at nationals. At worlds, Ragan seemed most likely to take the all-around gold home, but a foot injury sustained just minutes prior to the all-around final sadly took her out of contention. She’s been taking things slow so far this year, but when she went to Jesolo with some downgrades in April, she still managed to pretty easily win the silver medals on bars, beam, and in the all-around, so if she’s at full strength, she should continue to be one of the top seniors this year.
2018 Scores 55.166 (Jesolo)
What to Watch Beam is where Ragan is basically almost unbeatable. Even with a fall at worlds last year, Ragan still qualified 12th on the event, and had she hit/been able to compete in the final, she would’ve led the field by a significant amount thanks to her high difficulty combined with her tidy, precise movements and lack of any nervous adjustments that plague about 99% of beam workers. When she’s solid and hitting, she’s about as close to unbeatable as someone could get.
DEANNE SOZA
56cdee95b0852.jpeg Age 16
Hometown Coppell, TX
Gym Texas Dreams Gymnastics
Experience Deanne was an instant success in her junior debut, winning the all-around bronze at the 2014 American Classic before then snagging her second all-around bronze at the U.S. Classic a month later. Unfortunately, she began having issues with mental strength and consistency over the next few years, keeping her from reaching her full potential at any of the national championships she made, but a move to Texas Dreams after the 2016 season got her back on track and though her difficulty isn’t quite strong enough for her to be a major contender, she looked happier than anyone at last year’s nationals, and she hit four-for-four to finish 10th all-around in her senior debut.
2018 Scores 13.650 VT, 13.200 UB, 12.500 BB (American Classic)
What to Watch I’ve always been in love with Deanne’s bars, and it’s probably still where she has her best combination of difficulty, consistency, and beautiful technique. At the American Classic, she had a toe full connected to a Tkachev before also hitting a Ray, clear hip half to Ezhova, and a full-twisting double layout, all done pretty much as perfectly as you can hope, and literally no one looks better doing a double pike off beam.
MADELYN WILLIAMS
Screen Shot 2018-07-26 at 9.56.05 PM Age 15
Hometown Vacaville, CA
Gym San Mateo Gymnastics
Experience New to the scene as a junior last year, Madelyn was an instant stunner on bars, winning the title at the American Classic and then the silver at the U.S. Classic, though she unfortunately had to withdraw from nationals due to injury. Her return to the national stage this season was at the American Classic earlier this month, where she competed three events to qualify to nationals while also winning yet another bars title, this time in the senior field.
2018 Scores 51.000 (Desert Lights Qualifier)
49.600 (Auburn Qualifier)
What to Watch Bars. No-brainer. Madelyn’s pretty to watch on other events, but with lower difficulty and more of a weakness on those events in general, her bars just end up standing out even more…and for good reason. She has a beautiful Maloney to Pak to stalder to van Leeuwen and an inbar half to piked Jaeger, looking almost Russian in her composition and how she moves on the apparatus.

Article by Lauren Hopkins

14 thoughts on “The U.S. Classic Senior Guide

  1. Speaking of SOZA… I just saw one of her floor routines, and she did the best double tuck form wise I had ever seen! Toes pointed, knees together… now Kentucky cowboy! It was picture perfect!

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  3. Does anyone know how I can watch the senior competition if I don’t have the Olympic Channel? I tried to get on the NBC Sports app but it made be put in my cable username and password and then told me that I don’t subscribe to the Olympic Channel so I can’t see that content. USAG’s YouTube page only seems to have a livestream set up for the junior competition.

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  4. I hope grace mccallum can hit and be top 3..if she has an Amanar, i hope she can do it. Worlds team for ne right now is Biles, Hurd, McCallum, Carey, and Ragan.

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  5. Is Maile O’Keefe injured, or is she just holding out for nationals? It seems unusual for someone at her level to not do even one event at classics.

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