Welcome to the live blog for the fourth meet watch in our 12 Days of Gymnastics series, featuring the 2005 U.S. Classic!

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5:38 pm. That’s it for today! Tomorrow I’ll be back with two really fun Soviet battles from 1990, with USSR vs The World, and the McDonalds Challenge between the USA and the USSR. See you then!

5:36 pm. Ashley Priess gets the win, but Monica Shoji – her teammate and our new obsession – gets the silver, while NEWCOMER Shawn Johnson gets the bronze. Shayla Worley in fourth, and Morgan Evans in fifth. Britney Ranzy wins vault, Priess wins bars, Worley wins beam, and Shoji wins floor.

5:34 pm. Monica Shoji BB: Our girl! Handstand tick-tock, lovely. Front aerial to bhs loso, excellent. Switch to switch side, very quick. Punch front is a tad low but just a little hop there. Sheep jump is a little low, to back tuck to another back tuck, great series. She was gonna try to do a tuck full out of that series, but what she did was cool enough. Super high double tuck with a hop. Can we please have an alternate universe where she never gets injured and wins everything in Beijing? And then also becomes a surgeon?

5:33 pm. The whole drama here was WILL MAKAYLA STAMBAUGH MAKE NATIONALS?!?!?! for some reason?! Hahahahaha. SHE MADE IT!

Samantha Miller VT: Crashed her FTY hard. Ugh.

5:30 pm. Makayla Stambaugh FX: Huge air on the triple full but too wild, brings her foot back OOB. 2.5 to front tuck. She twists super well. Double full is very clean and solid.

5:28 pm. Baby Bridget Sloan in the background! She placed 27th here, bless her heart.

Ashley Priess. Straddle full to sheep jump, pretty good. Front aerial to bhs loso, also good. Full turn, Kochetkova, punch front, switch to tuck jump full to back tuck, excellent. Double tuck with a hop back. Fabulous routine, and an excellent day overall.

5:26 pm. Shawn Johnson FX: Huuuuuuuuuuuuuge arabian double front! Great form, too. Tucked full-in, little step but nothing seriously wrong. Double spin. Front full front full with a lunge forward. Double pike with a lunge back. Super solid.

5:24 pm. Shayla Worley VT: FTY, fine I guess, just pikes down and has a hop in place, not a ton of distance either.

5:22 pm. Samantha Peszek FX: Piked full-in is solid. 2.5 to messy front tuck full. Kind of skids her way through a triple turn. Arabian double front, huuuuge, just a bit cowboyed. Great rotation on the triple full.

5:21 pm. Britney Ranzy VT: Dominique Moceanu in the background hahaha. Huge DTY! That was fantastic.

5:19 pm. Morgan Evans UB: DEF!!!! Amazing. I’m screaming. God, I forgot how much I LOVE a Def, especially one as good as this was. Lots of applause there. Tkachev came in close, though. THAT’S HONESTLY FINE. Double front stuck.

5:18 pm. Bianca Flohr BB: Press mount into a straddle planche, kind of muscles her way through it and then didn’t hold it long enough. Front aerial to switch side. Bhs tuck full, leg up but holds on. Switch to back tuck/pike, it was kind of ambiguous. Straddle full with a wobble. Side somi. Wolf jump full. 2.5 with a hop. Some good things in there. Just nerves.

5:16 pm. Ashley Priess leads, followed by Shawn Johnson, and then Shayla Worley.

5:14 pm. Shantessa Pama FX: YAAAAAY. Such a performer. Piked full-in with a stumble back. She’s selling the crap out of this. Switch ring to tour jeté full I think. I see coach Jenny on the floor watching. Front full to front tuck. Double pike into a lunge. Good work.

This dude is more impressed with her little butt bounce at the end than with any of her tumbling hahaha.

5:13 pm. Monica Shoji UB: 1.5 pirouette into a Gienger, a little rushed, full pirouette to bail to toe shoot, GORGEOUS full-twisting double layout with a hop back. Not a tremendous bar worker but that routine was fab.

5:11 pm. Samantha Peszek BB: Commentator just called her Samantha PESS-ACK. Close. Punch front with a little scoot forward. One-armed bhs to loso. Switch leap to tuck jump 1.5, AWESOME. Standing full, looked piked but I think it was supposed to be a tuck. Had something into a back pike but I missed the first skill. Full turn to sissone. Low set out of her double pike but decent on the landing.

5:09 pm. Shayla Worley FX: Whip to araiban double front, lands it in the sweet spot on the floor and just totally flies out of bounds, it’s like Kyla at Jesolo levels of springy. Does just a layout for her second pass because she’s basically over it. Slash she didn’t have nearly enough time to run into it after cleaning up the disaster from her opening pass. Same. Triple full is rotated well but very short. Double pike jumped into a lunge.

5:08 pm. Ashley Priess UB: I missed the very beginning, but caught from the 1.5 pirouette, full pirouette to Tkachev to Pak, toe half to Khorkina, actually some nice height on that, sometimes Khorkinas go SO low. Lovely double layout. Excellent routine.

5:07 pm. Morgan Evans VT: Yurchenko 1.5, some loose knees, but huge, and with a solid landing.

5:05 pm. Bianca Flohr UB: Toe full, Ray to high, goes super wild on her pirouettes, I think she was trying to go for a 1.5 but she actually overdid it. Tkachev once she’s back on. Stalder full to bail to toe shoot. Good double layout.

“Seven touches before she came off” says the dude commentator in the replay. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN.

5:03 pm. Makayla Stambaugh BB: One-armed bhs loso. Switch leap, both are nice. Punch front is very low, but holds on. The rest is good. 2.5 dismount with a hop to finish. Not bad.

5:02 pm. Ivana Hong UB: I missed the beginning but she arched over a handstand early on. Tkachev is quite low, gets the German giants though! Bail to toe shoot. Lovely double layout, baby step on that landing.

5:01 pm. Ming Ya Zhou VT: Crashed her pretty wild DTY. Oof. This kid is having it ROUGH.

4:58 pm. End of the second rotation now. SHOW THE STANDINGS. They refuse.

Shawn Johnson BB: Bhs bhs layout, DAAAAAAAMN. That looks almost no different than her Olympic series did, honestly. Once a queen, always a queen. Wolf jump to punch front to back tuck, a BADASS. Wolf jump full. Switch leap is short, right to a loso loso. DAMN GIRL. Wobbled but DAMN. Switch side. Full turn. Double tuck with a little step. That was honestly brilliant.

4:57 pm. Ashley Priess VT: FTY, solid on the landing, no major form issues. Shannon said she was gonna do an “interesting vault” but she just did the FTY instead so idk what she was expected to do.

4:55 pm. Morgan Evans FX: Huge arabian double front but it’s pretty cowboyed. 2.5 to front layout, a little wonky there, but no major issues. Wild triple full, somehow both underrotates it and then overrotates it after she lands, hahahaha. Double pike, excellent pike shape in the air, and solid on the landing as well.

4:53 pm. Natasha Kelley BB: Standing full, like a BOSS. Off on her one-arm handspring layout series, pretty piked too. A series with a sheep jump and the sheep is not very sheepy. Full-twisting Korbut. Standing arabian, solid. Switch to one-arm gainer back handspring, I miss gainer elements. BRING THEM BACK. Double tuck with a step back.

4:52 pm. Ivana Hong VT: FTY, a bit short, step forward, but she’s a baby so that’s fine.

4:51 pm. Amber Trani FX: I missed her first pass but she had a fall on her arabian double front. Also sat the end of her whip whip through to 2.5. They were STILL giving us gymnast weights in 2005?! Double pike with a little stumble back.

4:50 pm. Rachel York VT: Yurchenko 1.5 with a little hop, not a ton of distance but pretty solid.

4:49 pm. A little interview with Shannon and she’s like I avoided starting on beam as much as humanly possible.

4:47 pm. Shawn Johnson UB: Nice handstand before the blind change to Gienger, super tight. Blind full a little rushed into the bail. Dismounts with a full-twisting double layout with a little baby step.

4:44 pm. Ming Ya Zhou FX: “Our first look at Ming Ya Zhou who we’ve seen before” lmao what? Arabian double front, looks like she has the landing but then randomly falls forward into a stumble. Super messy on the 2.5 into the punch front layout. Triple full is Aliya levels of helicopter but she gets the rotation. Double pike, a bit low in the set and puts her hands down.

4:43 pm. Makayla Stambaugh UB: Blind full to huge Tkachev, great. Short handstand before her stalder half to bail, also a bit short, to Ray. Blind change to double front with a step back. Nice work, but the handstands need more attention to detail on basically all of them.

4:42 pm. Samantha Peszek UB: Blind full to huge Gienger, leg separation there. Arches through her 1.5, a bit late, into a bail. Toe shoot, nice handstand before her giants into the high full-in, stuck on her toes but with a big arm wiggle to fight through it.

4:41 pm. Monica Shoji VT: My new fave! Superb stuck FTY.

4:39 pm. Shayla Worley BB: Front walkover into some low beam work, really shows off her back flexibility and extension all at once, front aerial to sheep jump to one-armed back handspring, say what you will about Shayla but she did some GORGEOUS stuff. I think that was an attempted Yang Bo. Kochetkova into a leap. Onodi, leg comes up, bhs loso. Full-twisting Korbut. HUGE height on the double tuck dismount.

4:36 pm. Ivana Hong FX: Another BABY! She’s 12 here. CRIES. Triple full to open is good, also solid on her leaps. Front full to front layout. Double pike. Double turn in front attitude. Lovely routine.

4:35 pm. Ming Ya Zhou BB: Big punch front mount. Bhs tuck full, has a fall there. Switch to back tuck to split jump half, way shy on the leaps. #BrestyansProblems Punch front. Straddle jump to tuck jump, she’s actually a bit short on the tuck jump. Full turn. High double tuck with a step.

4:34 pm. Shawn Johnson VT: DTY, she’s also about 13 ish here, tons of power but she’s just crooked and low off the table so she pikes it down and takes a step. She’s also a SMALL BABY here.

4:31 pm. Bianca Flohr FX: Another excellent ponytail. I love a great pony. Front double full to punch front solid. 2.5 to front full, fabulous. Triple full, good rotation there but just a little stumble on the landing. Double spin is clean. Double pike with a little lunge back.

4:30 pm. Makayla Stambaugh VT: One of my FAVES in NCAA. FTY with a step back, nice and clean.

4:28 pm. Monica Shoji FX: Tucked full-in, excellent! HUUUUUUUGE double front out of her run! DAMN. She’s FANTASTIC. Looks like she went to Yale, but I don’t remember her, seems she was injured for most of her NCAA career. Arabian double front is great. Whip whip through to double pike to finish. WOW. I would have stanned her SO HARD. Just had to google her and she’s a surgeon now, GET IT.

4:27 pm. Samantha Peszek VT: Baby Sam! She’s what, 13 here? DTY, huge for a junior at this time. Pretty solid, just a little off-center and off-balance on the landing.

4:25 pm. Ashley Priess FX: Solid piked full-in and 2.5 to front layout, just some form on the layout really, but overall she’s a BAMF. Triple full and it’s…UNDERROTATED!!!! Congrats to literally no one on rotating anything. Omg, Laurie Hernandez’s music!!!! THE CRAZY MUSIC CIRCA 2012-ISH THAT MLT WAS LIKE *EYES EMOJI* AT. High double pike to finish.

4:23 pm. Morgan Evans BB: Switch to tour jeté half, great. OUUUUUCH, DAMN, arabian double front and she basically whacked her whole body on the beam. OOF. Front aerial with a bobble, to sheep jump, another bobble. One-armed back handspring to layout stepout. Switch ring, the first ring element I’ve seen today I think! I don’t recall seniors having any rings. Double tuck with a step.

4:21 pm. I just realized we will HOPEFULLY get to see Shantessa Pama!!!

According to Shannon, Ashley Priess and Morgan Evans are the ones to watch.

4:20 pm. “They are small in stature and young in age but these juniors are [blah blah] on the international stage.” HAHAHAHA this guy is doing Dr. Seuss poetry now.

4:18 pm. “Anastasia Liukin, or Nastia as she’s known to her friends, or just NAST.” Hahahhahaa.

4:17 pm. They’re gonna give us the winners SOON! But spoiler alert, it’s Nastia Liukin with the gold, Jana Bieger with the silver, and alicia Sacramone with the gold, a few tenths ahead of Chellsie Memmel in fourth.

They’re wrapping up with a little recap now, so I’m gonna hit play on the juniors at 4:20 pm. That link is here.

4:15 pm. Grace Taylor FX: Whip whip through to triple full, underrotated a bit, SHOCK! Double pike is pretty sweet. Comes out of the 2.5 a little low and lunges it forward.

4:14 pm. Annie DiLuzio VT: Excellent DTY with a lunge back. These mid-2000s straight ponytails are life.

4:12 pm. Brittany Magee BB: One-arm gainer back handspring to loso, awesome. Front aerial to tuck jump full, solid on the connection there. Full L turn goes a bit wobbly at the end. Punch front to split jump half, great. Split leap full. Side somi, hands down and she has a fall. UGH. She was doing so well. Switch to back tuck. Double tuck stuck cold. UGH, so bummed at that fall.

4:09 pm. Jana Bieger FX: Double layout into a lunge, very strong. Front tuck full through to triple full, best rotation of the meet on that triple honestly. UGH 2005 JANA BIEGER, we really needed you in Beijing. Front handspring into a double front. Arabian double front into a controlled lunge, excellent. GOD JANA. I just re-fell in love with her.

4:08 pm. Nastia Liukin BB: “This is the girl Shannon told you about.” Hahahaha. Bhs loso loso, lines are GORGEOUS. Full turn with a lovely kick-out into some choreography. Side somi, Onodi to wolf jump full, this guy literally MOANED during that, I want to burn my house down. Front aerial to sheep jump. Switch leap to switch side, INSANE extension. Double full is slightly underrotated, but I don’t think a single gymnast has correctly rotated a twisting element in this entire meet hahaha. Gorgeous routine. 9.666, just what Satan ordered ❤ ❤

4:06 pm. “Sarah with her coach, who has a SUBSTANTIAL diamond on her hand.” Uhhh, that coach would be Armine, THE DISRESPECT!

Kassandra Price UB: Ray to high, had a huge Tkachev, a Ray actually I think, stalder full to bail to toe shoot, toe full is a little late, into a Tkachev, full-twisting double layout goes a bit piked but that was a good routine. 9.533

4:04 pm. Sarah Shire FX: Whip straight into her double arabian, good! A bit low into her full-in, hops with her chest down. This commentator is like “last year the gymnasts didn’t have numbers on their leos and that was a LOT of fun.” Maybe, idk, hear me out on this, but MAYBE do your job and learn who the competitors are before commentating? Just a thought, wild, I know. Triple full is a HAIR underrotated, and then she finishes with a solid double pike.

4:03 pm. Alicia Sacramone VT: Huge DTY with a tiny hop to the side. 9.466

4:02 pm. Geralen Stack-Eaton UB: Maloney, toe half, blind full 1.5 pirouette right into a Tkachev to Pak, awesome! Just some form stuff in that Pak. Hit the rest, iffy on the dismount, a full pirouette into an arabian double front with a hop forward.

3:59 pm. Susan Jackson FX: Tucked full-in into a nice lunge. Double layout, a bit short, lands it in a lunge but has her chest down. She has a TON of turning jumps and isn’t super precise on most of them. 2.5 to front layout. The commentator interrupts Shannon, who is on message with this routine, to be like “WOW YOU CALLED IT WITH SAYING NASTIA, CHELLSIE, JANA, AND ALICIA WOULD BE THE ONES TO WATCH HERE!!!” ?!?!?! U ok? She finishes with a double pike, solid.

3:57 pm. Chellsie Memmel BB: Piked barani, good landing. Split jump full. Switch to wolf jump full. A little low on the standing arabian but still pretty solid. Front aerial. Great punch front to bhs loso. Switch side, Kara Eaker kinds of random. High double pike with a step back. Good finish to her day.

3:56 pm. Going into the final rotation, Nastia is leading ahead of Jana by a few tenths, and Alicia is in third.

3:54 pm. Kelly Fee FX: Arabian double front, jumps into a lunge, solid. 2.5 with a low set into the front layout but she works it out. Double pike into a controlled lunge, good. Way short on the triple full at the end, like she basically landed it as a 2.5, puts her hand down.

3:52 pm. Brittany Magee UB: Shaposh to Pak, leg separation, muscles the handstand out of it before a clear hip full, which goes over, but she does an okay job of getting it back around, just quite rushed. Blind full on the high bar goes over again, has to once again correct, then a full-in with a step back. This guy commentator is like “looks SOLID!” even though there were roughly 80 mistakes. 8.233

3:51 pm. Jana Bieger BB: When she runs forward on beam at the beginning it looks like a mistake. Barani. Front aerial to her back flip to her knees right to the front flip from her knees to her knees, I LOVE that. Switch to sissone. Punch front to one-arm bhs loso, just a bobble at the end, but another fantastic front to back series. Very quick. Front toss with a quarter turn to finish sideways. She really is THAT innovative queen, isn’t she? Double front dismount, MY LORD. GOD she was so underrated. 9.533

3:50 pm. Kassandra Price VT: Yurchenko 1.5, another great landing, so many NCAA 1.5s tonight. Not as good in the air as some others have been.

3:48 pm. Nastia Liukin UB: Toe shoot, inbar half to Ono to Endo half to stalder half to blind full to HUUUUUUGE layout Gienger, damn girl. Gorgeous Pak. Very Russian in her Pak style. MAKES SENSE. I think it was a Ray back to high, then she dismounts with a double layout, looked like she came off maybe a little low but the dismount was gorgeous, great landing too. 9.783! HEART EYES.

3:46 pm. Alicia Sacramone FX: SUPER tight arabian double front, omg, no one does it like that. Gold. Full-in for her second pass. Also super solid. 2.5 to front layout right into the corner. HAHA, Shannon’s like two 25-year-olds were on the team last year, and this dude is like “and you were also old when you competed” and she’s like “not THAT old.” HAHAHA. I’m dying. Shannon’s going to kill this man before the night is through. Good triple to finish.

3:45 pm. Chellsie Memmel UB: Hindorff to Pak, great. Chow to bail to toe shoot, also very good. Hitting the handstands. Blind change to her jam to handstand, gets a bit stuck in that jam, but she gets through it and lands the double front well. 9.6 even with that mistake.

3:43 pm. Geralen Stack-Eaton VT: Yurchenko 1.5, EXCELLENT landing. Pretty solid in the air, too!

3:42 pm. Brittany Magee VT: Yurchenko 1.5, tucked her knees on the latter half of the twist, step on the landing. Baby Chris Burdette is like “that’s cool.”

3:40 pm. Kelly Fee BB: Tuck full series with a big bobble but great save. Front aerial to switch half. Another jump with a full turn. Way short on her side aerial but another pretty good save. Tuck jump full. I feel like I’m like “omg so many jumps with full turns!” now and in the next half hour I’ll be like “STOP IT WITH THESE FULL TURNING JUMPS.” Double back dismount is solid.

3:39 pm. Jana Bieger UB: I missed the beginning of this, caught it at the stalder full to blind full to HUGE Tkachev, stalder half to bail to toe shoot, huge and stuck tucked full-in. Excellent routine. Super tight in that tuck form as well. Huge 9.6!

3:38 pm. Nastia Liukin VT: Gorgeous Yurchenko 1.5 with a small hop forward.

3:36 pm. Alicia Sacramone BB: Punch front mount, and the guy commentator is like “Alicia Sacramone LITERALLY LEAPING onto the beam!” Not really tho, dumbass. Great leap series after that, and then an arabian and punch front in quick succession. Hits her “layout” series but it’s pretty piked. Switch to switch side with a tiny bobble. Super quick connection though. Straddle jump full. Love all of the jumps with full turns in this quad. Double pike basically stuck, just a small slide back.

3:33 pm. Kassandra Price FX: She’s the first one we’re seeing that I don’t remember at ALL, really. Gorgeous triple turn to start. OH, because she was Kassi Price at Bama. Now I’ve got it. HUGE arabian double front to start, just some form in the air. Piked full-in, okay, again with some form. “Everyone told me to smile more when I was doing gymnastics, and I was like NO, but now you watch these girls and you want them to smile more because they don’t look like they enjoy it.” Uhh, okay Shannon?? SMILING DOESN’T WIN GOLD MEDALS. Triple full, a little shy, and ends with a double pike, lunges back and her toes go right on the line. The guy commentator is like “A TENTH OF A POINT DEDUCTION” congrats on knowing something for once, Mr. Plastic Grips.

3:31 pm. Chellsie Memmel VT: Ooh, this is when she had the DTY! It’s pretty good, a little low off the table but gets good distance and lands mostly well. She’s like MyKayla Skinner in that she doesn’t get a ton of height out of anything but turns everything around SO quickly that the lack of height doesn’t affect her much.

3:30 pm. Sarah Shire UB: Hop full to Gienger, good! Had some more pirouettes down into the bail, but when she’s back on the high bar she has to pause with her hips on the bar for a second before going in for her dismount. Hits the full-in.

3:29 pm. Kayla Hoffman VT: She has game face and this dude commentator is like “uh SMILE at the end of this PLEASE?!?!?” Ummm, get out of this building, PLEASE? Anyway she crashed her DTY and he’s basically like “haha her face at the beginning basically knew this would be a fail.” I hate this guy. PUNCH HIM SHANNON.

3:28 pm. Geralen Stack-Eaton FX: Piked full-in with a bit of a lunge back. I like her music, big band is MY THING and this is truly the era for it. Arabian double front with a step. Switch to split leap. Whip whip through to 2.5 is pretty excellent. Triple spin is gorgeous. I spy with my little eye Cheryl Hamilton judging it up. Double pike to her hands and knees.

3:27 pm. Christine Nguyen VT: Yurchenko 1.5, a little off-center with a hop forward, but very clean.

3:25 pm. Marcia Newby UB: Shaposh to bail to clear hip full, muscles it around, jumps to the high bar for a stalder full (ankle separation) to stalder half to straddle Jaeger, short on some handstands after that, kind of a high Tkachev but with no distance, and dismounts with an arabian double front.

3:22 pm. Nastia Liukin FX: OOH this is when she went for the quad opening pass!!!! Kinda got it to a 3.5 but landed that almost out-of-bounds and hopped around the last half. Absolutely gorg on her leaps. Front handspring to front layout to randi, also a little short on that but love the front difficulty. She’s truly selling us on her toe point right now. Triple full, again a tad underrotated. Not the greatest but most of this difficulty was upgraded from when she was a junior a year earlier so we’ll let it slide.

3:20 pm. Kelly Fee UB: Went for a Tkachev to Pak, and got nice height on the Tkachev, but the Pak was a bit messy and she slipped off and sat it on the mat. The guy commentating with Shannon was like “you need that nice plastic on your hands” referring to grips LOL. Shannon’s like they’re leather but go off. Kelly also has a Jaeger, and dismounted with an arabian double front.

3:18 pm. Chellsie Memmel FX: Goes for a Dos Santos but fully tucks her legs in the second flip. Double layout set is super low but she gets it around pretty nicely given the lack of air. Memmel turn! whip whip through to arabian double front, OOF, again her set is super wonky, came out of the back handsprings with zero height and cowboyed the hell out of it but didn’t have a prayer of getting it around, sat it. Double pike, a little short, but just steps forward.

3:16 pm. Alicia Sacramone UB: Jumps from the low to high bar, hahaha. Toe full is a bit of a mess in her hips, gets the bail to Ray, handstands all a bit short, blind full to Gienger, not bad. Tight form. She can’t swing bars super well but she’s pretty clean actually. And a great double layout with a hop back.

Mihai truly was the king of getting non-bars girls to look halfway decent. All about that construction.

3:15 pm. We’re about to see a rare Alicia Sacramone bars! We get some brief fluff first, including a clip of Mihai wiggling his hips which is all we need. LIVING for all of these Adidas stripe leos. The 2005-2008 era was truly my favorite leo era in U.S. history. OMG THIS IS THE CLIP OF MIHAI WHERE THEY ASK IF HE’S GOING TO MISS ALICIA WHEN SHE GOES TO COLLEGE AND HE BASICALLY STARTS CRYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH.

3:14 pm. Overall I’m really impressed so far that we’re seeing a lot of variety! Lots of girls who aren’t going to be leading the podium or anything at this meet. Get it, CN8 Sports!

3:12 pm. Geralen Stack-Eaton BB: Yet another early NCAA fave for me! Switch leap to tuck jump full, stumble on that but figures it out. Tuck full acro series, a little off but not bad! Front aerial with a wobble, doesn’t connect to the sheep jump to beat jump. Full turn. Punch front with a little hop forward. Dismounts with a double tuck with a step back.

3:11 pm. I forgot they didn’t yet have the open-ended code of points in 2005 so it’s lots of scores that make no sense to me.

Hilary Mauro UB: Pireouttes at the start are a bit rushed, into a Gienger, then a messy blind full to bail to Ray, good double front.

I started watching NCAA in 2009 so I’m already seeing a TON of girls who were around in my first season of NCAA, which is so much fun for me.

Susan Jackson VT: Susan is one of those I was obsessed with in my early NCAA watching days. Does a DTY here and it’s great!

3:10 pm. Jana Bieger VT: “A gymnast from a great bloodline” hahaha. Does a DTY that’s pretty good in the air, just a big lunge back on the landing.

3:08 pm. Melanie Sinclair BB: Starts out basically right away with a full-twisting Korbut, love it. Punch front is solid. Tuck jump full with a big stumble but holds on. Then a pike jump full, but her feet are a little bit sideways on that. Apparently she was supposed to connect those but doesn’t. Kochetkova to bhs loso, WOW, love that, though she was a bit slow out of the Kochetkova. Switch side, solid. Big double pike to dismount, step back.

3:06 pm. Brittany Magee FX: A Texas Dreams girl. One of the first! Opens with a full-in, then does a pretty excellent whip whip through to double pike. Front layout to front double full, a little short on the landing on the latter so she has a little stumble and is far back on her feet. Crashes the last pass, I think it was supposed to be a triple, but def wasn’t around enough to get credit I don’t think. OH, in the replay it was a randi! An attempt at a randi anyway.

3:05 pm. These graphics are amazing. Again, HOW IS THIS 2005?! I feel like technology has advanced 75 years in the past 15 based on this broadcast.

3:04 pm. This classic isn’t even on a podium which is cute.

3:03 pm. Ohhh yes, this was supposed to be Dominique Moceanu’s comeback meet HAHA. She’s like “I’m excited to be doing gymnastics on MY TERMS.” Get it Domi. But she’s not competing here because she’s not ready yet, IIRC? And thus began the drama with USA Gymnastics not letting her go to nationals or whatever happened.

3:02 pm. From all across America the best of the U.S. are in Virginia Beach!!!!!! Who are the best? You’ll find out NEXT! Great intro.

Who is broadcasting this? It’s not NBC. Oh, it’s CN8 Sports, whatever this is??? I feel like I didn’t see a U.S. Classic broadcast on TV until like 2012 or something so this is crazy. Like, I remember trying to find ANY information about 2009 classics and they were nowhere to be seen, but USAG had like, a quick hits page on their website (and whoever did quick hits wrote “kip cast handstand” for literally every cast on bars lmao).

Shannon Miller is doing commentary with a dude and it looks like this was filmed in the 80s, how is this 2005?

3:00 pm. We’re going to start with the seniors, which you can watch here. My only hope is that no matter what happens, there is endless “NASTIA AND CHELLSIE ARE COACHED BY THEIR DADS!!!!!!!!!” fluff.

2:58 pm. I honestly don’t know why I chose this specific U.S. Classic out of all of those available to watch, but it’s one of the only U.S. meets I haven’t seen in the 2000 and beyond era, so I’m excited, especially because it’s a super talented senior field, and then the junior field had so much awesome junior up-and-comers.

Here are the links:

• Senior All-Around
• Junior All-Around

I’ll hit play at 3:02 pm. Hope you can join us!