Stanford's Kristina Vaculik won her third Canadian AA title last night, solidifying her run for an Olympic team position. Close behind in a second place tie were rising star Victoria Moors and Dominique Pegg. Pegg struggled in preliminaries but came back strongly. LSU signee Jessica Savona was 4th, and UGA signee Brittany Rogers was 6th. Another UGA frosh-to-be, Anysia Unick, was 9th.
Link: Results
Stephanie Stowe, L10 at Desert Devils in Arizona, has accepted a scholarship to UW. She placed in the top 5 AA at most of her meets this season, including a win at the Monarch Malibu Coast Challenge. She placed 2nd AA at her state meet, 1st AA and 1st UB at regionals, and 22nd AA at JOs.
Watch her cool beam mount video and her YouTube.com Channel
Lory-Jing Robert was the top AA finisher at the preliminaries of the National Open division at the Canadian Championships. MSU signee Nicola Deans was 6th AA.
Link: Results
Caitlin Fovenyessy, L10 at San Mateo Gymnastics in California, will walk on at Boise State this fall. Caitlin placed 3rd AA at the 2010 Western Championships before moving to Level 10 in 2011 and she has had numerous top ten finishes over her L10 career.
Olivia O'Connor, L10 at New Image Gymnastics in New York, has committed to William and Mary. This season Olivia placed 11th AA at her state meet, 4th AA at regionals and 36th AA at JOs.
Megan Greenfield, L10 at Trinity Academy of Gymnastics in Illinois, has accepted a scholarship offer to Northern Illinois. Megan finished in the top 10 at all of her meets during the season and went on to place 9th at her state meet. She placed 11th AA at regionals and 8th AA at the NIT.
Mackenzie Bennion, L10 at Brown's in Las Vegas, has committed to Boise State. Mackenzie placed in the top five on bars throughout the 2012 season, including a win at the Long Beach Open. She placed 7th AA at her state meet, 9th AA at regionals and 5th AA at the NIT.
UGA has officially confirmed earlier reports and has named Cal coach Danna Durante as the new Head Coach for the Gym Dog program. Prior to Cal, Durante was the associate Head Coach at Nebraska and an assistant at Washington, winning National Assistant Coach of the Year honors in 2007 and Regional honors in 1999 and 2002. A former elite National Team and Olympic Trials qualifier (as Danna Lister), she score five 10s as an athlete at ASU.
At Cal, Durante had laid the groundwork for strengthening the Cal program, raising their average score significantly and earning verbal commitments of several top L10 and elite-level athletes for the 2013-2014 school year.
Cal, in a release, noted they will start a national search for a replacement.
As she completes her staff and Cal makes their decisions, we'll likely see some more coaching changes throughout the summer.
Link: UGA Release and Cal Release
Briel Muhlestein, L10 at USA Gymnastics World Utah, has committed to Utah State. This season she placed 4th AA at the Lady Luck Invitational, 2nd AA (1st FX) at her state meet and 16th AA at regionals.
Memory Shettles, L10 at Georgia Gymnastics Academy, has committed to Southern Utah. She won the Cloverleaf Invitational (1st AA; Vault) and won beam at the Atlanta Crown, competing with a cast on her wrist. Memory recently placed 2nd AA at the JO NITs where she also placed 3rd on floor. She is the GA floor state champ and also placed 2nd on the balance beam.
Stanford's Kristina Vaculik led the AA qualifications at the 2012 Canadian Championships. She posted a 56.35 to outdistance rising newcomers Victoria Moors and Ellie Black. LSU signee Jessica Savona was 4th, showing her successful comeback from injury. UCLA commit Mikaela Gerber was 5th. UGA signee Anysia Unick was 7th, just ahead of future teammate Brittany Rogers, who tied for 8th. Oregon State commit Taylor Ricci was 18th while Oregon State grad Laura Ann Chong was 19th.
UCLA signee Christine "Peng Peng" Lee injured her knee in training.
Link: Results
Anna Hill, a L10 at Twistars, has committed to Ohio State. The 2013 grad recently placed 14th AA and 9th on BB at the 2012 L10 Junior Olympic Nationals, Junior D. In 2010, she tied for 19th AA and 6th on UB.
Link: YouTube.com Channel
Courtney Dowdell, L10 at United Gymnastics Academy in Illinois, has committed to NIU. Courtney won her session and placed 1st on vault at the GymQuarters Invitational this season and she placed in the top 10 AA at her regular season meets. She placed 20th AA at her state meet and qualified to regionals.
Rachel de la Torre, L10 at Chelsea Piers in New York, has committed to So. Connecticut. This season she finished 14th AA at her state meet, 8th AA at regionals and 50th AA at JOs.
Rachel Henderson, L10 at Mat Trotters in Oklahoma, has committed to Missouri. Rachel placed 3rd AA (1st FX) at her state meet this season, 5th AA at regionals and 19th AA at JOs.
Danna Durante has reportedly accepted the Head Coach position at UGA. The official announcement is expected next week.
Durante, a long time Assistant Coach for Nebraska, moved into the Head Coach position at Cal this season. In that short time, she improved Cal's standing somewhat and lined up an excellent collection of recruits for future Cal teams.