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New kids - with names like Ray, Maloney, Atler and Dantzscher - hold their own.
By Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 30, 2000
While the 1996 Olympians were showing some rust to go with their gold, Elise Ray, Kristen Maloney, Vanessa Atler and Jamie Dantzscher proved they're up to the task of bringing home a medal from Sydney.
Ray ended Maloney's two-year run as national champion, narrowly winning with 76.987 points. She sealed her victory with two solid vaults, and coach Kelli Hill and several USA Gymnastics officials jumped from their seats when she finished.
Ray came off the podium with a big smile and was immediately swallowed up in a hug from Hill. Maloney then came over to congratulate Ray, and the two friends hugged.
Ray was just 0.275 points ahead of Maloney, who finished with 76.712 points. Dantzscher was third with 75.700, and Atler was fourth with 75.412.
Shannon Miller and Jaycie Phelps skipped Saturday night's all-around finals with injuries and will petition for a spot at next month's Olympic trials. That cut the Magnificent Seven to three -- Dominique Moceanu, Dominique Dawes and Amy Chow -- and they were less than magnificent.
Chow slipped from third to sixth, finishing with 75.175 points. Moceanu finished in eight place with 73.424 points, and Dawes was right behind her with 73.412.
The top 12 finishers at nationals advanced to the trials, where Bela Karolyi will head a committee that will choose a six-member team. Performances at nationals and trials will be used to rank the gymnasts, but they won't be binding.
Moceanu, competing on a sprained left ankle, was solid but not spectacular, scoring one 8.9 and not earning anything higher than a 9.425.
HURDLER RETIRES: Star hurdler Ludmila Engquist retired from track, ending a career in which she made an inspirational comeback from breast cancer.
The decision by the 36-year-old world and Olympic champion comes just two months before the Sydney Olympics. But Engquist said she still had Olympic hopes -- as a bobsledder.
The Russian-born Engquist had surgery to remove her right breast last year. She came back a few months later to win the bronze medal in the 100 meter hurdles at the World Championship in Seville, Spain.
But she has been unable to recover from calf surgery in June and doctors told her training for the hurdles would be too rough on her legs.
QUALIFYING PRESSURE: When America's best gymnasts talk about pressure, they don't always mention the Olympics.
Instead, they talk about the meets that decide whether they get to the Olympics.
That may explain why the men's competition at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships looked more like a practice at times, with bobbles, blunders and botched routines flying all over the floor.
There were nice performances, as well. Some were unexpected, like those of Paul and Morgan Hamm, 17-year-old twins who finished in the top 10 and painted a bright picture for the future -- maybe the present.
As usual, Blaine Wilson was dominant, especially on rings, where he posted scores of 9.9 and 9.95. He sealed his fifth-straight national championship Friday night.
But how to explain his whopping 1.7-point victory over the best in the country, on a team that thinks it can win a medal in Sydney?
"I'm always nervous going into these events," said second-place finisher Sean Townsend.