The US women’s team of Brenna Dowell, Ragan Smith, Laurie Hernandez, Aly Raisman, Ashton Locklear, and Simone Biles had no problems in the Pacific Rim Championships on Saturday night as they dominated the field winning gold with a team score of 243.2, well ahead of Canada’s 219.1. Also easily winning gold was Biles in the all-around as her score of 62.450 far exceeded the 59.900 of teammate Raisman. Closely behind Raisman was Hernandez at 59.800 while Dowell at 58.850 and Smith at 58.550. Those were the top five scores though only the top two from a country can win a medal so the bronze went elsewhere.
This event also served to set the lineup for Sunday’s individual event finals. The US will have Dowell and Locklear competing on the uneven bars. The balance beam will feature Raisman and Smith while Raisman and Dowell will take part in the floor events.
In the individual trampoline finals the US was unable to repeat their women’s team gold as Shaylee Dunavin finished second, 1.075 points behind winner Samantha Smith of Canada who scored a 54.240. Charlotte Drury came in eighth with just 46.860 points. On the men’s side Jeffrey Gluckstein also scored a silver as his 58.295 was over 1.5 points behind winner Dmitrii Ushakov of Russia. Steven Gluckstein was 6th with a 56.795.
In rhythmic gymnastics the US team of Heather Chan, Brigita Budginas, Nicole Kaloyanov, Aliya Protto, and Camilla Feeley continue their dominance from day one as they expanded their 18.736 point lead over Canada to a final margin of 35.754. The US had the top score in all four events. Not surprisingly the individual all-around was dominated by the US as Protto held her day one lead to win gold with a 67.766. Feeley stayed in second and finished with 65.532 while Budginas at 63.299 and Kaloyanov at 62.482 rounded out the top four. Chan couldn’t keep up her top five pace from Friday so she finished tenth with a 55.466.
The rhythmic individual event finals have their participants decided and it will be Feeley and Protto participating in the hoop, the ball, and the ribbon. Protto, and Budginas are taking part with the clubs.
Sunday’s rhythmic individual finals are at 4 PM ET while the artistic finals are at 9 PM ET. Live streaming of the event is available at the Pacific Rim Championships site.
