Kyla Ross Claims Junior Crown

Perfect so far as an Elite, 12-year-old Kyla Ross overcomes a fall for her first Junior National win

Kyla Ross has been in a grand total of two Elite competitions to date and, so far, she’s won both of them. Despite a day two bars fall, Ross, 12, picked up her first U.S. Junior National title today in Dallas, leading Bridgette Caquatto and Alexandra Raisman.

“It’s very exciting,” Ross said of her win. “I was pretty surprised.”

Ross, who looks comfortable and confident beyond her years while competing, seems far less secure when dealing with the media, something she admits she’d rather avoid.

“Umm, not really,” she answered when asked if she enjoyed the post-meet press scrum.

Luckily, Ross’ results speak for themselves. The soon-to-be seventh grader not only won the all-around, but also claimed vault (Yurchenko double twist) and beam, finishing third on floor (where she performs to the theme song from “Rawhide”).

“It was a great experience,” said Ross of her first USAs. “I was very happy. It was very fun.”’

Caquatto, at just 14, was the veteran of the field, topping the day two standings to claim silver.

Younger sister to senior National Team member MacKenzie, Caquatto said her year on the Junior National Team gave her confidence coming into today’s competition. “I had a lot of courage and was really excited and energetic,” she told Inside. “Last year I learned how you get a lot of extra energy on the podium and how to learn to control that; things like that helped me [today]. Made it a little bit easier to control my emotions.

“I’m so used to being the youngest one,” Caquatto added with a laugh. “Today, I just felt so old! I can’t believe this is my last year [as a junior].”

Raisman, who just turned 15 in May, is also feeling pretty good about her maturity, following her third-place finish, making the Junior National Team in her first Visa Championships appearance!

“I just came in and did what I wanted to,” Raisman said with a smile. “I didn’t expect to be top three. It’s [beyond] my goals, so I’m really happy.”

Raisman who trains under Mihai Brestyan, Olympian Alicia Sacramone’s personal coach, uses Sacramone’s floor music in a tribute to her once and future champion. “I really admire her,” Raisman added of her gym-mate. “I’d love to be like Alicia, because she’s just so powerful, and so strong,”

While medals are nice, the main goal of all the girls competing here was to earn a spot on the U.S. Junior National Team, and joining lucky young ladies Ross, Caquatto and Raisman on that squad are: fourth-place Sabrina Vega, Amanda Jetter, Madison Kocian (another 12-year-old), Morgan Smith (coached by World vault medalist Brandy Johnson), Briley Casanova, Sophia DeJesus, Katelyn Ohashi and 2007 Junior Champ Jordyn Wieber, who petitioned to the team.

Photo by Grace Chiu

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