Johnson Jumps Into Lead

Thanks to three 16-plus scores (all but bars) defending champ Shawn Johnson snagged a comfortable lead following the first day of competition at the 2008 U.S. National Championships in Boston.

Johnson topped the standings on both vault (16.0) and floor (16.05) and was tied for the highest “A” score of the night on beam (6.9).

“I just came out here and wanted to give a pre-run, a practice run, for Trials and Beijing,” Johnson said of her goals for day one. “I just came out here and had fun. I can improve in quite a few places and, hopefully, I’ll get that in the next meet.”

For Johnson, the night’s highlight was hitting her Amanar (Yurchenko 2-1/2) vault.

“I had quite a few nerves going into that vault, just because,” Johnson admitted after the meet. “I have it perfectly in practice. I’ve been really consistent with it; just the confidence wasn’t there, from American Cup. I wanted to show everyone I could make it and I had to calm myself down, talk to myself a lot—just try to stay calm, cool and collected. I landed it and was really happy.”

A little bit more than a point behind Johnson is Nastia Liukin who, after a fall on floor, her first event, bounced back with a record 17.05 on bars, the highest total ever (on any event) for an American under the new Code of Points.

“Winning isn’t on top of my list right now,” Liukin said, shrugging off her second place standing. “I’m just trying to get my routines down. One of my biggest goals was getting a 17, and I accomplished that. I’m really proud of that. … Just to see that 17 by name was amazing.”

Liukin topped the standings not only on bars, but also beam, despite a Start Value three tenths lower than Johnson. Still, she sees room for improvement. “I wasn’t 100 percent on,” Liukin said of her beam. (Liukin also concedes a full point, in Start Value, to Johnson on vault, but still managed to finish tied for fourth on that event.)

Third place belonged to comeback kid Chellsie Memmel, who finished second on bars and beam. Like Johnson, Memmel is a World all-around champ (2005), but hasn’t really been 100 percent healthy since her World win.

Memmel, who vaulted only a Yurchenko-full on vault, is struggling with a sore quadriceps and contemplated not even competing. (Memmel’s coach-father, Andy, noted that the “powers that be” approved their easier effort on vault to keep them in the competition.)

2006 and ’07 World team members Samantha Peszek, Jana Bieger and Ivana Hong rounded out the top six.

Also making a statement tonight: hometown girl Alicia Sacramone. One of only two athletes to do two vaults—Sacramone says she “wants to give Cheng Fei a run for her money” in China—she notched a high of 15.9 for her Rudi and a 15.4 for the Yurchenko double, averaging a 15.65. (If you do two vaults, the highest score counts towards all-around, while the average is what is used to calculate event standing.)

“There’s room for improvement,” Sacramone said of her day one effort that saw her finish second on both vault and floor. “That’s a good thing. I can work out those little problems and hopefully Saturday will be better. I stepped out of bounds on floor, missed some connection on floor and definitely sticking vault would be great.”

In her effort to best Cheng, Sacramone also hinted at an upcoming second-vault upgrade. “Yes, I am working on [the 2-1/2],” she confirmed.

The women’s Championships will conclude on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 PM and be broadcast live on NBC from 4:00-6:00 PM ET. (Tonight’s meet was archived by NBC for a highlight package.)

Related: LIVE Blog from Prelims

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Photos by Lloyd Smith