Olympians, World champions to showcase at 2022 USA Gymnastics Championships
DES MOINES, Iowa (June 16, 2022) – The USA Gymnastics Championships will play host to the country’s top acrobatic, rhythmic, and trampoline and tumbling athletes, including multiple Olympians and World champions, June 21-25 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines.
National champions will be crowned across all disciplines, with elite competitions set to take place Thursday through Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena. Earlier in the week and throughout each day, Development Program athletes as well as some junior participants will be in action in Hy-Vee Halls B and C and the Grand Ballroom.
The 2022-23 U.S. Junior and Senior National Teams for acrobatic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and trampoline and tumbling will be named at the event’s conclusion.
All competition sessions will stream live on FlipNow Powered by USA Gymnastics. Visit FlipNow.tv to learn more and subscribe.
All-session and single-day tickets are on sale now. Learn more about the three-in-one event and who to keep an eye on from all included disciplines below. Additional information can be found on the event’s official website.
Acrobatic gymnastics
For the first time since 2018, national championships will be awarded in all senior elite divisions: men’s pair, mixed pair, women’s pair, men’s group and women’s group. Reigning men’s pair World champions Angel Felix (Moreno Valley, Calif.) and Braiden McDougall (Riverside, Calif.) of Realis Gymnastics Academy headline a decorated lineup that also features 2022 World silver medalists in women’s pair Katie Borcherding (Pacific, Mo.) and Cierra McKown (Riverside, Calif.) of Realis Gymnastics Academy and 2022 Maia World Cup bronze medalists in men’s group Ethan Chang (Columbia, Md.), Sam Lacy (Columbia, Md.), Cade Shields (Columbia, Md.) and Dorian White (Castro Valley, Calif.) of Emilia’s Acro Gymnastics and Cheer. The mixed pair of Jaylen Ivey (San Jose, Calif.) and Amaya Rogers (Campbell, Calif.) of WestCoast Training Center and women’s pair of Mo Arthur (Rolla, Mo.) and Ariana Katsov (Owensville, Mo.) of Mid America Acro Tumbling, which brought home silver and bronze medals, respectively, from the 2021 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Age Group Competitions, are set to make their USA Gymnastics Championships senior division debuts.
The junior field is divided into 11-16, 12-18 and 13-19-year-old age groups. The 13-19 women’s pair competition will pit the 2022 World Age Group 12-18 bronze-medal-winning duo of Allyson Stone and Ayla Vargas (San Antonio, Texas/Acrobatic Gymnastics of San Antonio) against 2022 Maia International Acro Cup 13-19 silver medalists Willow Rose Noble and Sydney Padios (Moreno Valley, Calif./Realis Gymnastics Academy). Fellow Maia Acro Cup silver medalists Sydney Dorais and Molly Fox (San Diego, Calif./SoCal TTC), Andrew Castro (Riverside, Calif.) and Savannah Stagno (Yucaipa, Calif.) of Realis Gymnastics Academy, and the trio of Catherine Lacy (Columbia, Md.), Abigail Novoseletskiy (Baltimore, Md.) and Cecelia Shadrick (Ellicott City, Md.) of Emilia’s Acro Gymnastics and Cheer will compete in the 12-18-year-old category.
Athletes participating in Development Program Levels 8-10 will lead off five days of intense national championship competition Tuesday, June 21 in Hy-Vee Hall B. The 11-16 and 12-18 divisions and the opening round of the 13-19 men’s pair competition will kick off Thursday, June 23 in Hy-Vee Hall B. The remaining 13-19 groups and pairs and all senior elite gymnasts will take the floor Thursday evening from 6-9 p.m. CT in Wells Fargo Arena. All elite titles will be awarded Saturday, June 25.
The USA Gymnastics Championships will serve as the final stop for U.S. team members Borcherding, Isabel Chang (Columbia, Md./Emilia’s Acro Gymnastics and Cheer), Felix, Sydney Martin (Glenwood, Md./Emilia’s Acro Gymnastics and Cheer), McDougall, McKown and Maria Wooden (Derwood, Md./Emilia’s Acro Gymnastics and Cheer) ahead of The World Games in July.
The full acrobatic gymnastics schedule and rotation sheets are available at usagymchamps.com.
Rhythmic gymnastics
Olympians Evita Griskenas (Orland Park, Ill./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center) and Lili Mizuno (Northbrook, Ill./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center) will ride the momentum of matching bronze-medal performances at last month’s Portimao World Challenge Cup and numerous top-ten international finishes in the first half of 2022 into this year’s national championships. Griskenas was the all-around silver medalist and captured the ball title in 2021. Mizuno, who competed with the U.S. group in Tokyo, is returning to the USA Gymnastics Championships as an individual for the first time since 2019.
Fans should also look out for Alexandria Kautzman (Simi Valley, Calif./California Rhythms), who was ninth in the all-around at the Tashkent World Cup in April, Lily Avila (Highland Park, Ill./Vitrychenko Academy), who claimed the top spot on ribbon at the International Tournament Ritam Cup in May, and former National Team member Serena Lu (Staten Island, N.Y./Isadora by Matchpoint), who is back on the competitive rhythmic gymnastics scene after a nearly five-year absence. Lu earned the hoop title at the 2022 Elite Qualifier in her first national appearance of the season. In total, 10 National Team members, including first-year seniors Nayenne Pollini Ashenaffi (Reseda, Calif./Rhythmic Academy of Los Angeles) and Sarah Mariotti (San Diego, Calif./Ingenious RG), will be in the mix.
The junior elite competition will feature seven National Team members. Jaelyn Chin (Aventura, Fla./Bessonova’s School), Megan Chu (San Diego, Calif./Ingenious RG) and Rin Keys (Porter Ranch, Calif./Burlo Gymnastics) have each snared hardware on the world stage in 2022.
Six junior groups and the Senior National Group will also be in action.
Level 9 athletes will compete Tuesday, June 21 and Wednesday, June 22 in the Grand Ballroom. The Level 10 competition will follow Thursday through Sunday. Elite gymnasts will battle it out beginning Thursday in Wells Fargo Arena.
The complete competition schedule, rotation start lists and more can be viewed at usagymchamps.com.
Athlete assignments for the upcoming Pan American Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and The World Games in Birmingham, Ala., will be announced following the event’s conclusion.
Trampoline & tumbling
Olympians Nicole Ahsinger (Lafayette, La./Trampoline and Tumbling Express) and Aliaksei Shostak (Youngsville, La./Trampoline and Tumbling Express) will take on the women’s and men’s trampoline fields, respectively, while AERE World Cup champion Sarah Webster (Lafayette, La./Trampoline and Tumbling Express) and World team silver medalist Cody Gesuelli (Huntsville, Ala./Merino Trampoline Gymnastics Academy) are each eyeing their first individual U.S. trampoline titles after strong starts to the 2022 season. Webster and Gesuelli both notched top-four showings last month in Rimini, Italy, to lead U.S. competitors.
In the senior tumbling competition, reigning World bronze medalist Kaden Brown (Herriman, Utah/Wasatch Trampoline and Tumbling) headlines the men’s side, while AERE World Cup gold and silver medalists Miah Bruns (Crete, Ill./World Champions Centre) and Tasha Williams (Peoria, Ill./World Champions Centre) will vie for the women’s title. Brown and Bruns claimed gold at last year’s USA Gymnastics Championships.
Team World champions Shelby Nobuhara (Mapleton, Utah/High Altitude) and Tristan Van Natta (Marysville, Ohio/Integrity Athletics) will be in the mix for the women’s double mini title as will 2021 U.S. champion Aliah Raga (Denton, Md./Dulles Gymnastics Academy). Nobuhara captured individual silver at the 2021 World Championships and earned bronze at the recent AERE World Cup. The men’s field will showcase three-time individual World silver medalist Ruben Padilla (Bluffdale, Utah/Wasatch Trampoline and Tumbling) and AERE World Cup silver medalist Tomas Minc (Chevy Chase, Md./Dynamite Gymnastics) as well as reigning U.S. champion Trevor Harder (Winston Salem, N.C./Caroline Elite Trampoline Academy).
Brown, Bruns, Padilla and Van Natta will use the competition as a final tune up for next month’s The World Games. The USA Gymnastics Championships will also serve as the third and final selection event of 2022 with results helping determine who will represent the U.S. at the 2022 World Championships November 16-19 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The junior field will feature several medalists from the 2022 AERE Trampoline Cup, which accompanied the AERE World Cup last month in Italy. Rosalie Thongphay (San Tan Valley, Ariz./USA Youth Fitness Center), Jackie Kent (Downers Grove, Ill./Elite Sports Complex), Micah Miner (Glen Carbon, Ill./Kris Power Tumbling) and Leah Garafalo (Cream Ridge, N.J./Elite Trampoline Academy) picked up gold medals in women’s tumbling, women’s and men’s double mini, and women’s trampoline, respectively. Garafalo was the 2021 U.S. junior champion in women’s individual trampoline, while Thongphay was last year’s U.S. junior silver medalist in women’s tumbling and also claimed double mini silver at the 2021 T&T World Age Group Competitions in the 15-16-year-old division. Kent notched World Age Group bronze in 15-16-year-old women’s double mini last year in Azerbaijan, and Miner secured bronze in the 13-14-year-old men’s double mini contest.
Fellow World Age Group 13-14-year-old individual medalists Ava DeHanes (Holmdel, N.J./Elite Trampoline Academy), who garnered bronze in women’s trampoline, Leah Edelman (Holmdel, N.J./Elite Trampoline Academy), who notched silver in women’s double mini, and Kai Lawson (Bethesda, Md./Dynamite Gymnastics), the men’s double mini runner up, are also set to compete for junior titles next week in Des Moines.
Throughout the week, elite champions will be crowned across individual and synchronized trampoline, double mini trampoline, and tumbling at the youth, junior, intermediate and senior levels, and titles will also be awarded for Development Program Levels 8-10 and in the open category.
The senior and intermediate elite competitions will take place Thursday, June 23 through Saturday, June 25 in Wells Fargo Arena. All other gymnasts will compete in Hy-Vee Hall C, beginning Tuesday, June 21. Comprehensive competition and training schedules, as well as start lists for all apparatus in both Wells Fargo Arena and Hy-Vee Hall C, are available at usagymchamps.com.