While the Senior Division will get all the television and webcast coverage this week, the Junior Division will also be providing some great competition.  Looks like we’ll have to rely on YouTube to see how these guys do.  The 14-15 division will be awesome.  As for the 16-18 division, the field is strong, but is weaker compared to the field that competed at JO Nationals.  Some of the top gymnasts who competed at JOs have either qualified for the Senior Division (Jake Dalton, Alex Naddour and CJ Maesta) and/or they have missed the age cutoff (Chris Stehl and Yoshi Mori).

*** INJURY UPDATE *** Chris Stehl tore his ACL back in June and Alex Naddour suffered a partially dislocated elbow last week.

John Orozco and Sam Mikulak will be duking it out for the top two spots in the 14-15 division.  Wouldn’t it be great to see them compete in the Senior Division?  Jacob Dastrup, who competed as a Level 9 last season, earned a spot at the National Qualifier, and it will be fun to watch him compete in his first of many VISAs.  The battle among the eventual top 5 finishers is going to be brutal.  These guys have been hard at work cleaning up their routines and adding difficulty, so it won’t be surprising to see a different top 5 outcome than we saw at JOs.

Here are our 14-15 predictions:

1. John Orozco
2. Sam Mikulak
3. Adrian de Los Angeles
4. Konner Ackerman
5. Trevor Howard
   

The 16-18 Division is wide open.  Matt Del Junco, who suffered a hand injury at JOs, will make things interesting if he’s at full strength.  Dylan Akers is arguably the favorite but will be pushed by the likes of Chris Turner and Jesse Silverstein.

Here are our 16-18 predictions:

1. Dylan Akers
2. Chris Turner
3. Matt Del Junco
4. Jesse Silverstein
5. Kyle Voissem

Admittedly, these predictions are based largely on the top finishers at JOs, and take into consideration factors such as injuries, age eligibility and no-shows.  Let’s hope everybody hits their routines to make it a good show.  It’s such a pity, that with all the readily available cheap technology, the junior competition does not warrant at least a webcast.  That’s not asking for much, especially since it is commonplace to see televised high profile events like state high school football and basketball championships and the Little League World Series.  A webcast would be a great low cost, no-brainer means to help promote the sport.

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