Trials finals, first rotation, ups and downs

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PHILADELPHIA -- Not anybody’s favorite position but Shawn Johnson was first girl up Sunday. She’s wearing deep purple and Shawn did her 2 1/2 twisting Yurchenko. She had one step forward but otherwise the vault was textbook and she scored 15.900.

UP: Ivana Hong, 15, wore Tiger Woods red and did a confident uneven bars routine. After she landed, Hong’s coach, Al Fong, raised his arms and shouted ‘Yes!’ to the judges. Fong is trying hard to sell his pupil to the selection committee that has noted Hong has seemed insecure in her performances so far. Mattie Larson of Los Angeles, after missing badly twice during warmups, flew into her vault and was so high in the air the crowd gasped. She took a step on the landing and then puffed out her cheeks with a nervous sigh. She scored 14.700 and team coordinator Martha Karolyi nodded positively.

DOWN: Nastia Liukin, also wearing sparkling red, had her worst uneven bars performance of the four rounds of nationals and Olympic trials. She had to save her swings twice and scored 16.150. Liukin looked tired. Bridget Sloan looked nervous on unevens. Her handstands were crooked and she needed an extra swing to stay upright. As one of the girls, along with Hong, Jana Bieger and Shayla Worley in the mix for the final spot on the team, her score of 14.500 caused Sloan to wrinkle her face in disappointment.

Bieger twirled large and scored big, 15.700, on uneven bars. The normally stern Bieger smiled and earned a hug from her mother, Andrea, who is also her coach.

Chellsie Memmel, in purple, had a knee-rattling vault landing. If she hopes to pass either Johnson or Liukin as one of the top two all-arounders and earn an automatic Olympic spot tonight, that 14.200 score didn’t help.

-- Diane Pucin