Posting the best score on the second day of competition, Jordan Chiles of Vancouver vaulted to a fourth place all-around finish in the junior girls competition at the USA gymnastics nationals.
Chiles was 19th after the first day of competition during the USA Gymnastics P&G Championships in Pittsburgh. But on Saturday she outscored all other competitors in the meet for elite girls ages 11-15. At the end of the two-day competition, Chiles was selected to remain a member of the U.S. junior national team.
Chiles, 13, first was named to the junior national team in March when she represented America at an international meet in Italy. She is entering the eighth grade at Pleasant Valley Middle School and trains at Naydenov Gymnastics with Erika Bakacs and Dimitri Taskov.
A fall on the uneven parallel bars — her first event on Thursday — put Chiles well down the leaderboard with a score of 53.75. On Saturday she rebounded to post an all-around total of 57.850, for a combined total of 111.60. She climbed to ninth place after her floor exercise and balance beam routines on Saturday, then jumped to fourth with strong performances on the vault and the uneven parallel bars.
