Maloney Has Just Enough to Take Title

A consistent performance in all four events paid off for 17-year-old Kristen Maloney as she won the U.S. gymnastics women’s championship Saturday.

Maloney, fourth in the all-around competition last year, finished with 76.749 points to hold off defending champion Vanessa Atler, 16, of Canyon Country.

After the competition, Maloney was recognized as the gymnast of the year and sportswoman of the year for the second consecutive year by USA Gymnastics.

Atler was second with 75.762. Olympic gold medalist Dominique Moceanu placed third with 75.161, and Jennie Thompson, 17, was fourth at 74.837.

Atler said she had been disappointed with her Thursday performance in the all-around preliminaries. “I thought ‘That isn’t the way I’ve trained,’ ” she said. “I wanted to come back and hit my routines.”

Saturday, she outscored Maloney in three of the four events and finished with the highest total of the night, 38.787. Maloney’s score of 38.578 was the second highest, followed by Moceanu at 37.725.