Dark Horses for London - McKenzie Wofford

At the 2011 Covergirl Classic, I was in awe after two rotations when first year senior McKenzie Wofford was the leader. I thought to myself, "Wow, how cool would it be if this fairly unknown girl won this competition on national television!" After Wofford competed her two weaker events, she ended up in fourth. Unfortunately, a last minute foot injury kept Wofford out of Championships.

McKenzie's weakest event is vault. At the US Classics, she only competed a Yurchenko full, though she demonstrated last year that she's capable of a 1.5.

In 2009, I remember thinking that bars could be Wofford's ticket onto an international team. Although she hasn't made as huge of an impact as I expected, she still has exceptionally strong bars. She's got a 5.9 Start Value, but her execution is regularly in the high 8s. She placed second last year at Visas behind Katelyn Ohashi. With a few upgrades she has the potential to be amongst the best in the world on this event.

(Property of USAG)

Believe it or not at Classics, McKenzie had the highest senior beam start value in the country. Yes, you read that correctly. McKenzie had a 6.3 start value on Beam at the US Classic, .1 higher than Jordyn Wieber and Aly Raisman had at that meet. When she hits, she is one of the strongest beam workers in the country. She placed 4th at Championships behind Raisman, Wieber & Sacramone, all of whom have made Worlds Beam Finals.

On floor, McKenzie lacks power on her tumbling passes, but dances well. I don't see her really factoring in much on this event, as she only has a 5.1 start value. She placed 10th at Classics out of the 15 girls who competed.

McKenzie's only competed internationally at the Bumpo Cup in South Africa where she won the Bars Title.  After suffering an injury in August, she was an alternate for the Pan American Games. After leaving WOGA in 2010, some have assumed that Marta may be biased against her. But at the end of the day, Marta's got to put politics aside if someone can truly help the team win an Olympic gold.

As I've said with the other "Dark Horses", it would take an unexpected hole or amazing upgrades for McKenzie to be one of the five girls to make it to London. She could, however, make a phenomenal alternate.