After a tough preliminary performance, Hawai'i trampolinist Nani Vercruyssen rebounded quite nicely yesterday at the Pacific Alliance Gymnastics Championships.

The 14-year-old Kaimuki Middle School eighth-grader won the silver medal in the junior trampoline at the Hawai'i Convention Center, one day after she lost her balance and veered off the apparatus to narrowly advance to the four-person finals.

Vercruyssen stayed on the trampoline yesterday and scored 35.20 on her 18-second optional routine that had 10 bounces, 20 flips and nine twists.

It was the same routine she performed in Friday's preliminaries, but much cleaner.

"From doing gymnastics, I learned that when you finish one event — even if you don't do your best — you gotta focus for your next event. So that's kind of how I took this," Vercruyssen said. "I learned from my mistake, and I just focused and tried my best."

American Erin Blanchard won the Level 11 event, scoring 35.30. Canada's Samantha Sendel placed third at 33.20 and Australia's Jaimi Meyer took fourth at 32.40.

"I'm excited," said Blanchard, who returned to the sport recharged and healthy after taking a few years off. "This is only my second international competition, so I'm just happy I did really good."

Trampoline — an Olympic event — was held for the first time at the Pacific Alliance Gymnastics Championships, which draws top athletes from Pacific Rim countries.

Vercruyssen said she spent "all night dreaming about staying on" the trampoline, and joked, "I didn't fly off at the ending, as you can see.

"I'm just very happy, and happy that I made my routine," Vercruyssen continued. "Hit when I needed to."

Vercruyssen said she didn't want to change her optional routine, sticking with the same one that produced a 30.40 score in the preliminaries. She practiced for about 45 minutes yesterday, "fixing the ending, just practicing staying tight" before the competition.

"I was confident that I know I can do my routine," said Vercruyssen, who absorbed a 2.4 penalty Friday when she took a wayward final bounce off the trampoline. "It was just fixing those couple of skills."

About 160 friends, family and teammates from Vercruyssen's home gym — Hawaii Academy in Kalihi — watched Vercruyssen compete in her first international competition in Hawai'i.

"I'm happy that she was able to maintain her demeanor and do the job again," said Dr. Max Vercruyssen, her father and coach. "She came through as she usually does. The American coaches did a really good job of working with her."

Blanchard, 16, who is from Youngsville, La., finished third at the 2006 Winter Classic. She also topped Friday's preliminaries, scoring 61.60.

"I'm just happy that we both hit when we needed to," Vercruyssen said.

"Today, she was really good," Blanchard said of Vercruyssen. "She really proved herself, showed what she's all about."

Last night, the U.S. women's senior team swept the individual events before 1,705 at the Blaisdell Arena.

Jana Bieger won gold in the vault and floor exercise, Chellsie Memmel won the balance beam and Nastia Liukin captured the uneven bars.

"It feels great to be able to win two golds," Bieger said. "I was really confident today. I had a lot of fun on floor."

Canada's Kyle Shewfelt won gold in the floor exercise and vault, and China's Feng Jing won the pommel horse and parallel bars for the senior men.

"The team was great," Memmel said. "We did what we came here to do. We all hit our routines, and did really well."

"This has been a fantastic competition," Bieger added. "We captured all four golds. This team works so well together. We cheer each other on and we support each other."

NOTES

Hawai'i-born Shantessa Pama, 15, took silver in the vault (14.925), gold in the uneven bars (15.550) and silver in the floor exercise (15.225) in the women's junior events yesterday. Pama — who helped Team USA win the all-around gold Thursday — was born in Kona, Hawai'i, and now lives in Dana Point, Calif.

LAST NIGHT'S RESULTS

MEN'S SENIOR

FLOOR EXERCISE

1, Kyle Shewfelt (Canada) 15.600. 2 (tie), Feng Jing (China) 15.025; Yosuke Hoshi (Japan) 15.025.

POMMEL HORSE

1, Feng Jing (China) 15.525. 2, Lin Hsiang-Wei (Taipei) 15.000. 3, Grant Golding (Canada) 14.650.

RINGS

1, Lu Bo (China) 15.800. 2 (tie), Zhong Jian (Hong Kong) 15.725; Feng Jing (China) 15.725.

VAULT

1, Kyle Shewfelt (Canada) 16.375. 2, Nathan Gafuik (Canada) 16.312. 3, David Sender (USA) 16.225.

PARALLEL BARS

1, Feng Jing (China) 15.675. 2, Takehito Mori (Japan) 15.650. 3 (tie), Yosuke Hoshi (Japan) 15.025; David Durante (USA) 15.025.

HIGH BAR

1, Nahan Gafuik (Canada) 15.850. 2, Yosuke Hoshi (Japan) 15.625. 3, Hidetoshi Mizutori (Japan) 15.600.

WOMEN'S SENIOR

VAULT

1, Jana Bieger (USA) 14.912. 2, Yeny Ibarra (Mexico) 14.350. 3, Alyssa Brown (Canada) 14.212.

UNEVEN BARS

1, Nastia Liukin (USA) 15.975. 2, Shayla Worley (USA) 15.400. 3, Mayu Kuroda (Japan) 15.375.

BALANCE BEAM

1, Chellsie Memmel (USA) 15.700. 2, Nastia Liukin (USA) 15.625. 3, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs (Canada) 15.250.

FLOOR EXERCISE

1, Jana Bieger (USA) 15.500. 2, Chellsie Memmel (USA) 15.400. 3, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs (Canada) 14.875.

Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com.