Ragan Smith takes center stage for U.S. gymnastics with Simone Biles watching

ANAHEIM, Calif. — So this is what the non-Simone division looks like. 

For the last four years, the American women joked that Simone Biles should get her own division so they could have a crack at a title. Well, they've got their chance now and it's clear that ruling the gymnastics world is not quite as easy as the Olympic champ made it look.

Ragan Smith had 57.4 points Friday, the highest all-around score in the world this year, and has a commanding lead after the first of two days of competition at the P&G Championships. Riley McCusker is 1.3 points behind going into Sunday's finals. 

But there were falls and slips all over the floor, the pressure of being on the big stage taking its toll. In fact, the top two in the junior competition, Maile O'Keefe and Emma Malabuyo, would have been second only to Smith.  

"We have a very young national team. We're basically starting from scratch and we need time to build," said Valeri Liukin, who took over as national team coordinator when Martha Karolyi retired after the Rio Games. 

"This is not the greatest meet for a lot of girls," he said. "But it's a step forward and it's a positive step." 

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The year after the Olympics is always a year of transition and this one more so than most. Biles and the rest of the Final Five are at the P&G Championships as spectators only, though Biles has recently returned to the gym. 

Even with a pipeline that's the envy of every other country, replacing Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez is a tall order. Together they've won 13 Olympic medals, seven of them gold, along with 11 world titles.  

"They were superstars," Liukin said. "But they were building them for four years. These girls are brand new." 

Smith qualifies as the grizzled veteran, and she's just 17. But her experience as an alternate on the Rio team gave her added confidence, and it showed Friday night. 

"I feel like a different person," Smith said. "I feel better, more mature. I feel like I actually know what I'm doing."

She did not have a perfect meet by any means. Asked what she could do better, Smith ticked off her uneven bars, floor exercise and balance beam.

"This would have been celebratory if it was the last four years," said Kim Zmeskal Burdette, Smith's coach. "Now she knows there's more in her and it irks her." 

Still, it was clear that Smith was in a class by herself, much as Biles always was. Smith posted the highest scores of the night on both floor exercise and balance beam, and oozed confidence and poise everywhere she went. 

But even Smith knows that if she wins the title Sunday, it's only on loan until Biles comes back to claim it. This, after all, is the woman who won her first national title four years ago and hasn't been beaten since. 

"It's just different, me being on the top because nobody can ever beat Simone," Smith said. "She's unstoppable. She's amazing." 

And, yet, she's still on hiatus.

Though Liukin said he's been told Biles is back in the gym, he hasn't heard it from her yet. Until he does, the only plans he's going to make are for his rebuilding project.

The Americans have gotten used to being the world's juggernaut, winning every team title at the world and Olympics dating back to 2011. The talent is there for that to continue, especially when you look at what's on the horizon.

Before Smith's performance Friday, the top all-around score this year belonged to an American junior, Gabby Perea. O'Keefe and Malabuyo are next on the list. And there's about a dozen more where they came from, ready to wreak havoc on the rest of the world like a gymnastics version of the white walkers.

"I'm very pleased with what's happening here," Liukin said. "It's going the right direction." 

Follow Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.