Recruit Files: Serena Clue, West Virginia

Name: Serena Clue

Club: John’s Academy of Gymnastics

High School Graduation Year: 2022

NCAA Team: West Virginia

Commitment Announcement: Instagram

Social Handles: Twitter | Instagram 

Personal Bests 

VaultUneven BarsBalance BeamFloor Exercise
9.6509.7009.2259.200

Videos 

VaultUneven BarsBalance BeamFloor Exercise
2020 Presidential Classic2020 Presidential Classic2020 Manhattan Classic2020 Little Boston Invitational

About Serena

Clue is a 2019 J.O. nationals qualifier, a result she achieved in her first year as a level 10. She was also second on bars and third on vault at the 2019 Region 6 regionals. In 2018, she became the level 9 Region 6 all around champion.

What She Brings to West Virginia

Vault

  • Skill: Yurchenko half
  • Results: third place at the 2019 Region 6 regionals
  • Margin of Improvement: Clue achieves good height and distance on her vault. The main deduction is her tendency to take a step forward. She is also training a Yurchenko full.
  • Impact on the Team: Much of West Virginia’s current vault lineup will have graduated once Clue gets to college, though Abbie Pierson, its best gymnast, will still be competing. Clue will not score 9.9s, but she will be expected to contribute with solid vaults.

Uneven Bars

  • Skills: Maloney to bail to handstand, double tuck dismount
  • Results: second place at the 2019 Region 6 regionals
  • Margin of Improvement: The main thing Clue will have to work on is her dismount. She will either need to upgrade its difficulty or perform it in combination to be awarded a 10.0 start value. Execution-wise, she has minor leg separations on her transitions, but her form is otherwise very good.
  • Impact on the Team: This is Clue’s best apparatus, and she will be expected to replace WVU’s best bar worker, Esperanza Abarca, who will have graduated a few months prior to her arrival. Clue and Kianna Yancey will represent a dynamic duo here.

Balance Beam

  • Skills: full turn, BHS + LOSO, cat leap to front toss, 1.5 twist dismount
  • Results: second place at the 2019 Rhode Island Invitational
  • Margin of Improvement: Clue has elegant lines on beam but she lacks confidence. This is the main aspect she needs to work on, as execution-wise she has plenty of potential.
  • Impact on the Team: WVU is growing into a strong beam team and will hope for Clue to develop more consistency to help in the lineup.

Floor Exercise

  • Skills: double pike, 1.5 twist to front pike, double tuck
  • Results: second place at the 2020 Little Boston Invitational (career high)
  • Margin of Improvement: Clue still needs some more time to control her power and landings, but the potential is all there. She is an elegant and powerful floor worker and she is also training a double layout.
  • Impact on the Team: WVU’s floor lineup was exceptional in 2020. Clue’s routine is still very much in the making, but if she can polish it and add the double layout, she could be a very strong contributor.

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Article by Talitha Ilacqua

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