Even though the 2023 NCAA season is hardly over, it’s never too early to get excited for next year’s round of newcomers. For this article, I judged one event from 11 committed high school seniors (plus a bonus routine from junior Avery Neff) that competed at the 2023 Nastia Cup.
For the most part, I tried to be “college nice” and judge how NCAA judges generally judge, but note that I do tend to be a bit more strict than most NCAA judges, and so these routines may score even higher than where I would put them.
For the most part, these level 10 routines are at a higher level of difficulty than NCAA since the requirements are slightly different between level 10 and NCAA gymnastics. In some of the routines, I offer commentary on which skills we may not see in their college routines, either because they aren’t needed or because the athlete could easily downgrade to something easier (and cleaner) without any penalties in their start value or composition.
Vault
Madison Ulrich, Denver
Deductions: large hop on the landing, leg separation, excessive arch, head alignment, shoulder angle on the table
NCAA Score: 9.750 to 9.800
Lily Smith, Georgia
Deductions: leg form on table, pike down, large step back, distance
NCAA Score: 9.650
Skylar Draser, Florida
Deductions: leg form, under rotation, small hop
NCAA Score: 9.800
Bars
Camie Winger, Utah
Deductions: archy casts to handstand, bent arms on giant swings, hop on the dismount
NCAA Score: 9.800
Jamison Sears, Alabama
Deductions: leg separation in Pak salto, late half pirouette, arm bend on stalder, landing posture and hop forward on dismount
NCAA Score: 9.700
Taylor DeVries, Oregon State
Deductions: leg separation on in-bar releases, late pirouette, arch in high bar cast handstand, hop forward and pike down of dismount
NCAA Score: 9.650
Beam
Hannah Scheible, Oklahoma
Deductions: major balance error in full turn, insufficient split and balance error in switch half, hop on dismount
NCAA Score: 9.550 to 9.600
Chloe LaCoursiere, Alabama
*Correction: In the video, I state that she received a 9.750 for the level 10 judges, and I should have said 8.750.*
Deductions: balance error and posture in full turn, knee bend and balance error on front aerial to scale, leg form and balance error on acro series, major balance error on front aerial, uneven/insufficient split on switch leap, small foot adjustment on landing
NCAA Score: 9.150 (9.900 SV)
Delaynee Rodriguez, Kentucky
Deductions: feet form everywhere, legs in her side-facing split half
NCAA Score: 9.800
Floor
Julianne Huff, Auburn
Deductions: step forward after full-in, precision in turns on dance pass, landing control and out of bounds on front one and a half twist, front foot slide on double pike landing
NCAA Score: 9.650 – 0.100 for out of bounds = 9.550
Anya Pilgrim, Florida
Deductions: body posture on landing on double layout, body posture on double tuck, position in switch ring, bent leg and under rotation of the turn in tour-jetè half, leg separation and landing control on double pike
NCAA Score: 9.650 to 9.700
Avery Neff, Utah (Class of 2024)
Deductions: precision of turns in dance pass, leg form in back two and a half twist
NCAA Score: 9.900
READ THIS NEXT: Judge’s Inquiry: Breaking Down January’s Perfect 10s
Article by Rhiannon Franck
Rhiannon Franck is a former national-rated NAWGJ women’s gymnastics judge with over 15 years of USAG judging experience and nine seasons judging NCAA gymnastics. Outside of gymnastics, Franck works at a university as a nursing professor and loves to travel. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
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