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Judge’s Inquiry: How Nastia Liukin Cup Routines May Score in College

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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