When Haley Mustari reflects back on her extraordinary last couple of years, two moments stand out. The first is the Oklahoma state meet in 2022, where she scored her first 10.0 on beam. The second is nationals in 2023, where she scored her fifth perfect 10.0 on bars to win both the event and the all-around title. Both moments serve as reminders of how far she’s come in the sport.
Although Mustari is primarily known for her bar work, she considers beam her favorite event. Her routine is difficult; it includes a double Wolf turn, an Onodi and a double-twist dismount. In competitions leading up to the state meet in 2022 she’d had some trouble with beam, making her perfect score an especially fulfilling moment. “When the score came up the entire venue erupted and all I could do was cry,” she recalled. “It was a very emotional moment realizing that all my hard work and dedication to this sport paid off in that moment.”
Bars is a close second favorite event for Mustari, but it doesn’t come without its challenges. The smoothness of her routine — which includes a Maloney to Pak salto and a floaty full-in dismount — is the result of years of repetition and hard work. “I love the feeling of flying and I think bars is the single event that gives you butterflies in your stomach every time you do it. It’s kind of the daredevil event and I love pushing those limits,” she said. “[But] I can’t say that it comes easy to me—I train a lot of bars.”
Over the last two years, Mustari has scored five 10.0s on bars. Every one of them felt special, but posting a perfect score at nationals was in a league of its own. “It wasn’t the first 10.0 of my career but achieving it at nationals, in my home state of Oklahoma, in front of so many of my friends, family, and younger athletes from my gym was beyond anything I could have ever dreamed of,” she said. “[It] was surreal.”
Mustari doesn’t take any of her accomplishments for granted. They come after a few tough years that started with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
COVID was the most difficult moment of her career because the lockdown came right when she felt that she was at a turning point. “In 2020 I was really having a great year and felt like I was at the top of my game,” she explained. “Then everything ended, just like that, [and] my season was cut short.”
Mustari lost her motivation and wondered whether she would ever be able to recover the level of form she was in before the shutdown. Thanks to her coaches’ help, when the gym opened again she managed to find new inspiration. “My coaches really helped me not lose sight of my goals and helped keep me focused on what I could control,” she said. “When I finally got to go back to the gym, I had clear goals and a newfound drive to achieve those goals one step at a time.”
Her troubles were not over just yet, though. Once she was back in the gym, she was hit by a growth spurt and had to relearn many aspects of her gymnastics. “It’s been tough, but I have a great support system,” she said. “I’ve been lucky to train in a gym with a long-standing history of great gymnastics and have had great coaches over the years that have nurtured my love for this sport. … [I] have found that finding joy in my training has allowed me to continue to improve and excel.”
It was with newly found gratitude that Mustari began her recruiting process on June 15th as a four-star recruit. She didn’t know what to expect from it, and although she had a couple of top choices, she kept an open mind. Her coaches encouraged her to narrow down her options to four or five schools, so she spent a great deal of time researching and pursuing them. “It sounds cliché but what I was really looking for at each school was the vibe, the academic opportunities, student life, excitement and support around the gymnastics program and the other sports programs,” she said. “I was really looking for a home away from home.”
She paid official visits to Utah, Oklahoma, Florida, and LSU but it was during her final visit to Baton Rouge that something snapped into place. “I think that it was after watching a practice that something just clicked, and I knew that this was where I was meant to be,” she said. “That still didn’t make the decision easy. I really tried to sort through the emotions and sensibility of each option, but it just came down to a gut feeling.”
It was the Tigers’ team spirit that swung the balance for Mustari. “I chose LSU for so many reasons, but mostly because I connected with the core values of the program and the team philosophy,” she explained. “It’s exciting to be a part of a team that works hard and with such purpose but still has so much fun striving for their goals.”
At LSU, Mustari eventually found that family feel that made it a home away from home. “Spending time with them you can really see how connected they all are with each of the athletes and how deep those bonds run,” she said. “All of the current team members are so kind, welcoming, and close knit. I can’t wait to be part of the Tiger family.”
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Article by Talitha Ilacqua
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