This year’s Nastia Liukin Cup Series will comprise 22 meets, each of which will qualify one senior gymnast (aged 17 and older) and one junior (16 and younger) to the 16th Nastia Liukin Cup in Louisville, Kentucky, on February 25.
This week there were four meets, resulting in eight qualifiers.
California Grand Invitational
Winner (senior division): Avery Neff
Winner (junior division): Keria Cameron
Utah signee Neff was the co-winner of last year’s Nastia Liukin Cup and is the No. 1 rated recruit in the class of 2024, with an almost perfect score of 98 points. Neff had an outstanding day, including a 10.00 on vault, to punch her ticket with a 39.500 in the all around. There are still some form issues to tweak on beam and bars, but such a high score so early in the season should give Utah even more reason to anticipate the impact she can make in Salt Lake City next year.
As a first year level 10, Cameron is somewhat of an unknown, but she will be delighted to have qualified to the Nastia Liukin Cup in her very first meet of the season. Her bar routine features smooth transitions and a floaty pac salto, finishing with a sky high full out. Keep your eye out for Cameron for the rest of the season to see how she might stack up compared to the junior field as it fills up.
Avery Neff
Scores: VT: 10.00 | UB: 9.850 | BB: 9.800 | FX: 9.850 | AA: 39.500
- Club: Olympus (UT)
- College: Utah
- High School Graduation Year: 2024
- CGN Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Notable Results: 2023: Nastia Liukin Cup co-champion, national, regional and state champion in the all-around
- Previous NLC Appearances: 2023 co-champion, 2022 third place all-around, 2021 (junior second place all-around)
Keria Cameron
VT: 9.800 | UB: 9.700 | BB: 9.400 | FX: 9.025 | AA: 37.925
- Club: JamJev Gym (AL)
- High School Graduation Year: 2029
- Notable Results: Level 9 state all-around champion 2023
- Previous NLC Appearances: n/a
Coaches Spectacular
Winner (senior division): Gabriella Van Frayen
Winner (junior division): Quinlyn Rollins
Van Frayen’s last level 10 meet was in 2021. Since then she has competed elite, including making the US national team and competing in the junior division at the City of Jesolo Trophy in 2022, returning with a team gold medal. This season she announced that she would return to level 10 competition. Van Frayen, a four-star recruit, has committed to the Kentucky Wildcats in the class of ‘25 and will be happy to have punched her ticket to the NLC in her first meet back as a level 10.
Another first year level 10 qualifier, Rollins punched her ticket to the cup with a 37.375 in the all around. Look out for her triple series on beam and confident, attacking style on her leap work on this apparatus which helped her earn her best event score of the meet: a 9.550.
Gabriella Van Frayen
Scores: VT: 9.600 | UB: 9.600 | BB: 9.800 | FX: 9.300 | AA: 38.300
- Club: Gym X-Treme (OH)
- College: Kentucky
- High School Graduation Year: 2025
- CGN Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Notable Results: 2021: fifth place all around in the junior session of US Championships
- Previous NLC Appearances: 2021 third place in the junior all-around competition
Quinlyn Rollins
Scores: VT: 9.300 | UB: 9.300 | BB: 9.550 | FX: 9.225 | AA: 37.375
- Club: Queen City Gymnastics (OH)
- High School Graduation Year: 2029
- Notable Results: 2023 third place all around at regionals
- Previous NLC Appearances: N/A
Starstruck Invitational
Winner (senior division): Nina Ballou
Winner (junior division): Amia Pugh-Banks
Nina Ballou, who recently verbally committed to LSU, has long been one of the top performers in the level 10 scene, so her qualification to another Nastia Cup is not a shock. She’d be one of the top contenders for the title even if she had not scored one of the first 39.000+ marks of the season en route to locking in her spot.
Virginia’s Amia Pugh-Banks will compete in her first Nastia Cup this March, but qualification by this former Hopes gymnast is no surprise: Pugh-Banks’ 38.825 is jaw-dropping for a junior qualifier, but as a clubmate to stars like former No.1 recruit Jamison Sears, it’s easy to imagine greatness on the horizon.
Nina Ballou
Scores: VT: 9.775 | UB: 9.825 | BB: 9.650 | FX: 9.900 | AA: 39.125
- Club: American Twisters (FL)
- College: LSU
- High School Graduation Year: 2025
- CGN Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Notable Results: 2022 Jr C National AA champ, 2023 Jr F National UB champ
- Previous NLC Appearances: 2022, 2021
Amia Pugh-Banks
Scores: VT: 9.900 | UB: 9.700 | BB: 9.600 | FX: 9.625 | AA: 38.825
- Club: World Class (VA)
- High School Graduation Year: 2029
- Notable Results: 2023 DP nationals qualifier
Ozone Invitational
Winner (senior division): Allison Cucci
Winner (junior division): Ella Fine
In a wildly competitive senior field, five-star recruit Cucci edged fellow five star Zoe Johnson (2024, Utah) and numerous others to grab her Nastia Cup qualification. An impressive 10.000 on vault, the first of her level 10 career, was key to her qualification here.
In the junior division, High Point’s Ella Fine secured a repeat qualification comfortably. After a 12th place finish at last year’s Cup, Fine stands to improve as a competitor in her last year in the junior division.
Allison Cucci
Scores: VT: 10.000 | UB: 9.700 | BB: 9.500 | FX: 9.675 | AA: 38.875
- Club: Twin City Twisters (MN)
- College: Arkansas
- High School Graduation Year: 2025
- CGN Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Notable Results: 2023 DP Jr D national bars champ
- Previous NLC Appearances: 2022
Ella Fine
Scores: VT: 9.725 | UB: 9.325 | BB: 9.300 | FX: 9.575 | AA: 37.925
- Club: High Point (NC)
- High School Graduation Year: 2026
- Notable Results: 2023 DP Jr B national floor champ
- Previous NLC Appearances: 2023
READ THIS NEXT: Nastia Liukin Cup Series Recap: Week 1
Article written by Katie Couldrey and Rebecca Scally
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