Last weekend, the nation’s top level 10 athletes competed in the Nastia Liukin Cup, featuring several of the top class of 2025 and 2026. To get an idea of how they might fare on some of the nation’s top teams once they enter college, our resident former judge, Rhiannon Franck, re-evaluated each class of 2025 recruit on one event.
For each athlete, she summarized some ideas of how they could best transition their routine from excelling in level 10 to dominating in the NCAA, and rescored the routine using NCAA deductions, bonus, and start values. For the most part, the routines on bars and vault generally stayed the same. However, the beam and floor routines tend to be more difficult in NCAA than level 10, due to differences in composition and bonus requirements.
Vault
Allison Cucci (Arkansas ’25)
Start Value: 10.1 (level 10), 10.0 (NCAA)
Suggested Composition Changes: None; it’s a good-looking Yurchenko one and a half
Execution Deductions:
- Leg separation on the table (0.05) and in the air (0.05)
- Late twist completion (0.05)
- Hop on the landing (0.1)
Nastia Cup Score: 9.850
My Score: 9.750
This will be a great addition to Arkansas’s vault lineup next year, especially if she can finish her twist a little sooner and give herself more time to perfect her landing.
Jasmine Cawley (Alabama ’25)
Start Value: 10.1 (level 10), 10.0 (NCAA)
Suggested Composition Changes: None
Execution Deductions:
- Leg form on pre-flight (0.05) and in the air (0.05)
- Medium hop on landing (0.15)
- Control of landing (0.05)
Nastia Cup Score: 9.825
My Score: 9.700
Cawley just needs to clean up her leg form throughout the vault and dial in the landing, and this will be a great vault for Alabama next year. I took off for the hop plus the additional half-tenth for control on the landing since she was still traveling forward when she turned to salute and wouldn’t have been able to hold the finish position required in NCAA.
Mackenzie Estep (Oklahoma ’25)
Start Value: 10.1 (level 10), 10.0 (NCAA)
Suggested Composition Changes: None
Execution Deductions:
- Shoulder angle (0.05)
- Leg form in air (0.05)
Nastia Cup Score: 9.950
My Score: 9.900
This already looks ready to slot into the Oklahoma lineup. She has a bit of leg form to clean up, but this is the most explosive vault I’ve seen at this competition—and the one with the best landing.
Bars
Nina Ballou (LSU ’25)
Start Value: 10.1 (level 10), 10.0 (NCAA)
Suggested Composition Changes: Remove the toe circle to bail connection and do only a bail or connect a bail out of the piked Jaeger
Execution Deductions:
- Short cast (0.05)
- Amplitude (0.1) and leg form (0.05) on Jaeger
- Arm bend (0.05) on toe circle
- Hop on double layout (0.1)
Nastia Cup Score: 9.675
My Score: 9.650
This routine has eight-tenths in bonus under current NCAA rules, so by removing the extra kip cast handstand and toe circle, it would streamline the routine and decrease the opportunity for deductions. LSU has a strong bar lineup to break into with high-flying, single-bar releases, but I think with a little work on increasing the height of her Jaeger, she’ll fit right in, especially with her beautiful double layout.
Sophie Schriever (Iowa ’25)
Start Value: 10.1 (level 10), 10.0 (NCAA)
Suggested Composition Changes: None
Execution Deductions:
- Leg separation on release (0.05) and back swing (0.05) of Maloney
- Leg separation (0.05) and amplitude/over-rotation (0.05) of Pak salto
- Leg separation on the Van Leeuwen (0.05)
Nastia Cup Score: 9.775
My Score: 9.750
Iowa is going to love this bar routine. The only deductions I had here were the leg separation on her high-to-low transitions (most of which you can’t see well from the judge’s angle anyway), and a bit of over-rotation on her Pak salto. This looks like it could be a key routine for Iowa next season.
Lacie Saltzmann (Minnesota ’25)
Start Value: 10.1 (level 10), 10.0 (NCAA)
Suggested Composition Changes: She can remove the second toe circle handstand on the low bar and still start from a 10.0.
Execution Deductions:
- Bent knees (0.05) on high bar toe circle
- Flexed feet (0.05) on the Jaeger
- Flexed feet (0.05) on the giant swing
- Pike down (0.05) and a small hop (0.05) on the double layout dismount
Nastia Cup Score: 9.750
My Score: 9.750
This was a very strong routine for Saltzmann and was one of the top scoring routines of the session. All her deductions were very minor form breaks, which I’m sure can be polished before she puts this strong bar routine into the mix for Minnesota.
Beam
Ella Murphy (Oklahoma ’25)
Start Value: 10.0 (level 10), 10.0 (NCAA)
Suggested Composition Changes: Take out the front aerial, and the ring jump, and the mount could also be downgraded
Execution Deductions:
- Knee bend (0.05) and balance error (0.05) front aerial
- Balance error (0.05) dance series
- Leg form (0.05) on dismount
Nastia Cup Score: 9.900
My Score: 9.800
With her triple series and double full dismount alone, Murphy has more than enough bonus for NCAA. If she downgraded her mount and took out her front aerial, I’d be at a 9.900 for this routine. She already has the confidence and artistry on beam that we’ve come to expect from Oklahoma and will be a great addition to the lineup.
Gabriella Van Frayen (Kentucky ’25)
Start Value: 10.1 (level 10), 10.0 (NCAA)
Suggested Composition Changes: Take out the split half and the front aerial, and downgrade the switch leap to switch side (C+D) to an easier connection like a switch leap to split jump or switch leap to straddle quarter
Execution Deductions:
- Foot form (0.05) and leg bend on Onodi (0.05)
- Split amplitude and evenness (0.1) on split half
- Bent knee (0.05) on front aerial
- Rhythm (0.05) on leap connection
Nastia Cup Score: 9.900
My Score: 9.700
I’m not sure why I’m so much lower than the level 10 judges on this one, but I do love an acro series with an Onodi; I hope she keeps it in college, as this could be a great routine for Kentucky. Like Murphy, she has a lot of extra bonus in her level 10 routine that she won’t need in NCAA. If she took out the skills I mentioned above and did an easier dance series (assuming it results in better rhythm), she’d be around a 9.900 for this routine.
Floor
Kamila Pawlak (Oklahoma ’25)
Start Value: 10.0 (level 10), 10.0 (NCAA)
Suggested Composition Changes: Remove the one-and-a-half turn; for a two-pass routine, upgrade the switch half to a switch full or add another C jump to the end of the dance series
Execution Deductions:
- Low chest and a hop on landing (0.15) on double pike
- Leg form on back one and a half (0.05) and control on landing (0.05)
- Control (0.05) and maintaining the leg up (0.05) throughout the turn
- Low chest (0.1), failure to open (0.05) and foot form (0.05) on double back
Nastia Cup Score: 9.450
My Score: 9.450
Pawlak’s choreography and dance style already fit in well with the Oklahoma style, and with a few tweaks to her routine, it could definitely compete for a spot. Her biggest deductions are her landing positions on her double-flipping saltos, but if she were to switch to a two-pass routine and remove the turn with the leg up, she would be more competitive for a spot in the lineup next year.
Arianna Ostrum (Minnesota ’25)
Start Value: 10.0 (level 10), 9.9 (NCAA)
Suggested Composition Changes: Remove the double turn, and add an A-value jump after the Rudi
Execution Deductions:
- Hop on landing (0.1) on double back
- Split precision (0.05) on tour jete half
- Control (0.1) and precision (0.05) on double turn
- Leg separation (0.05) on Rudi
Nastia Cup Score: 9.650
My Score: 9.550
With some minor changes, Ostrum could be a regular feature in the Minnesota floor lineup. Her tumbling is sky high, and her front through to back two and a half is stunning. By removing her double turn, which is a level 10 compositional requirement but not one in NCAA, as well as adding an easy jump out of her two and a half or Rudi, she’d be at a 10.0 start with a 9.8 for that routine. With a little more time and more confidence in her choreography, she could really shine.
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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.
