We say it every year, and every year it feels more true. The caliber of this year’s Nastia Liukin Cup is going to be more exceptional than ever before! Fourteen gymnasts boast career highs over 39 points, and seven sport career high perfect 10.0s, an outstanding achievement in club gymnastics.
The Record Holders
Six qualifiers, all seniors, qualified with scores over 39 points: Denver signee Madison Ulrich (39.225), Utah signee Camie Winger (39.100), Oklahoma signee Hannah Scheible (39.075), Auburn signee Julianne Huff and 2025 graduate Kamila Pawlak (39.050), and Utah commit Avery Neff (39.025).
Eight other gymnasts boast career high scores over 39 points: LSU commit Kailin Chio (39.300), Florida signee Lily Bruce (39.275), Georgia signee Lily Smith and 2026 graduate Presley Duke (39.225), Alabama signee Jamison Sears and 2025 graduate Haley Mustari (39.100), Alabama signee Chloe LaCoursiere (39.050), and Florida signee Anya Pilgrim (39.025).
Neff boasts the highest all-around career high score in the field with a 39.600, which she posted at the Brestyan’s Las Vegas Invitational in February 2023.
Seven gymnasts also have career high perfect 10.0s: Chio, Georgia commit Ady Wahl, Neff and Scheible on vault, LaCoursiere on vault and bars, Mustari on bars and beam, and Smith on bars and floor.
These numbers are quite similar to last year’s. In 2022, four gymnasts qualified with scores over 39 points and eight more had career highs over 39. While this year all 39-plus scorers are seniors, last year two of them, Duke and Jasmine Cawley, were juniors. Additionally, in 2022 six gymnasts boasted perfect 10.0s, with the highest number still being on vault. While last year all qualifiers boasted 10.0s on only one event, though, this year three gymnasts achieved perfection on more than one apparatus.
Previously at the Cup
This year both the junior and the senior champions from 2022 are back to defend their title. Sears was last year’s senior co-champion and Pawlak, a two-time qualifier, the junior champion. This year they’ll both compete in the senior division.
Together with Sears and Pawlak, eight other seniors have previously qualified to the Cup: Chio in 2018, LaCoursiere in 2021, Duke, Scheible and 2025 graduate Elyse Wenner in 2022, Bruce in 2019 and 2022, Ulrich in 2019 and 2020, and Neff in 2021 and 2022. Neff is the only gymnast to have qualified to multiple editions of the Cup and medaled in every one of them; she was second in the junior division in 2021 and third among the seniors last year.
Among the juniors, only two gymnasts have taken part in the competition before; Imani White and Greta Krob both qualified last year.
The numbers are yet again very similar to last year’s, when 10 seniors and three juniors had been previous qualifiers.
Fun fact: It happened only once before that both the senior and junior defending champions were back the following year with the opportunity to defend their titles. It was 2017, when Rachael Lukacs and Andi Li, who’d won the senior and junior titles, respectively, the previous year tried to repeat as champions. They didn’t succeed but got close, finishing second and third behind Kai Rivers.
NCAA Outlook
Except for four gymnasts who are still too young to be recruited, the other sixteen senior qualifiers are committed to college.
While last year Oklahoma was the only team to boast two qualifiers, this year the title for most qualified recruits goes to Florida with three: Skylar Draser and Pilgrim in the class of 2023, and Bruce in the class of 2024.
Behind Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Utah all boast two qualifiers. LaCoursiere and Sears, both in the class of 2023, are Alabama signees. Smith and Wahl will join the Gymdogs in 2023 and 2024, respectively. And Winger (2023) and Neff (2024) are future Utes.
Seven other teams boast one qualifier. In the class of 2023, Taylor DeVries will join Oregon State, Huff has signed with Auburn, Delaynee Rodriguez will go to Kentucky, Scheible will join Oklahoma and Ulrich will attend Denver. In the class of 2024, Chio is committed to LSU and Jahzara Swaby-Ranger is headed to Michigan.
Through CGN’s Recruit Ratings Lens
All the qualifiers in the classes of 2023 and 2024 are rated gymnasts, with an exceptional total of 11 qualifiers being five-star recruits. By comparison, last year all recruitable gymnasts were rated too, but only six were five-stars.
Winger, Smith, Huff, Sears, Scheible, LaCoursiere, Ulrich and Rodriguez are five-star recruits in the class of 2023, and Chio, Bruce and Neff are five-star recruits in the class of 2024.
Additionally, Pilgrim, in the class of 2023, and Swaby-Ranger and Wahl, in the class of 2024, are four-star recruits. Finally, Draser and DeVries, both in the class of 2023, are three-star recruits.
The Junior Field
This year the junior field is young and inexperienced. It includes two gymnasts in the class of 2028—Greta Krob and Tiana Childress—and two athletes in the class of 2029—Lavi Crain and Addy Fulcher.
The highest qualifier is Olivia Vandevander, in the class of 2027, with a 38.550. The junior with the highest all-around career high is Imani White with a 38.850.
Despite their young age, the junior gymnasts already show glimpses of greatness. Camryn Shepard, in the class of 2027, performs a beautiful Yurchenko one and a half. White boasts a career high 9.900 on beam, and Crain competes a triple twist on floor.
Who Will Win the Junior Title?
The junior field is extremely open. The favorite to win the title will be White, who boasts a career high 38.850. She’s not the most consistent gymnast, but if she can produce four solid performances, victory should be hers. She boasts career highs of 9.900 on beam, 9.800 on bars and in the 9.7s on vault and floor.
With a 38.550, Olivia Vandevander will enter the competition with the highest qualification score, but the latter is significantly higher than any previous career high. She has the potential to win the meet, but she will have to replicate the same high-quality performance.
Fulcher (38.350) and Julia Nehmer (38.275) also have a shot at the title. Fulcher has career highs of 9.800 on bars and floor and knows how to compete under pressure, as she competed at the HOPES championships last summer. Julia Nehmer, who also flirted with elite in the past, has a career high 9.850 on beam and 9.725 on floor.
Who Will Win the Senior Title?
This feels like Neff’s title to lose. After winning silver two years ago and bronze last year, will the third time be the charm for the Utah commit? Neff is not the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2024 by accident. She posted scores over 39 points in seven of her last eight meets, including a stratospheric 39.600 two weeks ago. Beam has always been her Achilles heel, but she’s recently hit her stride, posting two career highs in the two latest meets. If she hits, she’s almost unbeatable.
If Neff is anything less than perfect, though, a deep field will be ready to take advantage of it. Since consistency is often key to win these meets, the favorites to challenge Neff are probably Chio and Ulrich. Former elite standout Chio has been nothing less than exceptional since returning to level 10 competition in January. The lowest score she’s posted all season is a 38.925, with all other scores being over 39. Ulrich, on her part, started her season slowly after missing all of last year, but she’s posted two 39-plus scores in her two latest meets.
Beyond the top three, there are some exceptional gymnasts who have the potential to lift the trophy but who have shown inconsistencies this season. Former elites Sears and Pilgrim are extremely talented but often struggle to put together a complete meet. Sears is the defending champion, though, and has proven to be able to hit when it counts.
Scheible, Smith and LaCoursiere have presented similar issues this season. Scheible has grown in confidence lately but often struggles on one event, and not always the same one. LaCoursiere has had problems on beam this season, which prevented her from qualifying to the cup several weeks in a row. Smith is the most technically perfect of the qualifiers and is capable of perfect 10.0s on both bars and floor. Vault, however, continues to be an issue, and this year she’s also struggled with consistency on beam.
Behind them, Winger and Huff both qualified with scores over 39 points, but their averages seem to be more in the mid-38s. Finally, don’t dismiss the younger athletes. In particular, Pawlak and Duke, who went one-two in the junior competition last year, may be dark horses. They can both score consistently in the high 38s, which could be just enough to place them on the podium.
Junior Qualifiers
| Name | Class | AA Career High |
| Tiana Childress | 2028 | 36.725 |
| Lavi Crain | 2029 | 36.650 |
| Oaklie Deputy | 2026 | 37.925 |
| Kyra DiCello | 2027 | 38.075 |
| Kennedy Emerling | 2027 | 36.125 |
| Ella Fine | 2026 | 38.050 |
| Ariana Frechette | 2026 | 37.825 |
| Addy Fulcher | 2029 | 38.350 |
| Jordyn Johnson | 2026 | 38.300 |
| Kira Keller | 2026 | 38.150 |
| Esphyr Koren | 2027 | 37.325 |
| Greta Krob | 2028 | 37.275 |
| Lindsey Merdes | 2026 | 37.375 |
| Julia Nehmer | 2027 | 38.375 |
| Jada Oliver | 2027 | 37.625 |
| Camryn Shepard | 2027 | 38.300 |
| Adelle Speck | 2025 | 37.925 |
| Maddie Stewart | 2026 | 37.750 |
| Olivia Vandevander | 2027 | 38.550 |
| Imani White | 2026 | 38.850 |
Senior Qualifiers
| Name | Class | College | Rating | AA Career High | Perfect 10.0s |
| Lily Bruce | 2024 | Florida | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 39.275 | – |
| Kailin Chio | 2024 | LSU | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 39.300 | Vault (1) |
| Taylor DeVries | 2023 | Oregon State | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 38.500 | – |
| Skylar Draser | 2023 | Florida | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 38.550 | – |
| Presley Duke | 2026 | N/A | N/A | 39.225 | – |
| Julianne Huff | 2023 | Auburn | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 39.050 | – |
| Chloe LaCoursiere | 2023 | Alabama | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 39.050 | Vault (1), bars (4) |
| Haley Mustari | 2025 | N/A | N/A | 39.100 | Bars (3), beam (1) |
| Avery Neff | 2024 | Utah | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 39.600 | Vault (1) |
| Kamila Pawlak | 2025 | N/A | N/A | 39.050 | – |
| Anya Pilgrim | 2023 | Florida | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 39.025 | – |
| Delaynee Rodriguez | 2023 | Kentucky | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 38.950 | – |
| Hannah Scheible | 2023 | Oklahoma | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 39.350 | Vault (1) |
| Jamison Sears | 2023 | Alabama | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 39.100 | – |
| Lily Smith | 2023 | Georgia | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 39.225 | Bars (1), floor (2) |
| Jahzara Swaby-Ranger | 2024 | Michigan | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 38.675 | – |
| Madison Ulrich | 2023 | Denver | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 39.225 | – |
| Ady Wahl | 2024 | Georgia | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 38.975 | Vault (1) |
| Elyse Wenner | 2025 | N/A | N/A | 38.925 | – |
| Camie Winger | 2023 | Utah | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 39.100 | – |
READ THIS NEXT: Nastia Liukin Cup Series: Week 7
Article by Talitha Ilacqua
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