Haleigh Bryant of Huntersville, NC/ Everest gymnastics, and Tory Vetter of Columbus, OH/ Universal gymnastics won the senior and junior all-around titles at the 2018 Nastia Liukin Cup.
The Nastia Liukin Cup came officially came to be on Aug. 11, 2009. USA gymnastics and Nastia Liukin announced a partnership to create the cup which would provide a competitive opportunity for the country’s top Junior Olympic gymnasts. Gymnasts are chosen to participate in the Cup from a series of invitationals known as the Nastia Liukin Cup Series. The series is promoted throughout the competitive season with individual meets, each selecting a small handful of athletes to compete in the Cup from their areas of the nation.
In the senior competition, Bryant won with a total score of 38.700. On vault she competed a front-handspring, front pike half out and scored a 9.875. On the uneven bars, she competed a double front dismount and scored a 9.650. Following her bars performance, on beam she performed a solid routine and scored a 9.525. Finally, on floor, she opened with a double front and closed with a double twist, which earned her a 9.650. Overall, her performance was excellent.
After the meet, Bryant was asked how she felt about her performance… “It feels amazing to win the Cup, and I’ve had a blast. I’ve been training hard for this, and all my hard work finally paid off. Winning this has boosted my confidence for state, regionals and nationals.”
Onto the junior all around, Vetter won with a 38.175. She started on vault with a Yurchenko full and earned a 9.500. On the uneven bars, she competed a giant full to Tkatchev and dismounted with a full-in to score a 9.350. During her beam rotation, she performed her cartwheel to back handspring series on beam, and dismounted with a double twist, earning a 9.750(achieved first place with this score). On floor exercise, Vetter opened her floor routine with a double pike and finished the set to score a 9.575.
Vetter was also asked how she felt she did after the competition was over… “I don’t think I could have won without the support of my teammates and coaches. This was my first time to compete at the Nastia Liukin Cup, and Nastia made it so fun for us. This meet was such a wonderful experience.”
I think both gymnasts did an amazing job at this competition. I especially thought Vetter did an amazing job because she is young, and this was her first Nastia Cup competition. Usually, with bigger competitions, a lot of the gymnasts are nervous, so they don’t perform as well as they could if they were competing in a smaller competition. Its amazing that Vetter was able to compete to her best abilities. She has a lot of hard skills so its even more impressive to see her at the age she is competing these skills successfully. I think it will be interesting to see what else she does in the future with her gymnastics career. Did any of you out there watch the Nastia Cup this past weekend? If so, what are your thoughts on the overall competition?