Over 100 gymnasts, 12 age groups (and WildCards), and 4 events means a lot of great gymnastics is missed each and every year at Level 10 Nationals. Though we film and post every (well almost every) routine from the meet….. many awesome routines, combos or vaults go unnoticed.
Well here are 10 performances that need to be talked about from our 2022 Region 5 Dream Team at DEV Nationals in Arizona.
Though she is working on upgrading to a Yurchenko 1 1/2 (based on IG post), JPAC’s Lisa Szeibert has a very nice Arabian Layout vault that she lands effortlessly almost well ALWAYS!
DeVeaus Makayla Tucker competed a Yurchenko 1 1/2 a few times during the 2022 season but turned in her best effort on the vault at this years nationals. She received a 9.725 on vault probably for her first vault but it was awesome to see her go after it at nationals.
It’s always a great feeling to put that upgrade out onto the competition floor. However when its at Nationals and you successfully make it, that’s even SWEETER! Well this was the case for Cincinnati’s Ellie Monahan on vault. Ellie competed a very nice tuck Kaz during the season but at nationals upgraded to a layout and that 10.0 +1 start value.
Though her Ray on bars is up there with the best of them, Queen City’s Megan Brueck’s Handspring Pike Front vault is a breath of fresh air not to mentioned well done! I expect to see that with a 1/2 soon as she takes on her freshman year at YALE!
The triple flight series on beam makes the gymnast stand out amongst the crowd and Legacy Elite’s Lauren O’Brochta has a very nice and quick layout layout.
These next two flight series should have been nominated for the Yahtzee Flight Series category…. OUR FAULT COMPLETELY! However we must give props to these two athletes for the taking the triple flight up a notice to a quad (or flight into dismount but whatever). Phenom’s Reese Samuelson competed a very nice front aerial into a BHS layout layout while Buckeye’s Isabella Trostel (check out her IG for her 5 skill series) used her triple flight to set up her dismount. These both are fantastic beam workers and know how to take command of the flight series!!!
In college gymnastics for 2023, the popular aerial to full dismount will not be allowed anymore to fulfill the dismount requirement. Good news for 2022 WildCard beam qualifier Emily Krzciok from Mid Michigan, she is already a head of the game in her final year of club as she does a beautiful Aerial 1 1/2 dismount!!!!
The use of the whip in any form is one of my favorites on floor. The whip 1/2 Rudi that Olivia Giunta from Legacy Elite does is always eye catching not to mention packed with bonus.
Last but not least, one bar routine that never gets old is 5 Star’s Kennedy Griffin because of her big Tkatchev as well as her smooth bar to bar connections. However, that isn’t why she is on this list. I filmed her floor routine at regionals and it had a HUGE double pike as her first pass. Well fast forward 4 weeks later and she shows up to nationals with a double layout in her first pass which as you will see, she pretty much walks into!
It exciting to see all these great athletes shine at nationals every year, but sometimes it’s more fun to see them for the first time after the fact. We look forward to more “HOW DID I MISS THAT” moments from our Region 5 athletes in 2023.
