Frazier, Olsen, Johnson-Scharpf Among Star Gymnasts To Sign NLIs

Frazier, Olsen, Johnson-Scharpf Among Star Gymnasts To Sign NLIs

A number of outstanding gymnasts signed an NLI during the early signing period. Here are some of the top signings for 2018-2019 so far.

Nov 15, 2017 by Lauren Green
Frazier, Olsen, Johnson-Scharpf Among Star Gymnasts To Sign NLIs

A number of outstanding gymnasts signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI) during the early signing period. Here are some of the top signings for 2018-2019 so far.

Sydney Johnson-Scharpf – Florida

Johnson-Scharpf has been on the elite scene since 2013 and is known for her sassy, fun floor routines. She competed at the Nastia Liukin SuperGirl Cup in 2013 where she finished second on balance beam and 23rd in the all-around. She missed the 2016 elite season due to injury and battled injuries and illness in 2017. She petitioned to nationals where she competed two very different floor routines and finished tied for fourth. She finished sixth in the all-around and fifth on floor exercise as a junior at the 2015 P&G championships.


Leah Clapper – Florida

Clapper competed at both the Junior Olympic and elite levels over the past several years. She was seventh in the all-around at the 2016 J.O. national championships where she also earned fourth on floor and fifth on beam. She made her senior elite debut in 2016 where she competed at the Secret U.S. Classic. Clapper was second in the all-around and third on floor and beam at the American Classic in July and competed at both the U.S. Classic and P&G national championships in the senior elite division.


Margzetta Frazier—UCLA

Frazier finished fifth in all-around at P&G championships in August and earned an invitation to worlds selection camp. Her standout event was uneven bars, in which she also finished fifth. Frazier will be a solid contributor for the Bruins on uneven bars, joining world medalists Kyla Ross and Madison Kocian. She was fourth in the all-around at the Secret U.S. Classic in 2016 and finished sixth on floor exercise in her senior debut.


Olivia Trautman – Oklahoma

Trautman made her senior elite debut in 2016 where she finished eighth on floor and vault at the Secret U.S. Classic and eighth on floor at nationals a month later. She’ll bring international experience as well having competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy competition as a junior international elite in 2015 where she helped the team to a gold medal. She will have a familiar face at Oklahoma when she gets there next year: Sooners standout Maggie Nichols. Trautman and Nichols were teammates at the club level at Twin City Twisters.


Derrian Gobourne – Auburn

Gobourne is a five-time J.O. national championships qualifier. She finished third on vault and fourth in the all-around at the 2017 J.O. nationals in the Senior C division. She is a three-time Florida state champion on vault and a two-time state all-around champion. She was the 2017 Region 8 uneven bars champion. She will be an excellent contributor to an Auburn team that has been on the rise the past several seasons and brings the ability to do a Yurchenko 1.5, which will start out of a 10.0 in the NCAA.

Video courtesy of Lakewood Ranch Gymnastics

Megan Roberts – Georgia

Roberts joins the GymDogs as the first class to sign under new coach Courtney Kupets Carter. She was an alternate for Team Canada at the Olympics in Rio last summer. She earned second in the all-around at Elite Canada in 2016 where she also earned third on floor and eighth on bars. She has some great tumbling and will contribute to the GymDogs lineup on floor. Roberts also competed at Gymnix earlier this year where she was the silver medalist on floor and was eighth on beam.


Rachael Lukacs – Georgia

Lukacs has been a standout on the Level 10 scene over the last several years. She won the 2016 Nastia Liukin Cup and was the runner-up in 2017. She was the 2016 J.O. national champion in the all-around and on vault and floor. She also picked up silver on beam and finished seventh on bars. She finished fourth in the all-around at the 2017 J.O. national championships and earned fifth on beam and floor and seventh on vault. She will be a huge contributor for the GymDogs on all four events, especially floor and vault. Her tumbling on floor included a sky-high double layout.


Shaylah Scott – Illinois

Scott is another strong Level 10 gymnast and was a member of the 2016 J.O. national team. She was the all-around and vault champion at the 2016 J.O. national championships. She swept the Region 3 titles with wins in the all-around and on all four events in 2016. She was the 2015 Region 3 and Texas state all-around champion. Scott has great tumbling combined with good amplitude on her leaps and jumps and will contribute on all four events for the Fighting Illini.


Abby Brenner – Michigan

Brenner is part of a strong four-member class for the Wolverines. She is a two-time qualifier to the Nastia Liukin Cup where she won silver on vault in 2016 and won the bars title in 2017. Brenner is a six-time J.O. national championships qualifier and has been on the J.O. national team four times. She was the 2017 J.O. national champion on uneven bars, floor exercise, and in the all-around. She is also a three-time national champion on floor (2014, 2016, and 2017). She will be contributing on all four events for the Wolverines.


Hunter Dula – Utah

Dula is a three-time J.O. national championship qualifier and competed at the 2016 Nastia Liukin Cup where she finished 12th overall. She finished 10th in the all-around at the 2017 J.O. national championships and was tied for 11th on uneven bars and balance beam. Dula earned second on floor and fourth on beam at the Region 1 championships in 2017. She was the 2017 Utah state champion in the all-around and on uneven bars, picked up second place on vault and beam, and finished third on floor.


Shallon Olsen – Alabama

Olsen was a member of Team Canada at the 2016 Olympics in Rio where she made the vault final. She also competed at the 2017 world championships in Montreal where she finished seventh on vault. Olsen earned the vault title at the 2017 City of Jesolo Trophy competition. She did not lose a vault title in 2016, her first year as a senior elite.  She helped Canada to a silver medal at the 2016 Pac-Rim Championships where she won vault and was third on floor. She’ll be a major contributor on vault for the Crimson Tide in her first season.

(Video courtesy of Elena Lang)

Emily Gaskins – Alabama

Gaskins has competed on the elite scene since 2013 when she made her debut at the Secret U.S. Classic. She finished fifth on floor and ninth in the all-around as a junior elite and finished 10th in the all-around at nationals a couple of weeks later. She finished in the top five on individual events at Classics and nationals in 2014, earning fourth on beam (Secret Classic) and fifth on vault (nationals). She made her senior debut at the 2016 Secret U.S. Classic where she finished seventh in the all-around. Gaskins finished sixth in the all-around at the U.S. Classic and seventh in the all-around at the P&G championships in 2017. She was invited to world selection camp following her performance at nationals.


Alexis Vasquez – Denver

Vasquez is a former junior elite who trained with Norah Flatley and Victoria Nguyen at Chow’s. She has beautiful lines on bars and beam but opted to retire from elite in 2015 before making her international debut. She was a two-time member of the U.S. junior national team and competed at U.S. nationals in 2013 and 2014. She was the national champion on beam in 2014 and finished third on beam in 2013. Vasquez will definitely be a solid contributor on beam for the Pioneers.


Jade Carey – Oregon State

Carey burst onto the elite scene in 2017 after a stellar Level 10 season.  She is a two-time world silver medalist after medaling on floor exercise and vault at the world championships in October. She won the vault title at both P&G championships and at the U.S. Classic this year. She also earned the floor exercise title at the U.S. Classic and was second on the event at nationals. She finished third in the all-around at the 2016 J.O. national championships where she also won the vault title and finished fourth on floor exercise.


All other videos courtesy of USA Gymnastics.