Sullivan Wins Senior Women's Winter Cup; Early-Season Benchmark Set
Ashlee Sullivan captured the Winter Cup all-around title with 53.550, edging Jayla Hang (53.000) and Simone Rose (52.700). The meet opened the 2025 elite season at the Kentucky International Convention Center and served as a qualifier to the U.S. Championships.
Final Results — Senior Women (Top 6)
- Ashlee Sullivan 53.550
- Jayla Hang 53.000
- Simone Rose 52.700
- Tatum Drusch 52.550
- Nola Matthews 52.400
- Alicia Zhou 51.950
Event Titles
Vault: Zoey Molomo 13.725 (two-vault average)
Bars: Alicia Zhou 13.650
Beam: Claire Pease and Tatum Drusch 13.850
Floor: Nola Matthews 13.300; Sullivan and Hang shared silver with 13.050
What Drove the Win
Consistency and execution: Sullivan posted 13+ on all four events with no neutral deductions recorded on the scoresheet. That mistake-free profile lifted her above a tightly grouped field.
Vault and beam depth in the field: Hang delivered one of the night's biggest single-event scores on vault (14.050), while Drusch converted top-end beam difficulty into a share of the title.
Notable Returns and Debuts
Hezly Rivera made her first competitive appearance since Paris, focusing on uneven bars (12.950). Her targeted outing signaled a measured return to the elite calendar.
Context
Role of Winter Cup: The meet launches the domestic season, feeds directly into the 2025 U.S. Championships qualification pathway, and anchors a weekend that also includes the Nastia Liukin Cup and Elite Team Cup.
Venue and schedule: Competition ran Feb. 21–23 at the Kentucky International Convention Center with senior women on Saturday evening.
GIGA Take
1. Sullivan sets the early standard. A clean, four-event portfolio with podium-level floor and beam raises her AA baseline for spring assignments. Expect her to trend up as bars amplitude and landings harden.
2. Hang's power plus polish travels. A meet-best vault and shared floor silver reinforce a two-event core that can buoy AA totals when bars/beam hit mid-13s. She projects as a reliable 52–53+ early-season scorer.
3. Event value rising: bars and beam. Zhou's bars win and the Pease–Drusch beam tie show depth on precision events. That depth helps team-score models that need secure 13.5+ options beyond the headliners.
4. Rivera's runway. A single-apparatus return is a smart checkpoint. If her AA ramps by late spring, she re-enters the top-tier calculus with proven championship composure.
Key Takeaways
- Clean hits beat marginal difficulty in February. Sullivan's error-free slate separated a compact leaderboard.
- Power events moved medals. Vault and floor scoring created the largest single-event swings for Hang, Molomo, and Matthews.
- Depth broadened. Multiple clubs placed athletes in the 52–53 range, a positive signal for assignment flexibility through spring.
- Winter Cup remains a true season opener. It sets the selection narrative, provides film for apparatus strategy, and channels athletes toward the U.S. Championships.