2023 Winter Cup: Lexi Zeiss tops senior women’s field, dedicates meet to Twin City Twisters teammate battling Leukemia

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Just four months removed from her stint as the alternate of the U.S. women’s world team, Lexi Zeiss is the 2023 Winter Cup senior women’s all-around champion.

Zeiss was the only athlete in the field to score above 13.000 across all apparatus and the only athlete to break the 53 mark in the all-around, capped off by a 13.500 on bars – the fourth-best score of the day – in the final rotation.

“I was pretty shocked to look up and see [the leaderboard], because I definitely didn’t believe that it was going to happen. The goal coming in was just to throw in some new upgrades, see what stuck, see what didn’t, and [I’m] just happy with how it went,” Zeiss told Gymnastics Now after the meet.

Back in October, the LSU commit was the alternate for the U.S. team that won gold at the world championships in Liverpool, England, but with three of her world teammates competing in NCAA, Shilese Jones (Ascend) not competing, and Skye Blakely (WOGA) opting to only do uneven bars and beam, Zeiss had some of the highest difficulty and the most elite experience of the all-arounders. All she had to do was execute.

The 17-year-old started her meet on beam, where she hit her back handspring mount and only had one major balance check throughout the set, earning a 13.100. On floor, Zeiss opened with a double layout, 2.5 through to front pike, a hard fought triple wolf turn, and a closing 1.5 twist through to double back that went OOB (13.150). In a field of mostly Yurchenko fulls and 1.5s, Zeiss executed her double-twisting Yurchenko well to earn a 13.450 on vault. In the final rotation, she hit her uneven bars set consisting of a toe 1/1 to Pak salto, Maloney to Gienger, Ezhova, Van Leeuwen, and full-twisting double back dismount to cap off her day.

“My whole floor routine is brand new,” Zeiss said. “I’ve been working double lay for years, so I was just happy to put that in, and I started working 1.5 stepouts to twisting, and we were like, ‘Oh, what if you just put in a double tuck.’ So definitely came about on an accident, but we’re happy about it.”

While the Winter Cup title is certainly a feather in Zeiss’ cap, this is only the beginning of the long and tedious elite season. This spring will be heavy on international assignments, with Zeiss likely to represent Team USA overseas, and then the season continues through worlds in October – Zeiss and every other elite athlete’s ultimate goal for the year.

That’s seven more months of training and pacing herself with the hope of making another world team and getting to actually compete this time.

“There’s things that can be better, but it’s a great first meet of the season,” Zeiss said.

Rounding out the all-around podium were silver medalist Ashlee Sullivan (WOGA) with a 52.750 all-around total and bronze medalist Nola Matthews (Airborne) with a 52.600.

Blakely won the beam title with a 13.400 despite a few errors. World Champions’ Joscelyn Roberson took the vault title with an average of 13.750 for her half-on, front full and double-twisting Yurchenko. Roberson’s teammate, Zoe Miller, topped the field on uneven bars with a 13.900, and Blakely’s WOGA teammate Kaliya Lincoln won floor with a 13.600.

Did it for Brax

Zeiss and her Twin City Twisters teammates were sporting gear this week that said “Team Brax”. It’s a tribute to Braxton “Brax” Battaglia – an 13-year-old TCT gymnast who has been fighting Leukemia since 2019.

After initially beating the disease, Brax relapsed with the same type of Leukemia as her initial diagnosis in November 2022. The good news is there was no cancer found in her Central Nervous System (CNS), which was there during her initial diagnosis. But she has been in and out of the hospital ever since.

“We really dedicated this whole meet to her, just because she’s not able to compete,” Zeiss explained. “Every time we got up on the events, it was only for her, not for us. We’re here for her and cheering her on and praying for her.”

The TCT was sporting “Team Brax” training leos, warmups, and other gear that was also sent to Brax.

Brax posted on social media, wishing the TCT contingent good luck, and after the meet, Zeiss’ coach, Sarah Jantzi, showed GymNow a video of Brax congratulating all of the gymnasts on a job well done and sending her love to them from home.

You can read more of Brax’s story and find out how to support her here.