High rise prize: Local gymnast earns coveted berth in Liukin Cup

Bartlesville Gymnastic Club’s Raynie Ketcher qualifies for Nastia Liukin Cup competition in Louisville, Ky. later this month.

PHOTO PROVIDED

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By Mike Tupa
February 3, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT

In its nearly 60-year run, the historic Bartlesville Gymnastics Club — formerly known as the Phillips 66 Gymnastics Club — has produced a bumper crop of top-notch high school-aged and college leotard equilibrist greats.

But among all the hundreds of precision-tuned, flexible dynamos to wear the BGC colors, none has ever achieved what Raynie Ketcher did this past weekend (Jan. 31-Feb. 1).

BGC Executive Director Lorrie Bertolet — whose association with the club goes back many decades to her years as a competitor — was unashamedly in tears Saturday when she reported that Raynie Ketcher has qualified for Nastia Liukin Cup competition.

The nationally-premier event is scheduled for Feb. 23 in Louisville, Ky.

Ketcher is the first-ever BGC/P66GC athlete to qualify for this five-star encounter, named for Liukin, a former American gymnast that won the 2008 Olympic All-Around championship and five Olympic medals.

Ketcher earned her spot in the Nastia Cup by finishing first All-Around (Level 10, Junior Division) at this weekend’s Circle of Stars Gymnastics Invitational in Indianapolis, Ind.

Ketcher tallied 38.225 All-Around points, which included placing first in all four individual events (vault, 9.475; uneven bars, 9.575; balance beam, 9.5; and floor exercise, 9.675).

The Indianapolis competition is one of the few Nastia Cup Series qualifiers in the nation. 

The annual cup competition extends back to 2009, as a showcase for the nation’s top Junior Olympic gymnasts and as a fundraiser for a charitable fund.

Back in 2021, Ketchum received a prestigious invitation to the 2021 Developmental Invite in Indiana.

Interestingly, Liukin’s career path as a young gymnast intersected with a major competition hosted by Bartlesville.