It may be the quickest event in a gymnastics meet, but vault is far from simple.
Florida’s Kytra Hunter has found her place in vault history with her recent performances.
In the past two weeks, Hunter has scored back-to-back 10s on vault. Hunter is one of two gymnasts in the country who have scored a 10 on vault this season.
“Kytra, you know she’s just full of natural power and talent,” coach Rhonda Faehn said.
“She is one of, if not the best, I think, vaulter in the country.”
Hunter’s two 10s on vault are the sixth and seventh 10s on vault in program history.
The junior said she is comfortable with her routine, though she is the only Gator on the roster competing it.
Hunter has owned a Yurchenko layout with a one-and-a-half twist during her entire college career, but UF is not the first place she debuted her vault.
The past two years, the highest score Hunter has achieved with her vault routine was a 9.975 on multiple occasions.
“I’ve been so close to getting the 10, I’m just glad that I finally got it on vault, especially,” Hunter said.
“This year, I just feel a lot more relaxed. I’ve definitely been working on the little things like the stuck landings.”
Hunter’s routine includes a run, 25-foot hurdle line into a roundoff, followed by a back handspring onto the horse.
Once she blocks off the horse, she completes her challenging one-and-a-half twist onto the mat.
She estimates all of this takes her about 20 seconds to complete.
“For vault, definitely just been working on blocking it a lot higher and twisting a lot quicker so I can see the floor when I land,” Hunter said. “The spotting is a lot different than the full because I’m doing the extra half.”
The rest of the Gators in the Florida lineup — excluding Morgan Frazier — also perform a Yurchenko layout with a full twist for their vaults. Frazier performs a Yurchenko layout with a half twist, but the sophomore has not competed in any event so far this season.
Frazier exhibitioned her vault once during her freshman campaign and scored a 9.475.
Faehn believes the increased difficulty of Hunter’s routine sets her apart from not just her teammates, but from most other NCAA gymnasts as well.
“She’s doing a Yurchenko one and a half,” Faehn said. “There’s maybe only a handful of gymnasts doing that collegiately simply because it’s more difficult and the risk involved because it’s a blind landing.”
Because of the increased visibility issue, Hunter focuses on the floor throughout her entire vault routine.
“What’s so different about my vault from everyone else’s is I definitely spot the floor the whole time,” Hunter said.
In vault, deductions are taken for technical errors in how the gymnast approaches the horse and after in the flight from the horse to the point of landing.
More deductions come from the second category because that is where the gymnasts are doing their flips and turns before attempting to stick a landing — another place where they could possibly see a deduction.
Hunter feels her toughest challenge competing vault is spotting the floor when she’s twisting off the horse and into her dismount.
“When I run, I don’t think about it but once I hurdle into my round off all I think,” Hunter said.
“All I say to myself is, ‘Reach back, block and twist.’ Those are like the only three key words I give to myself.”
Follow Erica A. Hernandez on Twitter @EricaAlyssa
Kytra Hunter performs a vault routine during Florida’s 197.525-196.025 win against Arkansas on Feb. 14 in the O’Connell Center.
