Veronica "Nica" Hults (born June 16, 1998) is an American artistic gymnast. She is a former national team member.

Personal life

Veronica was born in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

and was raised by mother Emer and father Scott Hults. She has two younger siblings, John and Sofia. Nica is in 11th grade at the online school Laurel Springs, graduating in 2016. Following graduation from high school, she will compete for the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

gymnastics team. She currently lives in Coppell,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Junior career

2010

In 2010, Hults competed as a Level 9 gymnast and trained at

All Olympia Gymnastics Center The All Olympia Gymnastics Center or AOGC is a one-facility gymnastics gym in Calabasas. The head coaches are 1983 World Vault Champion Artur Akopyan and 1980 Olympian Galina Marinova. Their notable elite gymnasts are 2012 Olympic Champion McKa ...

under Artur Akopyan. She was the Level 9 State Floor Champion and the Western National Floor Champion. Later that year, she relocated to

with her family and began training at

Texas Dreams Gymnastics Texas Dreams Gymnastics is a gymnastics training facility located in Coppell, Texas. It is owned by 1991 world champion and 1992 Olympics bronze medalist Kim Zmeskal-Burdette. History Texas Dreams opened on November 26, 2001, and has produced ...

2011

Hults began her competitive season at the WOGA Classic Elite Qualifier, where she won the balance beam title. Later that year, she traveled to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

to compete at the Disney Elite Qualifier and managed to qualify to Junior International Elite status, finishing 5th with a total score of 52.100. She competed at the

U.S. Classic The U.S. Classic is an annual summer gymnastics meet for elite artistic gymnasts of the United States. The meet occurs before Nationals and is a qualifier for it. In Olympic years, the aforementioned meets along with the U.S. Olympic Trials are u ...

, placing 13th. This was sufficient to qualify to the

USA Gymnastics National Championships The USA Gymnastics National Championships is the annual artistic gymnastics national competition held in the United States for elite-level competition. It is currently organized by USA Gymnastics, the governing body for gymnastics in the United Stat ...

, where she competed on the uneven bars and the balance beam.

2012

Hults placed 8th at the Secret U.S. Classic again qualifying to the National Championships, where she placed 9th with a combined 2-day score of 107.600.

2013

At the Secret U.S. Classic, Hults won the gold medals on the uneven bars and the balance beam, as well as the bronze medal in the all-around competition. At the National Championships, her sixth-place finish (cumulative score of 111.900) secured her a berth on the U.S. Junior National Team. Hults made her international debut at the 2013 Mexico Open in Acapulco, where she won the gold medal with teammates

Bailie Key Bailie Jaye Key (born 16 March 1999) is a retired American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the gold-medal-winning team at the 2014 Pacific Rim Championships and was the 2013 U.S. Junior National Champion. Gymnastics career 2011-14: J ...

Laurie Hernandez Lauren Zoe Hernandez (born June 9, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast. During her debut year as a senior gymnast, she competed as a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team dubbed the " Final Five" at the 2016 Summer Olympics; Ultimately, ...

, and Emily Gaskins and placed first on the uneven bars.

Senior career

2014

Hults' senior debut came in 2014. Veronica competed on uneven bars only at the 2014 Secret U.S. Classic, placing 6th on that event and 15th overall. Following her competition at the 2014 P&G Championships, Hults didn't make the U.S. National Team but was invited to the 2014 Worlds selection camp. She was not selected for the team.

2015–16: Elite hiatus and transfer to Level 10

Hults didn't compete during the 2015 season, at all; the result of injuries. In January 2016, she competed Level 10 at her gym's local invitational.

References

External links

The Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hults, Veronica Living people 1998 births American female artistic gymnasts Sportspeople from Honolulu American sportspeople of Filipino descent U.S. women's national team gymnasts 21st-century American women