INDIANAPOLIS, May 9, 2021 – Laura Zeng of Libertyville, Ill./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center posted her highest all-around score of the 2021 Rhythmic World Cup Series to claim her second top-ten finish. Zeng’s 91.500 landed her ninth at the Baku (Azerbaijan) World Cup over the weekend. Evita Griskenas of Orland Park, Ill./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center finished 23rd with an 84.450 – also a season high.

Zeng held steady in ninth place after Day 1. She was 10th on clubs (23.900), making her the second reserve for Sunday’s apparatus final, and finished 19th on ribbon with a 19.750, adding to her 23.800 on hoop and 24.050 on ball. Zeng’s qualifying hoop score earned her a spot in the apparatus final, where she finished sixth with a 24.450. Griskenas posted a 19.650 on clubs and 19.375 on ribbon after tallying a 22.525 on hoop and 22.900 on ball on Day 1.

Russia’s Daria Trubnikova took the individual all-around title with a 98.800. Runner-up Boryana Kaleyn of Bulgaria earned the high score on clubs on Day 2 with a 27.050, while Alina Harnasko of Belarus led the way on ribbon with a 22.500. In Sunday’s hoop final, Israel’s Linoy Ashram topped the field with a 27.150.

The Senior National Group, comprised of Izzy Connor of Manhattan Beach, Calif., Camilla Feeley of Wheeling, Ill., Liza Merenzon of Buffalo Grove, Ill., Lili Mizuno of Northbrook, Ill., Elizaveta Pletneva of Wheeling, Ill., and Nicole Sladkov of Vernon Hills, Ill. – all of North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center – added to their 31.600 in the five ball competition. The group earned a 32.650 in the three hoop and two pairs of clubs competition to finish fourteenth with a 64.250 in their first international competition of 2021. Bulgaria took the top spot with an 88.150.

The next Rhythmic World Cup Series competition will take place May 28-30 in Pesaro, Italy.