Champs Prevail in Dominating Fashion
March 11, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
CANTON – Brighton senior Courtney Casper packed an eventful final month into her only season of high school gymnastics.
An accomplished club competitor, Casper joined the Bulldogs’ team this winter – and Saturday at Plymouth High School added an MHSAA Division 1 title to league and Regional championships she’d won over the last few weeks.
Casper scored an all-around 37.975 to edge Rockford senior Nicole Coughlin by 75 hundredths of a point in the most dominant Division 1 Finals performance since Grand Ledge’s Meghan McWhorter also won all-around and three individual apparatuses in 2008.
Casper tied senior teammate Hannah Bracken to win vault (9.700), and also took first on uneven parallel bars (9.650) and floor exercise (9.775).
“It’s really exciting because it was my first year on high school, and I couldn’t have finished any better than I did,” Casper said. “It was a lot less pressure for me (than club), so it was kinda just more for fun.”
Casper tied for second, with Coughlin, at the prestigious Canton Invitational at the start of February. That meet frequently is an indicator of which gymnasts will contend for MHSAA titles a month later, and Casper managed her high standing despite falling twice that day.
She said she was most proud of her floor routine Saturday, and for good reason – her score tied for third-highest in Division 1 Finals history. Her vault score tied for 15th highest on the MHSAA Finals record book list for that event.
Coughlin, who finished fifth and third, respectively, over the previous two seasons, won balance beam with a 9.500. A day after leading Rockford to its third straight team championship, Coughlin capped her high school career with a personal-best all-around score of 37.900. The beam championship also was her second straight on that apparatus.
She and Casper finished seven tenths of a point better than the rest of the field.
“I was just really proud of our team still from (Friday), so we just tried to carry that same energy into today,” Coughlin said. “I just wanted to come in and hit all four routines, and I did, so I’m super proud of that.”
Port Huron sophomore Brianne Smith placed third, up from 12th her first season, and Grand Rapids Forest Hills United senior Christine Byam was fourth in Division 1 after taking sixth a year ago. Nicole’s twin Carly Coughlin finished fifth, and Grosse Pointe United senior Isabelle Nguyen came in sixth to go with her previous Division 1 finishes of fifth, second and second during her first three seasons of high school.
In Division 2, Farmington United junior Elisa Bills took the next step after missing out on the 2016 championship by only three tenths of a point.
Competing in part against a Farmington lineup filled with strong Division 2 teammates, Bills hadn’t finished first in an all-around competition this winter. But she got her first place when it counted most, scoring a 37.550, which tied for fifth-highest in Division 2 Finals history.
She won vault (9.575), beam (9.400) and floor (9.525). Her bars score tied for sixth and her floor score tied for 12th in Division 2 Finals history. She was the first Division 2 gymnast to win all-around and three apparatuses since Troy Athens’ Brooke Madzia in 2009.
“All the hard work paid off, throughout the whole year, just going hard and staying in the game throughout the whole day,” Bills said. “Even if there was one fall, or one bobble, you just had to keep positive throughout the whole day and go hard and give it your all.”
Bills’ all-around score would’ve placed third in Division 1 and cleared the field by 0.825 points. Howell senior Alyssa Walker (36.725) and Livonia Blue senior Jessica Weak (36.675) finished second and third all-around, respectively. Both of their scores were high enough to also make the MHSAA Finals record book for Division 2. Weak also repeated as bars champion with a score of 9.325, three tenths of a point higher than her winning score in 2016.
PHOTOS: (Top) Brighton’s Courtney Casper performs her floor routine during Saturday’s Finals at Plymouth High School. (Middle) Rockford’s Nicole Coughlin, on beam Saturday, finished second in Division 1. (Below) Farmington’s Elisa Bills also performs on floor on the way to winning the Division 2 title. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Comets Vault to Record 6th MHSAA Title
March 8, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
CANTON – Grand Ledge’s gymnasts knew what was at stake as they warmed up for their last rotation of the MHSAA Team Final on Friday.
And they realized how much more would be lost if they didn’t rally one more time this season.
A streak of 92 straight victories over nearly six years had to weigh heavily upon their shoulders. Not that anyone at Plymouth High School could tell from the way the Comets vaulted to finish their run at a sixth-straight MHSAA title.
With Canton – runner-up the last two seasons – waiting to move up if Grand Ledge erred, seniors Lauren Clark and Sara Peltier came back from falls during warm-ups to land vaults of 9.6 and 9.525, respectively. Instead of falling back, the Comets nearly tripled their 1.375-point lead to finish with a score 149.350 and another championship.
“We knew we all had to nail vault to be able to win. We knew we all had to land on our feet,” Clark said. “We knew it was tight, but we still knew we could do it. So I think during vault warm-ups, we kept our heads together, talked calm. We knew what we had to do.”
And the Comets have done more than any gymnastics program in MHSAA history.
Grand Ledge became the first to win six straight titles after coming into this season tied with Ludington’s 1975-79 teams for the longest Finals win streak.
With their sixth-straight Division 1 individual champion graduated last spring, and three freshmen entering the lineup this winter, this was the season the Comets were supposed to be nervous.
Instead, they won this Final by their largest margin of the six.
“Our other ones, we had kids who came in with pretty good experience. All we did was up their values so they would score better,” Grand Ledge coach Duane Haring said. “This year we put three freshmen out there. To put freshmen out there to score well, especially against teams like Canton, Farmington, Rockford … I wasn’t sure what we were going to do. I was hoping to get 149s, but that was my goal. I wasn’t sure it was going to be possible.”
But he knew his team would be strong on floor. And he knew they could vault.
Grand Ledge finished first on all four apparatuses Friday, but by more than a point on those two – placing 1.425 better than the field on vault with a score of 37.975, and 1.375 better than the rest on floor with a score of 38.300.
Peltier – last season’s Division 2 individual champion – had the high all-around score Friday among those who competed in all four events, with a 38.250. Junior Presley Allison was right behind with a 38.000, followed by freshman Rachel Hogan at 37.250 and Clark at 35.850.
Neither senior experienced a team loss during their high school careers.
“We were really relaxed; last year we were pretty stressed,” Peltier said. “We just knew if we tried our best, everything would be fine.
“It was a great goal, and we achieved our goal, and we all feel really completed.”
In finishing runner-up for the third straight season, Canton put up a courageous effort despite falls on beam and bars.
At the end of Jocelyn Moraw’s bars routine, coach John Cunningham leaned in close and told her he was proud of his standout sophomore – who competed with a painfully strained hamstring and a sore back.
Still, she finished with an all-around score of 36.500 to follow up junior teammate Melissa Green’s 37.100. Junior Erica Lucas posted a 35.725.
“You can’t say that they didn’t gut it out and do the best they could,” Cunningham said. “We just didn’t have a great meet. You can’t (fall) if you want to beat Grand Ledge; they’re just that good."
Canton’s season could be next, as only senior Nicole Lasecki graduates from a team that had two freshmen and two sophomores compete Friday, and had two more freshmen who didn't but regularly have broken 9.0 this season.
Grand Ledge will have a challenge ahead, with the one-two captain punch of Clark and Peltier gone.
“They can do it again if they all just stay together, do what we did this year, and keep their confidence level up and their heads held up high,” Clark said. “They’re a great group of girls, even without me and Sara. And the juniors this year will be great captains next year.”
Canton finished with a team score of 145.750, followed by Farmington’s 141.475. Junior Meredith Jonik scored 36.000 all-around and freshman Carina Wright scored 35.975 for Farmington. Freshman Morgan Korf scored a 36.650 to lead fourth-place Rockford/Sparta.
PHOTOS: Seniors Sara Peltier (left holding trophy) and Lauren Clark (right holding trophy) captained Grand Ledge's sixth-straight championship team this season. (Middle) Comets junior Presley Allison posted an all-around score of 38.000 on Friday. (Bottom) Canton freshman Maddie Toal scored a 9.475 on beam for the runner-up Chiefs. (Photos by Gregory Long. Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)