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.)
Grand Ledge Gymnastics: Drive for 5
February 2, 2012
GRAND LEDGE – Christine Wilson remembers losing. It’s something of a distant memory, but sticks with the Grand Ledge gymnastics team’s senior captain to this day.
“When I was a club gymnast, back when I was younger, I was never really good. So it’s not like I didn’t know how to lose,” Wilson said. “I’ve struggled unbelievably. But in high school, I just grew a lot. We’ve won every meet, and I’d like to keep it up.”
Nope, that’s not a typo or misquote. The Comets have won 68 straight meets, be they duals or multi-team events, including the last four MHSAA Finals. And with a line-up young but full of experience, they’re hoping to extend that streak through March 9, the date of this season’s MHSAA Team Final at Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills.
Only Ludington (1975-79) has won five straight MHSAA titles, and the final one of that run was shared. Grand Ledge and Holland (1994-97) both have won four straight over the history of the tournament.
The Comets will find out Saturday how they might stack up as contenders this March. After facing many of the Grand Rapids area’s top teams in winning last weekend’s Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills Invitational, Grand Ledge will head to the Canton Invitational for what lately has been the most competitive regular-season gymnastics meet in the state.
The Comets remain tough to beat, despite Wilson being the only senior in the starting line-up the team used Wednesday in a Capital Area Activities Conference win over Haslett/Williamston/Bath, another returning MHSAA Finalist from a year ago.
Granted, Wilson might be as valuable a leader as any team in Michigan can claim. She’s the reigning MHSAA Division 2 individual champion, and this season is competing in Division 1 with the aspiration of becoming – Comets coach Duane Haring believes – the first gymnast to win both Division 2 and then Division 1 individual titles.
But she’s also just one of four on her team who have posted all-around scores of at least 37.35 this winter. Sophomore Presley Allison and juniors Lauren Clark and Sara Peltier all have done the same after finishing third, eighth and 12th all-around at last season’s Division 2 Final.
A number of others also are contributing, led by sophomore Taylor Stevens and freshman Hailey French, who both have posted all-around scores pushing 34.
It’s something of the same old story for the team under the guidance of Haring, who after much cajoling from his gymnast daughter Allison and her teammates took over the program in 2002. They told him at the time that no one at Grand Ledge knew the gymnastics team existed, down to not having a trophy case of its own.
He led the Comets to their first MHSAA Team Final that season, and the team has been filling a new trophy case for a decade. He stepped away to work as an assistant coach at Michigan State from 2005-06, but returned for 2006-07 and that season brought Grand Ledge to within 1.625 points of its first MHSAA championship before the Comets started the incredible winning streak the next winter.
Haring meets with his team before the season in a room at the school, or sometimes they just sit in a hallway. He starts with, “We’ll, we’ve been pretty successful the last couple of years. Wherever you want to go this year is up to you.” If they want to do just a little gymnastics and have merely a decent season, he’s fine with that and will coach them to that level. But if they want to pursue another championship, it’s going to be tough and so will his coaching style.
They’ve always responded that they want to be the best they can.
“A couple of times the last couple of years, when we were dragging, I’d say, ‘Ladies, at the beginning of the year I asked you where you wanted to go, what your goals are. There’s no turning back now,’” Haring said. “I let them set the expectations. They’re not set by me.”
Expectations are high, but so is support. Former Comets’ standout Kelli Maxwell continues as an assistant, and a number of Grand Ledge gymnasts past are regulars helping out with other tasks or just cheering the team on.
The pressure is high too. No one wants to be on the team that breaks the streak. But so far that’s been more of a motivator than distraction.
“It’s really hard especially when you’re the only senior captain, going for the state title, and undefeated,” Wilson said. “If you’re that person who has a loss or who falls at the state competition, it’s a big burden.
“(But) I love all of it.”
PHOTOS courtesy of the Grand Ledge gymnastics program.
TOP: Comets junior Lauren Clark finished eighth at last season's Division 2 Individual Final and is among Grand Ledge's most experienced contributors this winter.
BELOW: Senior Christine Wilson is the reigning Division 2 individual champion and hopes to claim the Division 1 title next month.