Escanaba Vaults Into Historic Opportunity

By John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com

February 20, 2020

ESCANABA – The Escanaba gymnasts will enter uncharted territory March 7 when they make their first Regional appearance as a team at Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills.

The Eskymos qualified Jan. 10 by winning a triangular meet at Marquette with 120.7 points, meeting the MHSAA requirement of scoring more than 120 for the fourth time this season.

"It's awesome," said head coach Theresa Pascoe. "The coaches and girls are very excited because we're part of the program's history.

“Last year we had the skill and depth. We scored 119 on three occasions, but a couple things didn't quite go our way. We knew from last year that we still had the skill and depth."

Four of the team's nine gymnasts will compete in all-around: senior Maddie Block, junior Abbie Derouin and sophomores Caitlyn Davenport and Lizzy Sliva.

"I feel accomplished because we were so close last year," said Derouin. "It was a relief to find out we qualified. I needed to get an 8.5 on (uneven) bars to get the qualifying score and I got 8.6. The hardest part was waiting for the results. I was praying we'd get it and get that out of our way. It was a big sigh of relief to know we qualified.

“This is a big difference from last year. We're so much stronger this year because we know what to expect."

Davenport also was thrilled to learn the team had qualified.

"It was really surprising and exciting," she said. "We've never done this before at Esky. Everybody was so positive in practice after we got our fourth qualifying score. We were glad to get it done because then we could just work on higher routines. If we mess up, there's more margin for error.

“It feels like it will be more fun because there will so much support from our whole team. The competition downstate is definitely a lot harder, but with more difficulty in our routines we've been able to gain on them a little."

Senior Jasmine Clark will compete on balance beam, with classmate Sophie Slight on vault. Joining them are sophomores Haley Garcia (floor exercise) and Lexi Peippo (bars). Freshman Marissa Onate, who also swims for Gladstone through a co-op venture, will travel with the team as a manager.

"It's exciting being part of something that's good for the school and our coach," said Clark. "I went to the Regionals as an individual (entrant) last year. It will be nice to have all my teammates there this time."

The Eskymos received their first qualifying score Dec. 11 in a 123.65-95.6 victory at home over Negaunee.

"Our first two meets got us set up," said Pascoe. "We scored 113 at Tecumseh and 116 the next day (near Ann Arbor). I think that made us realize that it was possible to make it to Regionals. We had 14 falls on beam in our first meet. We had never been to Tecumseh and performed in very cramped quarters. All the schools have pretty much the same equipment, but everything is different at each school.

"When we scored 123.65 against Negaunee, it made the girls realize it was going to happen this year. We scored as high as 127 and know our potential is now above 120. Our goal is to score 127-130 at Regionals."

After winning at Marquette, the Eskymos competed at Valders and Antigo, Wis., where they scored 114.475 and 117.2 points, respectively.

"They tend to give higher scores downstate than in Wisconsin," said Clark. "In Wisconsin, they really score tight. It was a little harder getting low scores on floor, but a little more encouraging to get higher scores downstate."

Davenport believes the team did well in Wisconsin despite the lower scores.

"The scores were discouraging at times, but they gave us some good critiques which helped us downstate," said Davenport, who qualified for the Regional as an individual entrant a year ago. "I want to make it to the states again and get a higher team score.

“We've got to have some goals. We're just really excited to be going and so proud of what we've accomplished."

Pascoe said that while teams can enter as many as five gymnasts in each event, she decided to give everybody a chance to compete.

"We want to do this as a team," she added. "We qualified as a team, and we're going as a team."

John Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

PHOTOS: (Top) Escanaba’s Maddie Block vaults during this season’s Elks Invitational in December. (Middle) Teammate Abbie Derouin sticks her landing from the uneven bars during a meet against Marquette. (Photos courtesy of the Escanaba Daily Press.)

Rebuilt Rockford Completes 3-Peat Run

March 10, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

CANTON – That Rockford’s gymnastics team began this season in rebuilding mode was hard to fathom as the Rams raised a third straight MHSAA championship trophy Friday night at Plymouth High School.

But this latest celebration was as much a testament to how far they’d come as to what they accomplished again this season.

Rockford entered this winter minus a trio of Division 1 standouts who helped turn the team into a powerhouse the last few seasons but graduated last spring.

On Friday, the Rams had only senior sisters Nicole and Carly Coughlin compete on all four apparatuses, but received scores from six gymnasts as eight competed in at least one event. That team effort was enough to land Rockford 0.525 of a point clear of runner-up Canton with a winning score of 145.300.

“We lost a lot of our good seniors last year, and we had a ton of good freshmen coming in, so we didn’t really know what to expect,” Nicole Coughlin said. “But I’m so happy with what we did today. We had to work a ton for it this year; the other two years we had strong seniors, we knew we were contenders for it. But really we had to build up from really nothing this year.”

Just two seasons ago, the Coughlins and teammate Kaitie Killinger were sophomores contributing to a Rockford/Sparta co-op team looking to win the program’s first championship since 1989.

Rockford on Friday became the fourth Lower Peninsula team since the beginning of MHSAA Finals in the sport in 1972 to win at least three straight championships, joining Ludington from 1975-79, Holland from 1994-97, Tri-Farmington from 2004-06 and Grand Ledge from 2008-13.

Nicole Coughlin’s 37.250 all-around score Friday ranked third at the meet, and Carly ranked fifth with a 36.725. Killinger and freshmen Morgan Case and Ashley Faulkner all posted scores of 9.0 or higher on at least one apparatus, and sophomore Chantel Lokers also contributed a score tying for the team’s fourth-best on bars.

Only a month ago, the Rams were searching for consistency, disappointed after a close win over a local rival that served as a wake-up call. Practices became more focused, technique more crisp and daily performances more consistent.

Rockford posted the state’s top Regional score of 147.800 last weekend.

“We had a strong team from the beginning, but we have slowly built all season long and we just happened to peak at the right time,” Rockford coach Alyssa Burke said. “They had a lot of pressure on them this year. From the first meet, it was constant ‘Oh, are they going to three-peat?’ We just told them we’re a different team this year, we’re a rebuilding team, and we’re going to go and do our best every meet and hopefully slowly build and get better all season – and hopefully three-peat, and if we don’t still have a great season.

“We really did all we could. Whether we won or lost, we were just proud that we’d done our best.”

Annual contender Canton pushed the Rams as far as possible, however. After both had finished beam, floor and vault, the Chiefs trailed by 2.325 points. Rockford went first on bars and scored 34.850. But although Canton posted the day’s highest bars score of 35.725, it wasn’t enough to make up the entire deficit.

Rockford’s floor (37.525) and vault (36.900) were the highest scoring of the meet.

But Canton couldn’t be disappointed. After finishing first or second every season from 2011-15, the Chiefs slid to fifth at last season’s Final.

“Our mantra this week was, ‘Girls, can you win?’ And last year it was, ‘Well, I don’t know’ and they ended up fifth just because they didn’t have the attitude,” Canton coach John Cunningham said. “This year, they went, ‘Well, maybe we could win.’ Well, (our coaches) have said all along, you guys could be state champs. Give or take six tenths … we could definitely be state champs.”

Senior Jana Hilditch posted the seventh highest all-around score of 36.425 for Canton, and teammates Kelsea Kernosek (35.725) and Victoria Faber (35.550) also competed all-around for the Chiefs.

Grand Rapids Forest Hills senior Christine Byam totaled the day’s highest all-around score of 37.500 as her team finished sixth. Senior Courtney Casper had the second-highest all-around (37.450) in leading Brighton to a third-place finish, up from 11th last season and its best since also finishing third in 2005.

Click for full results.

PHOTOS: (Top) Rockford coach Alyssa Burke (right) embraces one of her gymnasts after the team's final rotation Friday. (Middle) A Rams gymnast performs on bars. (Below) A Canton gymnast performs her beam routine. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)