Finals: Comets Reach Record Heights
March 9, 2012
GRAND RAPIDS – Grand Ledge faced a possibility Friday at Kenowa Hills High School that none of its gymnasts had known before.
No gymnast on the team had experienced a high school loss. But the Comets were coming off a frustrating performance on their best apparatus, vault, and needed a strong finish to push its MHSAA team championship streak to five.
Senior Christine Wilson knew she’d do her share. But that would be the easy part.
“I’ve been doing the routines for so long now, I knew I had it. But the hard part was getting the girls to believe that they could do it. That was my job, just to get them going again,” the Comets’ lone senior said. “Because I know, after vault, and you’re behind, it’s really hard to pull yourself together when you’re under that much stress.
“Going for five, who does that?”
Grand Ledge went for it on the uneven parallel bars – and got it all. The Comets posted the meet’s top score on that apparatus – 37.325 – to finish with a score of 149.400 and edge Canton by 0.825 points to claim their fifth MHSAA championship. Kenowa Hills/Grandville finished third with 145.10.
“I can’t even describe how proud I am of them,” Wilson said of her teammates. “Every day it’s the same thing, same thing, same thing. It’s this moment. If you don’t put it together, you don’t got it.
“I basically told them we’re so much better than what we just did, and we’ve got to show everyone we can do it. You’ve got to start believing in yourself. Everyone else out here believes in you, but if you don’t believe in yourself, it’s not going to happen.”
The fifth-straight title ties a record held by Ludington (1975-79, although Ludington was co-champion in 1979). It’s fair to believe that the Comets’ 75-event winning streak – counting both duals and invitationals – also is the longest in MHSAA gymnastics history. The last time Grand Ledge took the mat and didn’t finish first was at the 2007 MHSAA Final, when the Comets finished runner-up.
Wilson is the reigning Division 2 individual champion and favored today to win Division 1. Her all-around score of 38.650 on Friday was the Team Final’s highest. Three others posted scores above 36 – juniors Sara Peltier (36.025) and Lauren Clark (36.575) and sophomore Presley Allison (36.90) – and freshman Hailey French turned in a strong 34.925. The score of 149.400 was good for fourth in MHSAA Finals history and the team’s third-best during this five-season run.
It’s not like Grand Ledge totally failed on the vault. Its score of 37.050 was the second-best on that apparatus at the meet. But Canton had scored two tenths of a point more – a healthy amount in what was shaping up to be a close race at the top.
Wilson pulled her teammates into the hallway. She told them to believe. Grand Ledge coach Duane Haring followed with a little bit more of a fiery speech – one among many Wilson said she’ll always remember.
“I was sitting with the parents, and I told them I was really angry because … I think we’re the best vault team in the state. And they didn’t do it,” Haring said. “I just had to go for a walk because I can’t talk to them right now. I started to walk away, and I thought, ‘Oh yes I can.’ … Trust me; they were wide awake for bars. They understood.
“I knew they could do it. All year I’ve waited for them to do bars like that.”
Wilson scored a 9.8 on bars. But the key was Peltier – which scored a 9.7 and landed her dismount for just the second time in competition this season (and Wilson called the first time she’d landed it “lucky”).
Had Peltier missed her landing, it would’ve cost her seven tenths of a point. Add in another error, and that might’ve been enough to lose the lead.
“I felt pressured at first. But when all the girls started pulling it together and landing their dismounts, I didn’t feel as pressured,” Peltier said. “I knew we needed to do as well as we could, but I didn’t realize that it would make that big of an impact on whether we won or not.”
Canton also finished runner-up last season. But coach John Cunningham – who has coached the sport at the high school level since 1968 and at Canton since 1979 – called this team one of his most surprising.
The Chiefs graduated six strong gymnasts after last season, including two school record holders. But this team broke the school's 2004 scoring record with a 149.10. Senior Ayana Lewis broke two event and the all-around records, including two that had stood since 1995.
“They were shockingly good. They didn’t get (just) a little bit better,” Cunningham said. “Everybody has just improved so much. When you have routines when the fifth score is a 9.0 and you can throw it out, and we’ve done that a bunch, it just shocks me.”
Freshman Joselyn Moraw had an all-around 37.650 to lead Canton on Friday. Sophomore Melissa Green had a 36.90 and Lewis had a 36.350. She’ll compete today in Division 1 – after finishing runner-up in Division 2 last season – but is one of just two seniors.
“It’s frustrating, yes. But you never know what could happen next year,” Lewis said. “It might be our year. Every year we step up one more. We get better one year after the next. I have really good hopes for next year.”
Senior Taylor Tepper scored an all-around 38.225 for Kenowa Hills/Grandville. Senior Alyssa Bresso had a 38.150 for fifth-place Farmington, and senior Chloe Presley had a 38.250 for sixth-place Highland-Milford.
Click for full results, and click for more photos from High School Sports Scene. Click for Individual Finals results.
Performance: Farmington United's Elena Vargo
February 7, 2020
Elena Vargo
Farmington United senior - Gymnastics
The reigning MHSAA Division 1 Finals champion continued her undefeated run through high school gymnastics by finishing first in the all-around competition and leading Farmington United to the team title at Saturday’s Canton Invitational, which again featured the majority of the state’s top teams. Vargo scored a 36.950 to edge 2017 Division 1 Finals champion Cate Gagnier of Grosse Pointe United by two tenths of a point, earning the MHSAA “Performance of the Week.”
Vargo had reached the club gymnastics Level 9 and was on a track to compete collegiately, but decided before her junior year to instead focus on academics as part of the Farmington district’s International Baccalaureate program. A student then at Farmington Hills Harrison before it closed last spring, she joined a Farmington United team featuring five seniors and helped it repeat as MHSAA team champion before then winning the Division 1 title the following day. Now a student at Farmington High, she has finished first in every all-around competition during her two seasons at the high school level. At Canton, she just missed a perfect score on vault with a 9.9 and also was first on floor exercise (9.6), seventh on uneven parallel bars (8.875) and 17th on balance beam (8.575). Farmington United is a much younger team this winter with a number of freshman contributors, but posted a team score of 143.675 to outpace runner-up Rockford’s 142.559 and third-place Livonia Blue’s 140.25.
Although Vargo switched to high school gymnastics to free up more time for her studies, there’s no arguing she doesn’t maintain a packed schedule. She carries a 4.0 grade-point average while taking the advanced curriculum and also plays violin in the school orchestra and with her mother Sandra, a middle school orchestra teacher in the district. Additionally, Elena has built a jewelry business where she sells her creations and is a two-time Miss Farmington pageant runner-up. She is considering studying at University of Michigan or Miami University of Ohio, and also is awaiting replies from a pair of Ivy League schools. She’ll base what she studies in part on where she attends college – she would like to major in something in the sciences and potentially pre-medical, with a minor in business.
Coach Jeff Dwyer said: “Elena came onto a very good team her junior year, but she is an elite gymnast that has pushed us to become one of the top teams in the state last year and this year. She is one of the better floor exercise and vault performers in the state. She averages in the 9.6-9.8 range on floor, where she combines powerful tumbling with beautiful dance skills. When her vault is on, it is difficult for anyone to beat her. She performs a laid-out Yurchenko vault which has the highest start value possible (10.0) as it is a very difficult and risky vault to perform. However, she does it almost perfectly – her score of 9.9 at the meet is evidence of that perfection. A slight foot movement on her landing cost her one tenth of a point. When a team has someone who can attain such high scores in high school, it is a big lift to the team score. We have a strong team on floor and vault, but Elena adds that extra punch that can lift us even higher, especially against other strong teams.”
Performance Point: “I actually had a gymnastics career-high of 9.9 on vault,” Vargo said while recalling her Canton performance. “So that was the highlight of the meet for me, getting a 9.90, and if I stuck the landing I’d get a 10.0. So that’s my goal, one of these next meets, to get a 10.0 on vault. Floor-wise, I was happy with my performance. The other two events, I let myself get too much in my head and I wasn’t really focused on the uneven bars or the balance beam as much as I normally am. But what really helps me with those events to barely get by with them is my teammates. With any athletics or sports, your teammates are really the ones to put the foundation to motivate you … (and) my team really helped motivate me with that. … Our team was great. I was so happy we were able to beat the other 17 teams that were there. We see Rockford and Livonia Blue as our competition, and this meet really just was such a determining factor in how we may perform at states against them. Rockford won the Rockford Invite a week or two before the Canton Invite … so it really comes down to the best of the best. It comes down to your team always motivating you, your ability to stay focused in performance. Not just one person on our team is going to win it for us. We all have to work together. We definitely have been working on that, and it definitely showed up at the Canton meet.”
Showing the way: “I believe that I’ve always been a leader for our gymnastics team. I do do a higher level of skills. (But) the girls always ask me for advice on how to do specific skills, and I’m always there to help them and give them drills and different ideas. Even though I’m more on quiet side while I’m training and more focused on myself, I’m always there to motivate them and give them advice, and they do the same towards me. I want my entire team to perform just as well as I do.”
Always a Hawk, now a Falcon too: “Yes, I really do miss Harrison. Harrison was our home and we had a connection not just with the building but all of the people there. Coming to Farmington, originally there was a disconnect between Harrison and Farmington students and teachers. But I think because it’s been a few months, we’re all OK now. People-wise we’re fine, it’s just the building that’s changed. … It was pretty tough at the beginning, but it’s good now.”
Gymnastics is part of me: “I’m a gymnast at heart. Ever since I was 3, I’ve done gymnastics. It’s a part of my identity. I literally don’t know what I would do if gymnastics was not in my life. Practice is the place I can go to (and) forget about everything else and (for example) focus on my flips. I just have such a strong passion for going out on the floor and showing off what I’m able to do. It fills me so much with energy. I look forward to my practices and having fun with my teammates. It’s been a part of me for so long, it’s created who I am today. And I know when I’m older, I hopefully want to be a coach. Because gymnastics, the knowledge, the skills behind it, there’s so many different elements that have captured my heart.”
EV the entrepreneur: “My jewelry business is called ‘Designs By E.V.’ I specialize in custom jewelry and essential oil diffuser jewelry. So I make rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and I go to a bunch of different art fairs and jewelry shows year-round, and I set up my booth and I sell my products. … I make jewelry, basically to, kinda like gymnastics, (it’s) how I can escape from reality. I’m able to express my more creative side, and it actually helps me relax more.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Past honorees
Jan. 31: Michael Wolsek, Trenton swimming - Report
Jan. 24: Kensington Holland, Utica Ford bowling - Report
Jan. 17: Claycee West, White Pigeon basketball - Report
Jan. 10: Seth Lause, Livonia Stevenson hockey - Report
Dec. 5: Mareyohn Hrabowski, River Rouge football - Report
Nov. 28: Kathryn Ackerman, Grand Haven swimming - Report
Nov. 21: Emily Van Dyke, Southfield Christian volleyball - Report
Nov. 14: Taylor Wegener, Ida volleyball - Report
Nov. 7: Carter Solomon, Plymouth cross country - Report
Oct. 31: Jameson Goorman, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian soccer - Report
Oct. 24: Austin Plotkin, Brimley cross country - Report
Oct. 17: Jack Spamer, Brighton cross country - Report
Oct. 10: Kaylee Maat, Hudsonville volleyball - Report
Oct. 3: Emily Paupore, Negaunee cross country - Report
Sept. 26: Josh Mason, South Lyon soccer - Report
Sept. 19: Ariel Chang, Utica Eisenhower golf - Report
Sept. 12: Jordyn Shipps, DeWitt swimming - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Farmington United's Elena Vargo competes on floor exercise during last Saturday's Canton Invitational. (Middle) Vargo won that event with a 9.6 and also vault and all-around. (Photos by Roger Playle.)