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.
Performance: Grand Ledge's Rachel Hogan
February 11, 2016
Rachel Hogan
Grand Ledge senior – Gymnastics
Hogan finished 10th, second (by a tenth of a point) and third in MHSAA Finals Division 1 all-around competitions her first three seasons of high school, respectively, making her a strong favorite to claim the championship heading into this winter. A sprained right ankle before the first meet has slowed her down a bit – but she re-established herself as a top contender by winning Saturday’s Canton Invitational Division 1 championship with an all-around score of 38.225, earning the Michigan National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
The event annually is considered the most competitive of the regular season, featuring most of the best gymnasts from across the state, and Hogan also won Division 1 as a junior. This time, she finished first on vault scoring a 9.7, first on uneven parallel bars at 9.625, won balance beam at 9.5, and finished second on the floor exercise with a 9.4 – despite holding back some of her toughest skills as her ankle continues to heal. Her team as a whole is struggling through injuries and finished sixth.
Hogan has won five individual MHSAA Finals championships during her career – Division 1 vault twice, floor twice and bars once. Adding another next month at Rockford would give the Comets at least one individual Division 1 champion for a 10th straight season, and she’s also going for her school’s ninth Division 1 all-around championship over the last 14 seasons. She was a freshman when Grand Ledge won its sixth straight team championship in 2013, and she scored the top all-around score of last season’s Team Final to help the Comets to third place – a surprising finish because Grand Ledge only qualified for the Final as the top-scoring fourth-place Regional finisher. Hogan also has played the flute since middle school and been part of Grand Ledge’s marching band the last four years. She carries a 3.89 grade-point average and is planning to attend Michigan State University after graduation to study packaging engineering.
Coach Duane Haring said: “She’s a tough little kid. We didn’t let her do much (before Canton); we couldn’t. She’s the one who actually pushed herself to get where she is right now. There are so many athletes I know, and I’ve coached some, who have a little pain and they’re done or go 50 percent. Rachel said, ‘My ankle hurts, but I’m still going to practice and do everything.’ And she is. She has never given up, never ever.”
Performance Point: “As a team, we could’ve done better, but we are all injured right now; I’m definitely not the only person with a sprained ankle. Me personally, it was a really good comeback meet. I think as a team, for that meet, we realized we have to start stepping it up, modifying some of our routines, even if we’re injured so we can get through stuff and get the scores we need.”
‘Tough little kid’: “I think a lot of it comes from a drive. Something has to motivate you. I know my coach motivates me a lot. He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever had. He puts so much time into us, and we really have to give that back to him somehow. I need to do my best … and that’s for the team, too.”
Be the example: “I definitely try to lead by example. I try to be more of a friend to them than a leader, so I can be a person they can talk to, so they can trust me. When they’re struggling with something, they can come to me, and I’ll help them get through that. I hope I’m motivation for them; they see me doing my best, working hard, and they will do that as well. They’re getting there.”
Veteran voice: “I’ve learned to never give up. Because over the years we’ve lost our strongest gymnasts, but the gymnasts we have, we should never give up on them, never think they don’t have potential, because they all do. It’s good to almost expect more out of them than they think, because it gives them that confidence. They’ll do their best things when people aren’t expecting them.”
Next in Comets’ Legacy: “There’s a little bit of pressure that comes with that. Those gymnasts were such good gymnasts. I look up to them a lot. (Coach Haring) always tells us stories about his top gymnasts. It’s always cool to hear how much they accomplished, and you can tell he gets really excited about us doing well. Especially when he’s talking about his past gymnasts, I want him to talk about us to his future gymnasts.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2015-16 school year, Second Half and the Michigan National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our Nation's freedom, or protecting lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2015-16 honorees
Feb. 3: Nehemiah Mork, Midland Dow swimming & diving - Read
Jan. 27: Mardrekia Cook, Muskegon girls basketball - Read
Jan. 20: Sage Castillo, Hartland wrestling - Read
Jan. 13: Rob Zofchak, Dexter swimming & diving - Read
Jan. 6: Tyler Deming, Caro wrestling – Read
Dec. 15: Jordan Weber, East Jordan boys basketball – Read
Dec. 8: Kaitlyn Geers, Kent City girls basketball – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Ledge's Rachel Hogan competes in floor exercise. (Middle) Hogan performs her balance beam routine. (Photos by Marvin Hall Photography.)