Individual Finals: Grand Ledge Sweeps Again
March 10, 2012
GRAND RAPIDS – Grand Ledge senior Christine Wilson followed up her team’s fifth-straight MHSAA team championship won Friday by claiming her second consecutive individual title Saturday at Kenowa Hills High School.
But this time, she won in Division 1.
Comets coach Duane Haring said earlier this season he believed Wilson, if she accomplished the feat, would be the first in MHSAA history to win both Division 2 and Divisions 1 championships. Wilson claimed Division 2 last season.
She finished off her high school career with a score Saturday of 38.400, including a first-place 9.7 on the uneven parallel bars and third places or better on all four apparatuses.
Troy Athens/Avondale senior Ashley Moskal finished second all-around in Division 1 with a score of 38.375 after finishing third in 2011. She finished first on floor exercise with a 9.8. Kenowa Hills/Grandville senior Taylor Tepper – the Division 1 runner-up the last two seasons – finished third this time with an all-around 38.30. She did win vault with a score of 9.675 and balance beam with a 9.625.
Division 2
Grand Ledge also claimed the top three places in the Division 2 individual competition, with junior Sara Peltier winning the championship with an all-around 37.275 that tied for sixth-highest in Division 2 Final history.
She was followed by Comets junior Lauren Clark (37.225) and sophomore Presley Allison (36.900).
Clark won the balance beam with a 9.475 and Peltier won the bars with a 9.7. Farmington senior Amanda Lumley improved on her 2010 Division 2 Final record on floor with a 9.625, and Canton sophomore Erica Lucas won the vault with a 9.55 after finishing fourth in 2011.
It marked the third season in the last five that Grand Ledge had the champion in both divisions.
Click for full Division 1 results and full Division 2 results.
Title IX at 50: Taylor Kennedy Gymnasts Earn Fame as 1st Champions
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 28, 2021
The date was March 11, 1972. The host site was Hillsdale High School. A total of 276 gymnasts from 33 schools took the mat. And Taylor Kennedy earned the first Finals championship in MHSAA girls sports history.
The Eagles scored 216.35 points over the six events, edging runner-up East Lansing by 1.35. Amy Balogh was the most awarded individual for Kennedy, as she earned first places in the uneven parallel bars and balance beam and finished second on vault. The Eagles were coached by Jean Barlow, who would lead them to a repeat championship – again just ahead of runner-up East Lansing – in 1973.
A month earlier, over Feb. 17-18, the MHSAA had conducted its first girls tournament events with four Ski Regionals across the state – but this Girls Gymnastics Final was the first to award a champion from a statewide girls division. The Girls Gymnastics Final was the product of an MHSAA Girls Athletics Advisory Committee recommendation the previous October and Representative Council approval that December of 1971, and was joined during the 1972-73 school year by additional MHSAA girls state competitions in golf, tennis and track & field.
That day at Hillsdale, Balogh would finish second all-around only to East Lansing’s Merry Jo Hill – who would go on to compete at Arizona State University. Kennedy would close after the 2017-18 school year and merge with the former Taylor Truman into the present-day Taylor High School. Below are the results from that first championship meet published in the May 1972 “MHSAA Bulletin” sent to member schools.
Second Half's weekly Title IX Celebration posts are sponsored by Michigan Army National Guard.
Previous Title IX at 50 Spotlights
Sept. 21: Portage Northern Star Byington Becomes Play-by-Play Pioneer - Read
Sept. 14: Guerra/Groat Legacy Continues to Serve St. Philip Well - Read
Sept. 7: Best-Ever Conversation Must Include Leland's Glass - Read
Aug. 31: We Will Celebrate Many Who Paved the Way - Read