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.
Champion Chiefs Runners-up No More
March 7, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
CANTON – Second place. Second place. Second place.
For three seasons, Canton fell just short of ending Grand Ledge’s hold on the MHSAA gymnastics championship.
On Friday, Canton finished a quest coach John Cunningham started 35 years ago – and claimed its first MHSAA title. The Chiefs scored 146.650 points, 2.4 more of Grand Ledge, to break the Comets’ six-season championship streak.
“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that it’s true,” said senior Melissa Green, who with Erica Lucas were part of all three runner-up teams as well. “I really felt like we had a chance every year I’ve been on the team. … We just wanted to get better. We knew if we got better, we would score better, just do better.”
Cunningham has coached girls gymnastics longer than Canton has had a team – and longer than the MHSAA has sponsored the sport.
He began in 1968, and took over the Chiefs in 1979. They finished runner-up one other time, in 1996. And they got really close in 2012, falling just .825 points back of the Comets.
Cunningham knew by comparing scores during the regular season that his team would have another shot Friday. After having to count three falls on beam, the Chiefs came back with a 37.900 on floor and a 37.300 on vault to take a five-point lead heading into their and Grand Ledge’s final rotations.
The Comets finished on vault and put together a 37.300, coming together after every successful landing to celebrate as they cut the deficit in half. Sophomore Rachel Hogan landed a vault she’s been inconsistent with for a 9.8, and sophomore Lexi Payne scored a 9.025 on a vault coach Duane Haring said she’s been landing “two percent” of the time.
But Canton held on with a 35.250 on bars to finish up and keep the edge in the final standings.
“The real quality of my team is depth. The hardest thing I had to do this week was take two girls out,” Cunningham said. "We sat girls who were getting 9s. … I had three all-arounders, and then I set the lineup with what was strongest.”
Junior Jocelyn Moraw scored an all-around 37.325 for Canton, followed by sophomore Maddie Toal at 36.725 and Green with a 36.225. Lucas and three more sophomores filled out the lineup, with Lucas contributing a 9.325 on vault. “We’ve been working hard the entire season, getting skills we never thought we’d be able to get before," Green said.
Grand Ledge has a pair of contenders for Saturday’s Division 1 individual championship, and both shined in the Team Final. Hogan scored an all-around 38.600, while senior Presley Allison – last season’s Division 2 individual champ – added a 37.650.
Farmington, the 2010 runner-up, just missed returning to the top two by finishing five hundredths of a point behind the Comets to take third. Sophomore Carina Wright scored an all-around 36.275 and senior Meredith Jonik added a 36.125.
The second-place finish ends another incredible run for Grand Ledge. Before Friday, the Comets had won 106 straight competitions – dual meets and invitationals combined – dating to the 2007 MHSAA Team Final, where they finished runner-up to Holt.
“You add up all the teams, and that’s hundreds. We’re not ashamed of anything,” Haring said. “Nothing lasts forever. Second place after we were in fifth place after three events? There’s nothing to be ashamed of at all on this team.
“They knew what they needed to try to tighten the gap for second place. They never gave up. … They were going to fight to the end.”
Grosse Pointe United finished fourth, led by Isabelle Nguyen’s all-around 37.725. Grand Rapids Forest Hills was fifth, with Cassidy Terhorst scoring a 36.825.
PHOTOS: (Top) Canton's Melissa Green finishes her routine on floor during Friday's MHSAA Team Final. (Middle) Grand Ledge finished second Friday, ending a six-season championship streak but continuing an eight-season streak of top-two finishes. (Click to see more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)