Jackson ‘Just Gives Best,’ Proves Best of All in Finals Stunner
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
March 26, 2021
ROCKFORD – The Jackson Area gymnastics team entered Friday’s MHSAA Team Final at Rockford High School with no expectations.
They left with a shocking victory.
Jackson won the program’s first Finals by the slimmest of margins over runner-up Rockford/Sparta.
The senior-led squad finished with a team score of 144.775, while Rockford/Sparta ended the day with a 144.5.
“It’s unbelievable,” an emotional Jackson coach Marcy Miller said. “We just had no idea, and we didn’t want to know the scores. We just came in here trying to do our best, and we told the girls we didn’t want to be in last place. That was it.”
Jackson had never finished in the top 10 at the Finals. Its best previous finish was 12th – which made the win that much more surprising, as well as satisfying.
“We had no expectations coming in,” Miller said. “It’s been a hard year and a hard week, and they only got to practice two days. We just wanted to come here and have fun and I’m so proud of them. I could not ask for a better group of girls.”
The Finals victory was spearheaded by a talented core of four seniors: Cara Fries, Abi Grimm, Kaelin Schiffer and Amelia Hamlin.
“We didn’t look at any other scores, and we were in the dark as far as where we were versus where the other teams were,” Fries said. “I think in the end that turned out well when we were competing. When they were announcing the scores, I was just hoping that we had done it.”
Balance beam was the event that propelled Jackson to the top.
It scored a team total of 36.825 on that apparatus, which was the highest of the 14 teams competing.
“They stayed on the beam, they stuck beam and they were confident on the beam,” Miller said. “And they just took that confidence into everything they did today. Our seniors were great leaders, and not only are they fantastic gymnasts, but they are good humans and that’s more important than anything else.”
Jackson had placed runner-up at Regionals to Rockford/Sparta, trailing by five hundredths of a point.
“This feels awesome, and we had no idea coming in what to expect because we had never placed anywhere near the top,” Hamlin said. “This is the first time for us, and we were all just shocked. After each meet, we just wanted to do better and better and we came here and put it all out there and it paid off.”
Added Grim: “I just wanted the team to come in here and have fun and leave it all on the equipment. Last year we didn’t get a state finals, so the fact that we got one this year is really amazing.”
Schiffer said it was a memorable meet.
“It’s pretty cool to win the first one, and we accomplished everything we could’ve dreamed of,” she said.
Rockford/Sparta was seeking its first Finals’ win since 2017. The team won three consecutive titles from 2015-17 and placed runner-up in 2019 to Farmington.
“We are so thrilled with our second-place finish,” Rockford/Sparta coach Michelle Ankney said. “We came out and bettered ourselves from Regionals on two of our events and just did what we could. I’m very proud of where we ended up.”
Rockford/Sparta graduated six seniors from a year ago, when the Finals was canceled due to the pandemic.
“All of these girls were brand new to state competition, so they did great,” Ankney said. “We will graduate only one senior, so we will be back next year.”
Ankney, whose team was led by Lacey Scheid, said the opportunity to compete this season was a blessing.
“We kept our fingers crossed for a season,” she said. “I was a little nervous all week that something was going to happen, so to get to the end was a huge relief. We competed today, and they had so much fun.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Jackson Area claimed its first Team Finals championship Friday in part because of a meet-best 37.725 on floor exercise. (Middle) Rockford/Sparta finished runner-up overall and also broke 37 points on floor. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
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MHSAA Winter Sports Start with Extended Basketball Schedules, New Wrestling Weights
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 13, 2022
The addition of two games to basketball regular-season schedules and a new series of wrestling weight classes are likely the most noticeable Winter 2022-23 changes as an estimated 65,000 athletes statewide take part in 13 sports for which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments.
Girls gymnastics and boys ice hockey teams were able to begin practice Oct. 31, with the rest of those sports beginning in November – including also girls and boys basketball, girls and boys bowling, girls competitive cheer, girls and boys skiing, Upper Peninsula girls and boys and Lower Peninsula boys swimming & diving, and girls and boys wrestling.
A variety of changes are in effect for winter sports this season, including a several that will be noteworthy and noticeable to teams and spectators alike.
Basketball remains the most-participated winter sport for MHSAA member schools with 33,000 athletes taking part last season, and for the first time, basketball teams may play up to 22 regular-season games. This increase from the previous 20-game schedule allows more games for teams at every high school level – varsity, junior varsity and freshman.
Another significant change has been made in wrestling, as the majority of boys wrestling weight classes have been adjusted for this season in anticipation of a national change coming in 2023-24. The updated boys weight classes are 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 144, 150, 157, 165, 175, 190, 215 and 285 pounds. Only 215 and 285 remain from the previous lineup. There is also one change to girls weight classes, with the 255 class replaced by 235 to also align with national high school standards.
A series of notable changes will affect how competition takes place at the MHSAA Tournament levels. In hockey, in addition to a new classification process that spread cooperative and single-school programs evenly throughout the three playoff divisions, the MHSAA Tournament will employ two changes. The Michigan Power Ratings (MPR) will be used to seed the entire Regional round, not just the top two teams, and prior to the start of Semifinals, a seeding committee will reseed the remaining four teams in each division with the top seed in each then facing the No. 4 seed, and the No. 2 seed facing No. 3.
Bowling also will see an MHSAA Tournament change, as the Team Regional format will mirror the long-standing Team Final with teams playing eight Baker games and two regular games at both levels. And as also applied during the fall girls season, there is a new qualification process for divers seeking to advance to Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals. In each of the three divisions, each Regional will be guaranteed 10 qualifiers for the Finals, with six more “floating” qualifier entries to be distributed to the Regionals that have one of the previous year’s top six returning Finals divers in their fields. If a team changes division from the previous season, any floating top-six spots are added to the six already allowed in the school’s new division.
A gymnastics rules change provides an opportunity for additional scoring during the floor exercise. A dance passage requirement was added in place of the former dance series requirement to encourage creativity and a more artistic use of dance. The dance passage requires gymnasts to include two Group 1 elements – one a leap with legs in cross or side split position, the other a superior element.
In competitive cheer, the penalty for going over the time limit in each round was adjusted to one penalty point for every second over the time limit, not to exceed 15 points. The new time limit rule is more lenient than the past penalty, which subtracted points based on ranges of time over the limit.
The 2022-23 Winter campaign culminates with postseason tournaments, as the championship schedule begins with the Upper Peninsula Girls & Boys Swimming & Diving Finals on Feb. 18 and wraps up with the Boys Basketball Finals on March 25. Here is a complete list of winter tournament dates:
Boys Basketball
Districts – March 6, 8, 10
Regionals – March 13, 15
Quarterfinals – March 21
Semifinals – March 23-24
Finals – March 25
Girls Basketball
Districts – Feb. 27, March 1, 3
Regionals – March 7, 9
Quarterfinals – March 14
Semifinals – March 16-17
Finals – March 18
Bowling
Regionals – Feb. 24-25
Finals – March 3-4
Competitive Cheer
District – Feb. 17-18
Regionals – Feb. 25
Finals – March 2-3
Gymnastics
Regionals – March 4
Finals – March 10-11
Ice Hockey
Regionals – Feb. 20-March 1
Quarterfinals – March 4
Semifinals – March 9-10
Finals – March 11
Skiing
Regionals – Feb. 13-17
Finals – Feb. 27
Swimming & Diving
Upper Peninsula Girls/Boys Finals – Feb. 18
Lower Peninsula Boys Diving Regionals – March 2
Lower Peninsula Boys Finals – March 10-11
Wrestling – Team
Districts – Feb. 8-9
Regionals – Feb. 15
Finals – Feb. 24-25
Wrestling – Individual
Districts – Feb. 11
Regionals – Feb. 18
Finals – March 3-4
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.3 million spectators each year.