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.)
Rockford Golden Again in Regrouping, Rebounding to Repeat as Finals Champ
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 10, 2023
WHITE LAKE – Rockford gymnastics coach Michelle Ankney said a little regrouping was in order, even for her experienced and championship-tested squad.
In its third rotation at the MHSAA Team Gymnastics Final on Friday, the Rams were uncharacteristically off on the bars and ended up finishing with the sixth-best score in that event.
At that point, Ankney tried to employ a pet-themed motivational tactic to get her team’s spirits up again.
“We did have to take a break,” she said. “We’ve been talking about if you are a goldfish, you only have an 8-second memory. We had to get out our anger and pretend to be a goldfish and head to beam. We did a little pep talk, we did a little cheering and we stepped up the best we could.”
Rockford responded in its final event, earning the best score of any team on the beam. Coupled with first-place scores in the vault and floor exercise as well, it was enough to balance the poor finish on bars and lift the Rams to their second-straight Finals championship.
They finished with an overall score of 144.500, ahead of runner-up Jackson Area’s total of 142.400.
Farmington United was third at 141.325, Hartland took fourth at 140.475, while Livonia Red rounded out the top five with a score of 140.350.
This year’s title might have been a little different for Rockford than last year’s in that the Rams were the prohibitive favorites, but Ankney said the thrill of victory was the same.
“It’s still the surprise of ‘we did it,’” she said. “We came out strong, and then bars was a little bit of a disappointment. We try not to check scores, and we try not to watch. When we get to (the end), it’s a 100-percent surprise what happened.”
Rockford ended up taking first on the vault with a score of 36.300, first in the floor exercise with a 37.625 and first on the beam with a score of 36.250.
The championship was Rockford’s fifth since 2015.
“We definitely had a bull’s eye on our back,” Ankney said. “We just have been training hard, and we came in saying we need to do Rockford gymnastics. We didn’t need to do anything beyond what we already do. We just needed to come in, hit, do our thing and hope for the best. It worked.”
As was the case at their Regional meet, right behind Rockford was Jackson, the 2021 Finals champion which rebounded from an eighth-place finish last year.
Despite the disappointment of last year, Jackson head coach Marcy Miller said it wasn’t really a source of motivation for this year’s meet.
“Our girls just go out there and do the best they can,” Miller said. “They honestly don’t put a lot of thought in the other team or places. Their goal is to just do the best they can that day.”
Jackson didn’t place first in any event, but took second in the bars with a score of 35.150 and tied for second in the floor exercise with a score of 37.375.
The only team besides Rockford to earn a first on an apparatus was Salem, which was best on the bars with a score of 35.350 and second in the vault with a score of 35.600.
But an 11th-place finish on the beam and a tie for sixth in the floor exercise hurt the Rocks, and resulted in a sixth-place finish overall.
A total of 26 gymnasts competed on all four apparatus for their teams, and three reached 37-point all-around scores – Grand Ledge’s Alaina Yaney (37.475), Livonia Red’s Morgan Ruffing (37.450) and Rockford’s Lacey Scheid (37.000). Hailey Hill (35.675) also competed all-around for Rockford, which had eight gymnasts in at least one event. Alyssa Budd led Jackson Area at 36.800, and Jenna Bradley scored a 36.150.
PHOTOS (Top) A Rockford gymnast competes in floor exercise during Friday’s MHSAA Team Final. (Middle) Jackson Area’s Addi Richmond dismounts near the conclusion of her beam routine. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)