Rockford Shows Skill Across Every Event in Reclaiming Team Title
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 11, 2022
WHITE LAKE – There was definitely a different routine for Rockford before the actual routines began for the 2022 MHSAA Team Gymnastics Final on Friday at Lakeland High School.
For the first time since 2014, Rockford didn’t play host to the event.
So instead of coming to its home gym and trying to help set everything up, the Rams instead went through a bus trip and the process of getting acclimated to a new environment.
But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“I think it helped,” Rockford senior Anna Tracey said. “It allowed us to have some team bonding before we got to the meet. We just talked to each other and had fun.”
Indeed, Rockford did just fine away from home, reclaiming the championship throne by edging Grand Ledge. The Rams had 143.825 points to Grand Ledge’s total of 143.500.
After finishing as Final runner-up in 2019 and 2021 (the 2020 meet was cancelled due to COVID-19), Rockford won its first title since claiming the last of three in a row in 2017.
“We always want it, and we always are hopeful for it,” Rockford head coach Michele Ankney said. “We knew we were in the running this year. We weren’t sure where we would line up in the end. Gymnastics is a fickle sport sometimes.”
Rockford was the only team to have at least one top-four finish in every event, starting off by scoring third in the floor exercise.
Following a fourth-place finish in the bars and a third-place finish on the vault, the Rams saved their best for their last event, finishing first on the beam.
Leading the way was junior Lacey Scheid, who had a 9.550 on the floor, a 9.400 on the vault, a 9.100 on the bars and a 9.525 on the beam.
Tracey had a 9.175 on the floor, an 8.975 on the vault, an 8.850 on the bars and a 9.525 on the beam to flank Scheid for Rockford.
“We started strong,” Ankney said. “Our floor and bars were solid. And then we had a few mistakes on bars and beam and we didn’t know what that was going to do to us. This is 100 percent surprise right here.”
Traditional power Grand Ledge was seeking its first title since winning the last of six in a row in 2013, and the Comets finished first in both the floor and vault.
But a seventh-place finish in the beam and a sixth-place finish on the bars proved to be Grand Ledge’s undoing.
“We normally score higher on bars and a lot higher on beam,” longtime Comets head coach Duane Haring said. “Just nerves. I guess I’d be nervous too. But they did really well. Second place is nothing to sneeze at.”
The highest Metro Detroit finisher was Livonia Red, which took third with 142.950 points.
Brighton was fourth at 141.000, while Salem rounded out the top five with 140.825 points.
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Escanaba Vaulting Into Regional off Program-Record Team Score
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
March 4, 2022
ESCANABA — The Escanaba gymnasts are enjoying a record-breaking season as they head into MHSAA Tournament competition.
The team has turned in five school scoring records, with its most recent at Negaunee on Feb. 21 in earning the Great Northern Conference title with 135.05 points.
They’re looking forward to the Regional meet Saturday at Rockford.
“Before the season I couldn’t even imagine getting scores that high,” said sophomore Sophia Wagner, who won vault with a perfect 9.4 score Dec. 7 in a dual meet at Negaunee. “Our team scores have been above 120 points all year. We all push each other to get better. I think qualifying for the Regionals as a team was our biggest highlight. Getting that done early gave us more time to work on new skills. This has been an exciting season.”
All this has taken place during a year in which Escanaba gymnastics is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
“The girls are driving each other to get better in every practice,” said coach Theresa Pascoe. “When you can practice every day on a spring floor (at Triple A Gymnastics), it makes you want to get better. What’s making our team so much stronger is having newer equipment. You can only go so far on older equipment.
“It seems like the girls want to practice all the time. One time I gave them a day off and they all showed up. They want to do all the things the girls do downstate. If the girls want to do more, that’s my motivation to be here.”
They achieved their previous best score while winning their own invitational Feb. 5 with 134.1 points.
“That’s a great feeling,” said senior Lizzy Sliva, whose personal-best score in vault is 9.3. “It’s a lot of fun being on this team. We were able to qualify for the Team Regionals within our first four meets which is important because there’s a lot of stress at first. Once we did that, I was able to focus on getting my routines cleaner and adding difficulty. I want to keep challenging myself in all four events.”
In their previous outing, the Eskymos were runners-up at the Vassar Invitational on Feb. 19.
On Jan. 29, they placed sixth among 10 teams in the Antigo, Wis., Invitational, which is among the oldest meets in the region.
“That was a big accomplishment,” said Sliva. “Valders (Wis.) Invitational is similar to Antigo. Valders and Coldwater (Invitationals) are fun meets. The competition downstate is just as good as in Wisconsin. It’s a lot of fun going down there and competing on a spring floor.
Senior Caitlyn Davenport had similar thoughts.
“This season has really been exciting,” she said. “I’m proud to be part of this team. This has definitely been our best season. Everybody has come together and been helping each other. Qualifying for the Team Regional has taken a lot of the pressure off. It feels like we’ve been making a lot of progress. I’ve been at a lot of open gyms and done weight training during the offseason. I think we’re pretty close with the teams in Wisconsin, and going downstate has definitely gotten us more experience.”
Escanaba’s score at the GNC meet was nearly eight points better than last year’s highest (127.1).
“This has been a great year,” said sophomore Bridget Bichler. “We have a real strong team. We’ve made a real big jump from last year. When we broke 130, it was real exciting. It was a great confidence builder, and to be able to get high scores downstate is real encouraging. We got a compliment from one judge in Coldwater who told us how impressed he was with our team. It’s a great feeling.”
The gymnasts also gained experience from other venues, according to Pascoe.
“Five of our girls have competed in age group programs in USA Gymnastics,” she said. “Several are doing kips on beam, which is something that doesn’t happen very often. For so many years we had been near the bottom in Wisconsin meets. Now we’re holding our own. We have a very small team in numbers (eight), but most of the girls have been in gymnastics nearly all their lives. We have a lot of experience.”
Freshman Sophie Lehto said she has noticed a major change from the younger levels.
“This has been a great learning experience,” she said. “We’ve been working on a lot more skills and more difficult skills. There’s a lot more development, and the competition is very different. It was a significant step.”
John Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.
PHOTOS (Top) Escanaba celebrates its Great Northern Conference team gymnastics championship last month. (Middle) Caitlyn Davenport competes on balance beam during an early February meet with Negaunee. (Top photo courtesy of Escanaba gymnastics, middle courtesy of the Escanaba Daily Press.)