United, Farmington Vaults to Team Title
March 9, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
ROCKFORD – Farmington Unified gymnastics coach Jeff Dwyer knows what a championship team looks like.
And he had a feeling he saw one before Friday’s MHSAA Team Final at Rockford High School.
The calm. The energy to compete. The singing.
The gymnastics championship meet often comes down to the smallest of margins, and this time the top three teams were separated by a mere three tenths of a point.
Farmington United was just a few tenths better than the rest, scoring 144.750 to edge Northville and Rockford for a first MHSAA title in this sport since 2006.
“We are such a team, and we are so strong together,” Farmington United senior Elisa Bills said. “No matter what other teams are doing, no matter what high score we see, we forget about it and keep going and continue to the next event.
“It didn’t matter if someone fell or hit. It didn’t matter, because as a team, we were happy. And we just put everything out there and did our best.”
Farmington United – made up this season of athletes from Farmington and North Farmington – was followed by Northville at 144.550 and Rockford at 144.450. Northville’s finish was its highest since coming in runner-up as part of a co-op team with Novi in 2002. Rockford’s finish similarly was impressive – the Rams were competing for their fourth straight MHSAA Finals championship, but doing so without a senior and with only three juniors taking the mat.
Farmington United had a bit more experience, starting with Bills, the reigning Division 2 individual champion who will compete for a repeat title Saturday. One of two seniors on her team, Bills posted the highest all-around score of Friday’s competition, 36.700. Junior Kacey Noseworthy had the day’s fourth-highest all-around at 36.450, and senior Emily Stecevic also came up big with a 34.950.
As a team, Farmington United didn’t place first on any of the four apparatus – but came in second on bars, beam and floor. Juniors Shelby Smith and Ava Farquhar, sophomore Lily Tyler and freshman Sydney Schultz also contributed scores.
“This just kinda floored me because these are not easy to win. I don’t even know if they know what they just did,” said Dwyer, who has led the program since 1986 and guided it to three straight titles from 2004-06 and runner-up finishes in 2008 and 2010.
“There’s teams – like I was looking at them at Regionals and earlier today – I didn’t have to do a lot of coaching. They were the ones with game faces on, so I felt good about that. Some years you’ve gotta just get them on – ‘Hey we’re at the state meet, at the Regional meet’ – and I told them before this meet, if I had to bet on a team to have a chance to win it, I’m going to bet with you guys.”
That might not have seemed like the best idea even a few weeks ago. Bills missed much of the second half of the regular season with a knee injury and didn’t return full strength until the Regional a week ago.
Her teammates picked up the slack, including finishing first Jan. 31 at the Canton Invitational without her against a field including many of the state’s top teams.
Coming back from the injury admittedly was the “scariest thing ever” for Bills. But there’s no way she would’ve missed this. “Coming back and winning this title was the best thing – all I wanted to do,” she said.
Meanwhile, there was little disappointment as Northville gymnasts took photos with their runner-up trophy Friday night. The Mustangs had improved from ninth in 2017, and cut the margin against Farmington significantly after finishing nearly four points behind Bills and her teammates at last week’s Regional.
Senior Erin McCallum and sophomore Maria Scavnicky competed all-around, posting scores of 36.550 and 35.325, respectively. As a team, Northville posted the highest scores on both bars and beam.
“Since the very beginning, this is what we’ve wanted to do,” said McCallum, whose all-around score was the day’s third highest. “Even if things didn’t go our way, we just kept pushing.
“(From the start this season) I could just tell – people wanted to be here, they wanted to work hard and they wanted to do this.”
Rockford finished first as a team on floor, and Brighton was first on beam. Livonia Blue, Brighton, Plymouth and Howell all cleared 140 points to follow the top three in that order, respectively.
Rockford junior Reagan Ammon (36.675), Howell sophomore Taylor Gillespie (36.350), Brighton senior Sarah Mosset (36.275) and Livonia Blue freshman Kenna Fedrigo (36.050) also broke 36 points all-around.
Individual competition in both divisions begins at noon Saturday at Rockford.
Click for full Team Finals results.
PHOTOS: (Top) Farmington United begins celebrating after hearing it has won its first MHSAA team championship since 2006. (Middle) Farmington United's Kacey Noseworthy performs her bars routine. (Below) Rockford's Morgan Case works toward her 9.4 on floor exercise. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Gymnastics Could Take Flight in UP
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
February 12, 2016
ESCANABA — Gymnastics is showing signs of growth on the club level in the Upper Peninsula.
Will some of that eventually lead to a larger number of high school programs north of the Mackinac Bridge?
Nearly 20 U.P. high schools offered gymnastics at one time.
That number is now down to three with Escanaba, Marquette and Negaunee as the remaining programs.
“I’m excited that club gymnastics is growing up here and serving as a feeder to the high school programs,” Negaunee coach Eyre Becker said. “I’m hoping the three programs will keep going strong and serve as motivation for other schools to bring back their programs. I would like to see Gladstone and Menominee bring back their programs and schools like Houghton start a high school program. I would hate to think of all that equipment rotting in a warehouse somewhere.”
Theresa Pascoe, who coaches a self-funded program at Escanaba, has similar thoughts.
“I would like to see some of the old schools pick it up again,” she said. “If we continue to operate gymnastics clubs, the high school programs are only going to get stronger. We need the feeder programs to keep them heading in the right direction.
“I don’t know if the number of programs we have up here will change, but I do know we have some parents from Gladstone and Rapid River who would like to see their children compete at the high school level. This biggest thing is finding a qualified coach.”
This could be a time of opportunity for Upper Peninsula high school gymnastics, with clubs in Marquette and Escanaba but also Houghton and Baraga, where schools don’t have programs.
“It would be nice to see high school teams in those areas. I just don’t know what their thoughts are,” Marquette coach Kris Lakenen said. “Hopefully with this being an Olympic year, we’ll see even more interest.”
And the benefits of competing at the high school level are easy to list for current Upper Peninsula athletes.
“We try to be like a family up here and cheer each other on,” Marquette sophomore Kiah Staley said. “Getting to hang out with your teammates and going to all the meets is also a lot of fun because we get a chance to bond.”
After graduating from Father Marquette Middle School last spring, gymnastics helped ease the transition into high school for freshman teammate Morgan Johnson.
“Coming from Father Marquette to a public school was a big change,” she said. “The size of our entire grade was about the same as one class at Marquette High. We still have each other from Father Marquette, only there weren’t as many sports at the Catholic school. Now we have a lot more options and there are more people to push you to work harder. … Everyone is real nice, and it’s very energizing.”
Escanaba sophomore Karlie Ohman switched from competitive cheer to gymnastics a year ago. “I’ve always helped out at gymnastics camps,” she said. “I love it. It’s really fun.
“My favorite events are the balance beam and floor exercise. It was very scary to go up on the beam and perform at first, but you just have to get over your fears. I really enjoy tumbling and putting together floor routines. I also enjoy going on the (uneven) bars, but I need to get better strength and work on getting higher points.”
Escanaba’s leader, junior Lindsey Taylor, won vault with 8.7 points in a dual meet with Negaunee on Jan. 27.
“I was in gymnastics with (former Marquette standout) Rylee Doucette two years ago and she did very well," Taylor said. "I always watched her and she would help me and tell me how to get better."
Negaunee senior Hope Rosten also enjoys the camaraderie among the gymnasts.
“Gymnastics is unique that way,” said the Miners’ team captain. “I would definitely like to see more teams up here. I think that would help the teams in the U.P. … I like the competitiveness and feeling of a team. Our teammates are real supportive.”
Sophomore Kalli Mattson had similar feelings after Negaunee’s victory in Escanaba.
“I think we’re well rounded as a team,” she said. “We just have a lot of fun. It’s nice having all the support from your teammates and having the other teams support you.”
PHOTOS: (Top) A Negaunee gymnast performs her balance beam routine at a meet this season at Escanaba. (Middle) Negaunee's Hope Rosten does her parallel uneven bars routine. (Photos courtesy of Negaunee athletic department.)