Vargo, Ammon Fulfill Expectations Greatly
March 9, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
ROCKFORD – Farmington United junior Elena Vargo wasn’t sure what to expect from high school gymnastics when she decided to give it a try this season.
Rockford/Sparta senior Reagan Ammon never expected her high school career to end like this.
Both received pleasant outcomes at Saturday’s MHSAA Individual Finals at Rockford High School – Vargo’s not necessarily surprising, but Ammon’s so stunning it moved her to tears multiple times.
Vargo, after leading United to the team championship Friday and posting the state's highest Regional all-around score a weekend ago, capped her first season of high school gymnastics with the Division 1 individual all-around championship. Ammon, meanwhile, moved up from fifth in 2018 to close her high school career as the all-around champion in Division 2 as she was the last to be announced at the end of a busy weekend in her home gym.
“I did come from a competitive environment, so I knew I was going to come here and I knew I was going to be competitive. But I didn’t know what the other girls were going to be like,” Vargo said. “I just knew that no matter how good or how the other girls did, I wanted to beat myself each time. So my goal for each meet was to say, OK, I got a 9.6 on bars, let’s get a 9.65. I just kinda keep pushing myself, and through that I guess that made me get to the top.”
Vargo’s all-around score of 38.000 edged that of Northville sophomore and runner-up Katelyn O’Brien by 1.325 points. Vargo finished first on vault (9.800), uneven parallel bars (9.350) and floor exercise (9.600), the vault score tying for third-highest in Division 1 Finals history.
She made the switch to high school this winter after years gaining substantial club experience. Vargo, a student at Farmington Hills Harrison, also carries a 4.0 GPA and takes part in her district’s International Baccalaureate program, and going the high school gymnastics route allowed her to still compete in the sport and focus on an increased academic load.
Farmington United – made up of students from Harrison, Farmington High and North Farmington – had a number of individual competitors Saturday, and all of Vargo’s rotations were filled with teammates. They were difference makers when Vargo took to the vault late in the afternoon.
“Because we had an hour and a half of just sitting there, I was tired, I was sick, and I guess the adrenaline really got me going,” she said. “And my coaches and my teammates, they’re the main reason motivating me. As I was going down the vault, I could actually hear them motivate me, and I’m like, ‘OK, let’s stick this.’”
Similarly, Ammon was one of five Rockford/Sparta Division 2 all-around qualifiers and was able to compete in every rotation surrounded by Rams.
She had finished 13th all-around as a sophomore before moving up to fifth a year ago, and her victory Saturday included first places on bars (9.150) and beam (9.275).
It was after that final event that she and her teammates shared an emotional moment – but there was another to come as Ammon was stunned to hear her name called last to receive her championship medal.
“It was a good day. I just didn’t know that it was that good of a day,” Ammon said. “(I knew I’d won) when they announced second place. I seriously had no idea. I wasn’t paying attention to anyone else’s scores. I was just focusing on my own performances.
“After I finished my beam routine, I knew I had stuck all my events. I was so happy.”
O’Brien’s runner-up finish in Division 1 was especially impressive as she had finished third at her Regional just a week before. She posted top-six places on three apparatuses, with a high of second to Vargo on bars. Reigning Division 1 champion Cate Gagnier, a sophomore for Grosse Pointe United, finished third all-around at 36.525. Bloomfield Hills freshman Maeve Wright made her Finals debut by winning Division 1 balance beam with a score of 9.525.
Farmington senior Kacey Noseworthy won the floor exercise (9.400) on the way to her runner-up all-around finish in Division 2, while Ammon teammate junior Morgan Case took first in Division 2 on the vault (9.400). Huron Valley sophomore Nicole Graham finished third in the Division 2 all-around at 35.700.
PHOTOS: (Top) Farmington United’s Elena Vargo performs her floor routine during Saturday’s Division 1 Finals. (Middle) Rockford/Sparta’s Reagan Ammon also competes on floor on the way to winning Division 2. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Farmington Aims to Repeat, Perfectly
February 18, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Special for Second Half
Seniors on the Farmington United gymnastics team haven’t lost a dual meet during their high school careers.
So when longtime coach Jeff Dwyer rested some of his standouts against Grosse Pointe United two weeks ago, and his team then found itself locked in a meet too close to call until the very end, well …
“They were not happy,” Dwyer recalled.
Farmington United – a co-op of Farmington High, North Farmington and Farmington Hills Harrison, and the reigning MHSAA Finals champion – did manage to pull out the win that night. And Dwyer now knows his athletes have made a perfect season one of their goals this winter.
Perfection is not a goal he sets for his teams. But it’s one he certainly can appreciate.
“When a team is driven like that, I know they’re talking amongst themselves,” Dwyer said. “When you have a core group that works hard and knows they can be one of the top teams in the state, and they go hard, that’s awesome.”
And Farmington United has been awesome – and then some. The MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for January will enter Wednesday’s dual against Salem with the opportunity to finish a perfect regular season, and should be the favorite to win Regional and Finals championships next month.
United closed January with its third straight championship at the Jeanne Caruss Invitational at White Lake Lakeland, scoring a season-high 147.325 – nearly three points more than last season’s MHSAA Finals-winning total.
The following weekend, United won the annual Canton Invitational, generally considered a preview of the Finals, by more than three points.
United graduated two-time Division 2 individual champion Elisa Bills and another strong contributor in Emily Stecevic last spring, but has been keyed in part by junior addition Elena Vargo – an expected contender for the Division 1 all-around championship next month.
She joined a veteran group of standouts paced by senior Kacey Noseworthy (tied for third in Division 2 in 2018), senior Ava Farquhar (seventh), sophomore Sydney Schultz (12th) and sophomore Allison Schultz (20th), plus senior Shelby Smith, who posted two top-20 event finishes in Division 2 in 2018.
“They got the experience from last year, which was huge,” Dwyer said. “That's invaluable. That makes life a lot easier, because they know what it takes and they're pretty serious about it.”
Dwyer has coached at the high school level since 1987 and took over the Tri-Farmington program in 1994. He led Tri-Farmington to three straight MHSAA championships from 2004-06.
As his current team goes for a second straight title, he’s noticed similarities to last decade’s champs in his current gymnasts’ competitiveness, determination and work ethic.
"This group, to carry over from last year to this year, it’s not just the coaches but the girls were determined to make something happen again this year,” Dwyer said. “It helped a ton getting Elena. But you still gotta count four scores in every category.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2018-19
December: Warren Woods-Tower wrestling – Read
November: Rochester Adams girls swimming & diving – Read
October: Leland boys soccer – Read
September: Pickford football – Read
August: Northville girls golf – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Kacey Noseworthy is among high Finals placers from 2018 hoping to lead Farmington United to a second straight team championship next month. (Middle) Elena Vargo, here competing on beam, has added plenty of big scores to the mix this winter. (Photos by Roger Playle.)