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.)
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.)