
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.)

Team Growing, Scores Rising as Bark River-Harris Continues to Build in 2nd Season
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
January 6, 2025
ESCANABA —Bark River-Harris gymnastics is only a few meets into its second season as a program. But the Broncos are quickly and impressively building on last year’s debut.
The second-year program is growing – now offering cooperative program opportunities for athletes from Iron Mountain, Powers North Central, Escanaba Holy Name and Gladstone – and at the Dec. 7 Escanaba Elks Invitational scored a school-record 125.80 points, which also counted as the program’s first-ever team-qualifying score for Regional competition.
“Our level of competition has improved,” coach Alex Zelenak said. “We started last year with five girls, and now we have 10. This helps our depth, although it gets tricky when it gets down to the wire. You have to decide who’s going to some meets.
“We’re just trying to find our way in the early-season meets. We’re also trying to work on our skills and execution, for example staying on (balance) beam, and I think we’ve made some progress. What you put into it is what you get out of it.”
Iron Mountain junior Lucy Baumgartner returned from last year’s team and after qualifying for the 2024 Regionals in Division 2 all-around.
“This is pretty far away, but I’ve been doing gymnastics since I was 4 years old,” she said. “I sometimes drive myself or my mom will drive me over here, depending on the weather. Being able to do this last year really helped. I have a better idea what to expect.”
Baumgartner won vault at the Elks Invitational with a score of 9.2 and uneven bars with an 8.6, and was runner-up on beam (8.3) and in all-around (34.55). She said beam is probably her strongest event.
“I’ve always been pretty shaky, but gained confidence since last year,” she added. “I’m happy with the way the season is going. My floor (exercise) has been a little off because of my (sore) ankle, but it goes with the territory.”
“Lucy is outstanding and very dedicated,” Zelenak added. “Her execution is impeccable. We’re right there with them. I’m excited for the rest of the season.”
Gladstone senior Kristy Karl, a newcomer to the program, placed fourth in all-around (31.55) at Escanaba.
“That was quite a boost,” she said. “I’m waiting for the next qualifier (Friday at Linden). I had never competed in gymnastics before. It’s nice to have this opportunity. This has mostly been a learning experience, but our coach knows a lot.
“This is definitely a lot different from what I expected. Everybody is so quiet during your routines. They want everyone to succeed. It’s nice to be part of a team. I never expected this to happen.”
Karl believes floor exercise is her strongest event.
“That’s probably because I do competitive cheer for Gladstone,” she said. “I come from cheer practice, then my sister (Maggie) and I come here as much as we can. I definitely need to work on beam the most. It's mental. The beam is 42 inches off the floor. Sometimes you just have to do it. It’s the only way to overcome that mental block.”
Zelenak is happy with the team’s overall progress.
“Kristy got a qualifying score on beam, and Maggie came close in two events,” she said. “We have practice two days a week for the dual-sport athletes. It’s hard on the body. You’ve got to have rest days.”
BR-H sophomore Zoey Jorasz also made the Division 2 Regional last season, competing on vault, and joins her teammates in being thankful for this opportunity.
“It’s really cool having more girls,” she said. “You have a chance to make friends from the other schools.
“Vault is probably my strongest event. It’s also my favorite event because you can try different things. There’s lot of options. I think the season is going pretty good, but (I) need to gain confidence on floor. I need one more qualifying score for Regionals in vault.”
North Central sophomore Addysyn DeAngelo did middle school gymnastics in North Dakota.
“I never expected to have this opportunity,” she said. “I moved from North Dakota in eighth grade. This is a big change. When I was younger, gymnastics wasn’t as hard. We pretty much stuck to the basics. This is a good learning experience. You have to be real disciplined. You also have to be willing to come to all practices.
“This has been a pretty good experience. I made a lot of new friends and like the girls I’m working with. … I think it will be fun to go downstate. I haven’t been down there much. That will be a chance to make some new friends.”
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.
PHOTO The Bark River-Harris gymnastics team takes a photo after finishing runner-up at the Escanaba Elks Invitational. (Photo courtesy of the Bark River-Harris gymnastics program.)