No Question, Farmington #1 for 2018-19
March 8, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
ROCKFORD – Chasing last season’s MHSAA gymnastics championship may have been a bit more exciting for Farmington United.
But repeating at Friday night’s Team Final put the finishing touch on a dominating run that left no doubt which was the state’s best again this winter.
Compared to 2018, when Farmington ended Rockford’s three-season hold on the title and the top three teams were separated by three tenths of a point, this finish was a bit more comfortable.
Farmington – which won all of its meets this season – clinched the title this time with a score of 145.550, 1.3 points better than the runner-up Rams.
“It was actually more fun this year because we didn’t feel (like) as much of an underdog,” Farmington senior Kacey Noseworthy said. “We were coming in here confident, and we could believe it. But there was more pressure knowing that we kinda were expected to win.”
Farmington United – made up of gymnasts from Farmington High, North Farmington and Farmington Hills Harrison – posted the Final’s highest scores in the vault (37.700), the second highest on floor exercise (37.575), tied for the second-highest on balance beam (35.500) and then third highest on uneven parallel bars (34.775). After Rockford/Sparta, the next closest team was more than three points off the lead.
The margin was slimmer after Farmington finished its second rotation of the afternoon. But vault provided an opportunity to make a move – and longtime coach Jeff Dwyer’s gymnasts let their best fly.
Junior Elena Vargo threw a vault with a max score of 10.0, and she scored 9.80. Sophomore Sydney Schultz went with a vault she learned just two weeks ago with a max of 9.80, and she posted a 9.50.
“Vault is kinda a wild card. It’s one you sometimes hit and sometimes don’t,” said senior Ava Farquhar, who posted a 9.050 on the apparatus. “It’s hard, depending on the situation, the gym and the equipment. Going in, we all just tried our best. Warm-ups turned out pretty well, so we got a little excited.”
Vargo, a favorite in Saturday’s Division 1 individual competition, finished with the Team Final’s highest all-around score, 37.825. Noseworthy, a likely contender in Division 2, posted an all-around 35.775. Farquhar, Schultz, senior Shelby Smith, sophomore Allison Schultz and freshman Kamini Playle also contributed at least one score. Four of those seven also contributed to the winning team score in 2018.
“You’ve gotta have a pretty unique group of girls who can do it two years in a row,” Dwyer said. “And you can sense that, how they compete and how they work out in the gym. So I knew we had a shot again this year. But these (Finals) are hard to win.”
Plymouth followed Rockford/Sparta in third place, an improvement of three places from a year ago. First-time Finals qualifier Fowlerville finished fourth, and Livonia Blue edged Northville to round out the top five.
Reigning Division 1 individual champion Cate Gagnier of Grosse Pointe United, a sophomore, scored an all-around 36.400, as did Rockford/Sparta senior Reagan Ammon. Rams junior Morgan Case scored a 36.350, and Livonia Blue sophomore Makenna Fedrigo posted a 36.300 all-around.
Rockford/Sparta did post then highest scores on bars (35.075), beam (36.025) and floor (37.600) but only the seventh-highest on vault (35.550), 2.15 off Farmington's score on that apparatus.
“Farmington’s been like steady beating us the whole year, so we kinda thought we would get second with maybe a tiny chance at first,” said Case, a contributor on the 2017 championship team and last year’s runner-up as well. “But we’re really happy with what we did.”
The Individual Finals in both divisions begin at noon Saturday, and in addition to the championship Farmington United also might have won Dwyer his first good night’s sleep in a few days.
He said he hadn’t slept for three nights heading into Friday’s competition. But his gymnasts stepped up to the pressure of being the favorites with a perfect season on the line, taking the pressure off with an opportunity to sweep the individual titles up next.
“I think it just shows a testament, one, to our coaches; and two, to the family that we’ve made,” Farquhar said. “This sport is about making friendship, and your team really is a big part of it because it’s so mental. And I think our team put together a great team this year.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Farmington United gymnasts celebrate repeating as MHSAA Finals champions Friday. (Middle) Farmington teammates watch as Elena Vargo performs her bars routine. (Below) Rockford's Reagan Ammon takes her turn on floor.
Farmington United's Hodge Combines Mental Edge with Superior Skills
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
March 7, 2025
Leah Hodge is the first to admit she might not be in the hunt to repeat as an MHSAA Finals champion without snatching up her headphones and locating a cozy corner of a frantic gymnasium.
It's there that the North Farmington senior gymnast said she finds the peace of mind to fend off the pressures of a demanding sport where state championships are often decided by fractions of a point. It's a place of serenity which Hodge routinely uses to mentally regroup, focus on the next event and shrug off any disappointments of previous ones.
In fact, Hodge said if she was a gymnastics coach, her first piece of advice to a team would be to find a way of remaining calm in a sport packed with the pressure to perform.
"It definitely becomes mental because you're watching the other girls and seeing their scores and know they're doing well, but I'm very confident knowing what I'm capable of," she said. "You just have to keep calm. Even if you fall once, you know you can make that up somewhere else. Mentally, you can't let it ruin your meet. You know you have one skill that you do once."
Hodge knows what she's talking about. She will compete in Friday's MHSAA team championship meet with Farmington United and Saturday's Individual Finals at Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills. A year ago, Hodge placed in the top six on all four apparatuses to win the Division 1 all-around competition. She won the bars, took second on vault, fourth on beam and sixth on floor.
It's a tough act to follow, but Hodge, a gymnast since she was 6 years old, is on pace to mirror those finishes. She recently took first at her Regional in all-around while winning every event except floor, where she was runner-up.
Farmington United coach Jeff Dwyer said Hodge is entirely correct in tracing her success to the ability to shut out outside noises during a meet.
"She's tough," Dwyer said. "She has a high mental ability to focus in a high-level meet. Leah just gets in this zone; she's really good mentally. She'll get back on her feet and say, 'What's next?' She's so talented, but she's also a gamer."
In gymnastics, championships can be decided by one-tenth of a point. Hodge said when a slip does happen, it's critical for the competitor to push it to the back of the mind and soldier on. Mistakes can linger and will only lead to disaster, she said.
"In gymnastics if you fall once you can't make it your mindset," Hodge said. "It's not like you can think, 'Well, I might as well throw it in.' You have to learn to overcome."
Statistically, Hodge is in the mix to capture virtually any event this weekend. She figures a 38.6 could win all-around, and that’s her season-best score. Hodge thinks the winner of the beam and vault will be around 9.7 and 9.9, and she's matched those scores. The winner of the floor will be around 9.7, Hodge believes, and her season-best in that event is a 9.75.
But there is a belief that this year's meet could be overall stronger than a year ago, so Hodge recognizes repeating will take a herculean effort, not to mention a break or two along the way.
"(Scores) can be so subjective, especially on the beam," she said. "You just want a confident day."
Whether or not Hodge wins a championship, it won't be through a lack of work. Success in gymnastics requires a year-long commitment, and Hodge said her season actually begins weeks after the MHSAA Finals. She figures she put in 30-40 hours of work from last March to June along with summer workouts three days a week for 2½ hours a day.
She balances that work with hobbies such as hanging out with friends, drawing, painting, listening to music and going to the beach. The Hodge family made a trek to South Africa last December to see cousins.
"You can only take so much gymnastics; you need to relax and try not to stress out," she said. "Because if you don't, then you feel like you didn't get a break."
Dwyer echoed those sentiments.
"It's a grind. You have to learn the necessary skills along the way, but a lot of it is getting to the state meet," he said. "Leah has worked hard for the last 10 months to get to that day."
PHOTOS (Top) Farmington United's Leah Hodge, center, stands atop the podium during last season's MHSAA Individual Finals. (Middle) Hodge readies for a tumbling pass during her floor exercise routine. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)