Preview: Power Pair Returning for Finals Rematch, New Individual Champs Set to Soar
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 5, 2026
Hartland breaking past perennial power Rockford to win last season’s MHSAA Finals team gymnastics championship seemed to put those two on a collision course to meet again with this season’s title on the line.
Seven teams scored at least 140 points at their Regionals last weekend. But Hartland and Rockford put up the top scores by solid margins and should again be favorites at Friday’s Team Final at Milford High School.
The individual competitions Saturday are guaranteed new champions, as both 2025 winners graduated. Hartland’s Alexis Fundich was a close second in Division 1 last season but will have to hold off a group that includes other past placers and a few top challengers competing at the Finals for the first time. In Division 2, nearly half of last season’s top 10 could make a run at climbing to the podium’s highest step.
Team competition begins at 4 p.m. Friday, with individual competition in both Divisions 1 and 2 beginning at noon Saturday. For information on purchasing tickets, Finals rotations for both days and Regional results, go to the Gymnastics page – and see below for several contenders to watch:
Team
Farmington United: The program with the third-most Finals team titles in MHSAA history finished second in 2024 and third last winter and will be in pursuit of a first championship since 2019. Farmington won its Regional last week at Birmingham Groves by less than a point ahead of Huron Valley United, 143.500-142.675, but finishing first on vault (36.850) and bars (35.325) and also topping 36 points on beam.
Hartland: The Eagles won last season’s team title by 2.05 points ahead of Rockford, and the title was the program’s first since 1999. They posted the highest Regional score in the state last week, 147.750, to win at East Lansing by nearly seven points and with scores of 36.150 on bars, 36.825 on vault, 37.200 on beam and 37.575 on floor – the beam and floor scores exceeding what they posted at last year’s Final.
Rockford: The Rams own the record for most Finals championships – seven – and saw their three-year championship streak end with a runner-up finish last winter. But they certainly could make it four titles in five years this week after winning their Regional week with a 146.275 at their home gym. A 36.900 on beam and 37.450 scores on vault and floor were especially notable.
Division 1
Mikayla Dicks, Farmington United senior: She will compete at her first MHSAA Finals after finishing second all-around at her Regional with a 36.900 and first places on vault (9.55) and bars (9.625).
Olivia Flatt, Hartland junior: She competed on three apparatuses at last season’s Final with high places of fifth on beam and vault, and will compete all-around this time after finishing third at her Regional with a 36.375 while tying for first on beam (9.5).
Alexis Fundich, Hartland senior: The reigning all-around runner-up missed the championship last season by only a few tenths of a point and won floor. She returns after winning her Regional all-around with a 37.950 and first places on bars (9.675), beam (9.5, tied) and floor (9.825).
Kate Gostlin, Hartland senior: She will graduate having competed at Finals all four years of high school, and improved all-around from 23rd as a sophomore to 12th last season with a championship on vault. She should make another big jump all-around after finishing second to Fundich at their Regional with a 36.600 – which included a win on vault (9.8).
Isabella Janiga, Tecumseh sophomore: The Brooklyn Columbia Central student competes for Tecumseh as part of a cooperative program and finished 14th all-around last season. She’ll return after winning her Regional all-around last week at 36.300 with a first place on beam (9.425).
Grace LaFlure, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills senior: She will also compete at the Finals for the first time after finishing second all-around at her Regional with a 36.225 that included a first place on bars (8.85).
Stella Musialowski, Huron Valley United senior: She could make a run at the all-around championship after improving from tied for 15th as a sophomore to sixth last season and winning her Regional all-around last week with a 37.225 that included a first place on floor (9.55).
Elise Watkins, Rockford senior: She’s made an impressive progression from competing on two apparatuses in Division 2 as a freshman, to finishing 18th in Division 1 all-around as a sophomore and competing on three apparatuses in Division 1 as a junior. She will enter her last Finals coming off a Regional-winning 36.425 all-around that included first places on beam (9.425) and floor (9.625).
Division 2
Taliya Andrews, East Lansing Catholic DeWitt junior: She competed on Division 1 floor as a freshman and returns to the Finals after finishing a close second at her Regional in all-around at 36.150 with a first place on floor (9.45).
Baylee Bartlett, Grand Ledge senior: She could make a run at the all-around title after finishing sixth a year ago and third last week at her Regional with a 35.200 that included a tie for first place on beam (9.3).
Rae DeFrang, Rockford junior: She won her Regional all-around at 36.900 with a first place on bars (9.15) and second places on the other three apparatuses. She finished 12th all-around at last year’s Final.
Reese DeFrang, Rockford junior: She’s the reigning Division 2 vault champion and will compete all-around at the Finals for the first time after finishing third at her Regional with a 36.025 and winning vault (9.6).
Phoebe Elder, Haslett United senior: She went from competing on three apparatuses as a sophomore to finishing 11th all-around in Division 1 last season, and could make another jump into contention after winning last week’s Regional all-around with a 36.325 and a first place on bars (9.375).
Isabel Galindo, Plymouth senior: After tying for eighth all-around last season, she enters this weekend as a contender coming off a Regional championship score of 35.200 with a first place on vault (9.175).
Lillian Green, Rockford junior: She finished third all-around at last season’s Final and heads into this weekend after scoring a 36.275 Regional all-around to finish second with first places on floor (9.3) and beam (9.3).
Olivia Lothian, Lowell junior: She went from competing on two apparatuses as a freshman to finishing fifth all-around last season. She placed fourth behind the Rockford trio at their Regional with a 35.350 and top-11 places on every apparatus.
Aubrey Woodman, Farmington United junior: She’s won bars at the Finals both of her first two seasons and could contend for the all-around title this weekend after winning her Regional with a 35.700 and another bars title (9.0).
PHOTOS (Top) A gymnast performs her bars routine during last season’s MHSAA Team Final at Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills. (Middle) Haslett United’s Phoebe Elder competes on floor exercise during the Division 1 individual meet. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)
LFLF Gymnastics Turns Rivals Into Teammates, Friends
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 16, 2021
When members of the Linden/Fenton/Lake Fenton gymnastics team come together, new friendships are formed, and school rivalries are put to the side.
Well, mostly.
“Lauren (Hayden) is actually on the Fenton soccer team,” Linden senior Apryl Smith said. “My friends are on the Linden girls soccer team, so when I’m at the game, I’m cheering for both. But I tell her, ‘Linden is going to beat you.’”
It’s all in good fun for the LFLF teammates, as the three schools have been competing together for seven years all under the direction of Nancy Holden, who runs the local youth program, Gymstars Gymnastics, and started the high school co-op team.
This year’s team features nine gymnasts, with six from Linden (Smith, Reygan Acox, Kynleigh Copeland, Grace Cross, Eva Lau and Avery Miller), two from Fenton (Hayden and Maty Temrowski) and one from Lake Fenton (Natasha Duden). It carries the Linden name, as that’s the school that originally had the largest contingent and helped Holden launch the program.
“When they were younger, their competitions were more about themselves and their own placements and ribbons,” said Holden, who competed for Hartland High School. “Now that it’s a high school team, it’s a team event. Even though they’re individuals, it’s still a team event, so doing well for your team is kind of the goal. We’re getting ready for Regionals (Saturday at Grand Ledge), and we’re just trying to go in there as a team and do well as a team. We want to keep the girls focused on that, because if they do well for the team, they’ll do well for themselves.”
Smith and Hayden – the only seniors on this year’s team – are both appreciative of the opportunity to compete at the high school level, even if they’ve never really thought it wouldn’t be an option for them.
“I think it started out when I was young enough to not even realize that it had started,” Hayden said.
If that appreciation ever were to fade, the LFLF gymnasts don’t have to look far for someone who didn’t have their same opportunity. Katie Holden, Nancy’s daughter and assistant coach, graduated from Fenton in 2011, before her mother had started the high school team.
“I’m living through them a little bit,” Katie said with a laugh. “But (coaching the team is) very rewarding.”
While Katie couldn’t compete as a high schooler, she did start her coaching career with the Gymstars while she was at Fenton, and has been doing so for more than a decade. She’s been an assistant with LFLF for the past three years.
The mother-daughter team meshes well with one another.
“We get along 99 percent of the time, so it’s really great,” Katie said. “I think we balance each other perfectly, especially age-wise. I can connect with the girls, then my mom’s there to lay down the law. It’s a really nice dynamic. I got to watch growing up how she taught, and what helped me get through my years of gymnastics. I’m a personal trainer, as well, so I have more of that conditioning aspect that I can bring to the team.”
Katie handles the team’s choreography on the floor and balance beam, while Nancy brings nearly 30 years of experience coaching gymnastics.
“I think we are a great team together,” Nancy said. “With her youth, she can connect with the girls really well. She’s got that great, fun, young personality, so the girls really like her and they can relate to her. She has that youthful dance expertise, and I think together, we make a great team.”
Perhaps as important as the way the Holdens complement one another, is the fact they’ve been working with most of the LFLF team members since they were young gymnasts.
“I think it’s helpful because if I was going into a new gym, I think I would have been a little wary,” said Hayden, who joined Gymstars 15 years ago. “Knowing them for years, then going to the next level already knowing them, I could be myself and progress as a gymnast without having to worry about showing them what I can do.”
Hayden has thrived in high school competition, winning a Division 2 Regional all-around and balance beam title in 2019. Smith was third in that year’s Regional, as Linden qualified for the MHSAA Finals as a team. While there were no 2020 Finals because of COVID-19, Smith was a Regional runner-up.
That experience helps build confidence for Saturday’s Regional, and also allows them to assist their younger teammates as they enter the postseason.
“I think it helps stress-wise,” Smith said. “We all get super stressed out because you get one chance and it’s make or break. It’s not like throughout the season I did good, so I get to go to states. It’s not like that. It gives me a little more reassurance that I have the skill to get there, and I just have to perform well. As someone in a leadership role, I try to tell them to focus on the skill rather than being at Regionals.”
There’s some optimism within the program that another trip to the Finals is possible.
“We’ve had a great team this year,” Nancy Holden said. “We have really nice team dynamics, and everybody's having fun and getting along, which is sometimes a challenge when you have three different schools coming together. We are hoping that we can be one of the top three teams (in the region) so we can make it to states as a team. That’s always the goal, but it doesn’t mean that it will happen on that day. We just have to make sure we hit our routines. We’re looking forward to that opportunity.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Students from three schools form together the Linden/Fenton/Lake Fenton girls gymnastics team again this season. (Middle) LFLF’s Apryl Smith performs her routine on the balance beam. (Below) Katie Holden, left, and Nancy Holden form a daughter/mother coaching team. (Photos courtesy of Nancy Holden.)