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.)
Troy's Shabet Finishes with a First
March 9, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
CANTON – Christina Shabet knew it wasn't the best thing to do during a competition. But she couldn't keep back the tears Saturday after falling off the beam for the second time.
She’d also just watched another competitor put up a great score on the apparatus, and those two together seemed to spell the end of Shabet’s pursuit of the MHSAA Division 1 championship this winter.
“I’d worked so hard, and I fell on the easiest skill I have in my routine,” Shabet said. “I was kinda devastated, and I thought, ‘Oh no, I’m not going to place at all.’
“I thought it was all over. But I went out on floor and just gave it everything.”
The Troy junior realized soon after that the competitor she'd watched do well on beam was competing in Division 2 instead. Shabet knocked out her floor routine – to go with top-seven places on bars and vault – and finished with 37.700 points to claim the all-around championship by only two tenths of a point over Coldwater senior Kylie Dudek.
Shabet didn't finish first on any apparatus. But her 9.75 on floor certainly made a huge difference, as did her 9.4 to tie for seventh on vault and 9.35 to finish fifth on bars.
Her all-around score was nearly a point higher than when she finished seventh in 2012.
“You know how you’re supposed to write down goals? I wrote it down along with my do good on the ACT thing too,” said Shabet, who then confirmed the ACT also worked out well. “I've been working so hard. It’s really nice that it pays off.”
The beam doomed a number of Division 1 contenders Saturday, although Dudek was able to come back from two falls and a score of 8.6 to finish with an all-around 37.500.
She won bars with a 9.8, was third on floor with a 9.7 and tied for seventh on vault with a 9.4 – and moved up three spots overall after finishing fifth in 2012.
“I struggled on beam … and I didn’t do the vault I normally do. But overall, I’m pretty happy,” Dudek said.
“Just having all the school records I’ve broken this year, and placing at state in the top three. That was my goal, and I did it.”
The top six placers in Division 1 all finished within 0.525 of the lead. Farmington freshman Carina Wright came in third with a 37.375 all-around score.
Four gymnasts each earned one apparatus championship in Division 1. Pinckney senior Ashley Hextall moved from up Division 2 last season to win vault with a 9.650. Canton sophomore Jocelyn Moraw had to amaze those who had also watched her during Friday’s Team Final, winning the beam with a 9.55 despite a slight limp and while competing through hamstring and back injuries. Grand Ledge’s Rachel Hogan, only a freshman, won floor with a 9.8 – which tied the Division 1 meet record for the event.
Hogan’s teammate, junior Presley Allison, claimed the Division 2 all-around championship after placing third the last two seasons. She scored a 37.875 to edge another teammate, senior Lauren Clark, by three tenths of a point.
Allison took first on both floor (9.7) and beam (9.675) and tied with Canton junior Erica Lucas (9.525) for first on vault in posting the second-highest Division 2 score in Finals history (Clark’s 37.575 was the third-highest.). Allison is the third-straight Comets Division 2 champ, and like predecessors Christine Wilson and Sara Peltier, she intends to move up to Division 1 for her senior season..
“Being Division 2 champion was my ultimate goal. I just tried to keep calm and not let my nerves get to me,” Allison said.
“I really wanted to win Division 2 before I jumped up to Division 1. It gives me more confidence to go into Division 1.”
Grosse Pointe United senior Emma Abessinio – third in the all-around – won the Division 2 bars with a 9.075.
Allison’s scores on beam and floor both set Division 2 Finals records.
PHOTOS: (Top) Troy junior Christina Shabet competes on the beam during Saturday's MHSAA Individual Finals at Plymouth High School. She won the Division 1 title. (Middle) Coldwater senior Kylie Dudek performs her floor routine en route to a second-place all-around finish in Division 1. (Bottom) Grand Ledge junior Presley Allison won the Division 2 individual title after finishing third each of the last two seasons. (Photos by Gregory Long. Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)