United, Farmington Vaults to Team Title
March 9, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
ROCKFORD – Farmington Unified gymnastics coach Jeff Dwyer knows what a championship team looks like.
And he had a feeling he saw one before Friday’s MHSAA Team Final at Rockford High School.
The calm. The energy to compete. The singing.
The gymnastics championship meet often comes down to the smallest of margins, and this time the top three teams were separated by a mere three tenths of a point.
Farmington United was just a few tenths better than the rest, scoring 144.750 to edge Northville and Rockford for a first MHSAA title in this sport since 2006.
“We are such a team, and we are so strong together,” Farmington United senior Elisa Bills said. “No matter what other teams are doing, no matter what high score we see, we forget about it and keep going and continue to the next event.
“It didn’t matter if someone fell or hit. It didn’t matter, because as a team, we were happy. And we just put everything out there and did our best.”
Farmington United – made up this season of athletes from Farmington and North Farmington – was followed by Northville at 144.550 and Rockford at 144.450. Northville’s finish was its highest since coming in runner-up as part of a co-op team with Novi in 2002. Rockford’s finish similarly was impressive – the Rams were competing for their fourth straight MHSAA Finals championship, but doing so without a senior and with only three juniors taking the mat.
Farmington United had a bit more experience, starting with Bills, the reigning Division 2 individual champion who will compete for a repeat title Saturday. One of two seniors on her team, Bills posted the highest all-around score of Friday’s competition, 36.700. Junior Kacey Noseworthy had the day’s fourth-highest all-around at 36.450, and senior Emily Stecevic also came up big with a 34.950.
As a team, Farmington United didn’t place first on any of the four apparatus – but came in second on bars, beam and floor. Juniors Shelby Smith and Ava Farquhar, sophomore Lily Tyler and freshman Sydney Schultz also contributed scores.
“This just kinda floored me because these are not easy to win. I don’t even know if they know what they just did,” said Dwyer, who has led the program since 1986 and guided it to three straight titles from 2004-06 and runner-up finishes in 2008 and 2010.
“There’s teams – like I was looking at them at Regionals and earlier today – I didn’t have to do a lot of coaching. They were the ones with game faces on, so I felt good about that. Some years you’ve gotta just get them on – ‘Hey we’re at the state meet, at the Regional meet’ – and I told them before this meet, if I had to bet on a team to have a chance to win it, I’m going to bet with you guys.”
That might not have seemed like the best idea even a few weeks ago. Bills missed much of the second half of the regular season with a knee injury and didn’t return full strength until the Regional a week ago.
Her teammates picked up the slack, including finishing first Jan. 31 at the Canton Invitational without her against a field including many of the state’s top teams.
Coming back from the injury admittedly was the “scariest thing ever” for Bills. But there’s no way she would’ve missed this. “Coming back and winning this title was the best thing – all I wanted to do,” she said.
Meanwhile, there was little disappointment as Northville gymnasts took photos with their runner-up trophy Friday night. The Mustangs had improved from ninth in 2017, and cut the margin against Farmington significantly after finishing nearly four points behind Bills and her teammates at last week’s Regional.
Senior Erin McCallum and sophomore Maria Scavnicky competed all-around, posting scores of 36.550 and 35.325, respectively. As a team, Northville posted the highest scores on both bars and beam.
“Since the very beginning, this is what we’ve wanted to do,” said McCallum, whose all-around score was the day’s third highest. “Even if things didn’t go our way, we just kept pushing.
“(From the start this season) I could just tell – people wanted to be here, they wanted to work hard and they wanted to do this.”
Rockford finished first as a team on floor, and Brighton was first on beam. Livonia Blue, Brighton, Plymouth and Howell all cleared 140 points to follow the top three in that order, respectively.
Rockford junior Reagan Ammon (36.675), Howell sophomore Taylor Gillespie (36.350), Brighton senior Sarah Mosset (36.275) and Livonia Blue freshman Kenna Fedrigo (36.050) also broke 36 points all-around.
Individual competition in both divisions begins at noon Saturday at Rockford.
Click for full Team Finals results.
PHOTOS: (Top) Farmington United begins celebrating after hearing it has won its first MHSAA team championship since 2006. (Middle) Farmington United's Kacey Noseworthy performs her bars routine. (Below) Rockford's Morgan Case works toward her 9.4 on floor exercise. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Schrauben Finds Way Back to Gymnastics, Follows Path to Top of Finals Podium
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
March 14, 2025
The last thing Sydnee Schrauben enjoys is time on her hands.
During her previous breaks between fall field hockey and spring lacrosse, the Rockford senior had opted to throw herself into the school’s musical theatre program and appeared in productions such as "Shrek the Musical" and "Mamma Mia."
But this winter, when the Rockford senior found herself with little to do between those sports, Schrauben decided to reevaluate a return to gymnastics, which she had dabbled in growing up but eventually gave up prior to entering high school.
She and close friend Ava Ezell opted to come out for the Rams team.
"I've never been one to not do something," Schrauben explained.
While Schrauben is accomplished enough athletically to land a lacrosse scholarship to Coker University in Huntsville, S.C., next season and an excellent field hockey player as well, she had modest expectations for gymnastics. After all, she hadn't participated since eighth grade when the mental and physical demands of the sport became too great.
Her thinking was that gymnastics would keep her close to friends, fulfill her competitive drive for a few months and generally just give her something to do after school. But accomplishing something as grand as winning a state title? No chance, Schrauben said.
She was wrong.
Schrauben placed among the top five in two events while winning the MHSAA Division 2 all-around championship last weekend at Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills.
It's a story that includes more than simply brushing aside long odds to win a championship. Schrauben hadn’t been around a balance beam or attempted a floor exercise for three years and enjoyed phenomenal success.
"I was very, very shocked," she said. "I was top-five in all-around in a couple meets, but after winning (the Final) I cried. It was a very surreal moment. Everyone has a dream (of) being awesome, but you never really think it's gonna happen to you."
Schrauben said she improved her scores as the season progressed and had a goal of scoring a 36 in all-around in her final meet. She actually bettered that by a fraction despite, she admitted, surviving a couple missteps.
Schrauben had to overcome not even placing among the top 36 in floor and finishing 25th in vault. That was done by winning beam (9.6) and taking fourth on bars (8.7). Her overall score of 36.025 in all-around outdistanced Rams teammates Kate Tracey (35.9) and Lillian Green (35.85), who finished second and third, respectively.
"I wanted a 36 in all-around and (to) hit all my routines, but that didn't happen,” Schrauben said. “But things worked out fine. I just told myself not to worry and go out and do the things I've done all year."
Not only did Schrauben have to shake off years’ worth of cobwebs to win, she also overcame a midseason ankle injury that put her foot in a boot for six weeks. But in a strange way, the injury may have benefitted her as she was able to step back from the sport and take a deep breath.
"I definitely fell behind, and when you stop training that's going to bring down your scores, but at the same time it gave me time to perfect working on bars and beam," she said.
"Bars and beam are my best events. I just wanted to have a solid meet and bump up my all-around score, and they helped me immensely."
Rockford coach Michelle Ankney said Schrauben's Finals title can best be described as the culmination of possessing athleticism, mental toughness, an ability to focus on what's at hand and a unique competitive drive.
"It's a combination of all the above," Ankney said. "She's a fantastic athlete, competitively very driven, has a mental talent and is fearless. She's doing this, and I just stared at her. I said, 'I can't believe she's doing this.'"
Winning was an amazing achievement, and a direct result of Schrauben attempting to harness something she's always recognized deep within herself.
"I get bored easily," she said. "I wanted to do something, whether it was a job or another sport or whatever. But then I found I kind of missed gymnastics. I thought doing something in my final season would bring back a love of sport and I'd end on a good note."
PHOTOS (Top) Rockford’s Sydnee Schrauben takes her first strides of a vault run during the MHSAA Individual Finals on March 8 at Kenowa Hills. (Middle) Schrauben takes a photo at a state gymnastics competition prior to high school. (Below) The Rams senior tops the podium for Division 2 all-around last weekend. (Click for more from this season’s Finals from High School Sports Scene.)