Today In The MHSAA: 11/12/21
November 12, 2021
1. VOLLEYBALL No. 2 Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central needed to come back from a 2-1 deficit to get past honorable mention Brooklyn Columbia Central in a Division 3 Regional Final – Monroe News
2. VOLLEYBALL No. 3 Battle Creek St. Philip came back from a 2-1 deficit to get past No. 2 Athens in five and win a Division 4 Regional title – Battle Creek Enquirer
3. VOLLEYBALL No. 4 Rockford advanced to next week’s Division 1 Quarterfinals with a sweep of No. 6 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central – FOX 17
4. VOLLEYBALL After defeating No. 4 Bronson in the Regional Semifinal, Watervliet finished a Regional title run with a win over honorable mention Kalamazoo Christian – WWMT
5. VOLLEYBALL No. 9 Reese came back after losing the first set to defeat No. 8 Cass City 3-2 in Division 3 – Saginaw News
6. VOLLEYBALL Indian River Inland Lakes claimed its first Regional title since 1995 with a 3-1 win over Rudyard in Division 4 – Cheboygan Daily Tribune
7. VOLLEYBALL Davison won its first Regional title since 1995, sweeping Traverse City West in a matchup of Division 1 honorable mentions – Flint Journal
8. VOLLEYBALL Allen Park Inter-City Baptist avenged its pair of regular-season losses to No. 8 Plymouth Christian Academy with a four-set Division 4 Regional Final win – Southgate News-Herald
9. VOLLEYBALL No. 7 Northville advanced in Division 1 with a sweep of honorable mention Saline – Ann Arbor News
10. VOLLEYBALL Honorable mention McBain avenged last season’s Division 3 Regional Final loss to Beaverton with a sweep – Cadillac News
Rockford Shows Skill Across Every Event in Reclaiming Team Title
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 11, 2022
WHITE LAKE – There was definitely a different routine for Rockford before the actual routines began for the 2022 MHSAA Team Gymnastics Final on Friday at Lakeland High School.
For the first time since 2014, Rockford didn’t play host to the event.
So instead of coming to its home gym and trying to help set everything up, the Rams instead went through a bus trip and the process of getting acclimated to a new environment.
But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“I think it helped,” Rockford senior Anna Tracey said. “It allowed us to have some team bonding before we got to the meet. We just talked to each other and had fun.”
Indeed, Rockford did just fine away from home, reclaiming the championship throne by edging Grand Ledge. The Rams had 143.825 points to Grand Ledge’s total of 143.500.
After finishing as Final runner-up in 2019 and 2021 (the 2020 meet was cancelled due to COVID-19), Rockford won its first title since claiming the last of three in a row in 2017.
“We always want it, and we always are hopeful for it,” Rockford head coach Michele Ankney said. “We knew we were in the running this year. We weren’t sure where we would line up in the end. Gymnastics is a fickle sport sometimes.”
Rockford was the only team to have at least one top-four finish in every event, starting off by scoring third in the floor exercise.
Following a fourth-place finish in the bars and a third-place finish on the vault, the Rams saved their best for their last event, finishing first on the beam.
Leading the way was junior Lacey Scheid, who had a 9.550 on the floor, a 9.400 on the vault, a 9.100 on the bars and a 9.525 on the beam.
Tracey had a 9.175 on the floor, an 8.975 on the vault, an 8.850 on the bars and a 9.525 on the beam to flank Scheid for Rockford.
“We started strong,” Ankney said. “Our floor and bars were solid. And then we had a few mistakes on bars and beam and we didn’t know what that was going to do to us. This is 100 percent surprise right here.”
Traditional power Grand Ledge was seeking its first title since winning the last of six in a row in 2013, and the Comets finished first in both the floor and vault.
But a seventh-place finish in the beam and a sixth-place finish on the bars proved to be Grand Ledge’s undoing.
“We normally score higher on bars and a lot higher on beam,” longtime Comets head coach Duane Haring said. “Just nerves. I guess I’d be nervous too. But they did really well. Second place is nothing to sneeze at.”
The highest Metro Detroit finisher was Livonia Red, which took third with 142.950 points.
Brighton was fourth at 141.000, while Salem rounded out the top five with 140.825 points.
PHOTOS Click to see more by HighSchoolSportsScene.com.