'Prepapalooza' Kicks Off 3-Week Celebration
May 31, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Nearly 30,000 athletes will take part over the next six days in what will again be the busiest week of the MHSAA calendar, with teams in all nine spring sports competing for District, Regional or Finals championships at sites across both peninsulas.
The first Finals champions of this spring will be awarded Wednesday in Upper Peninsula boys tennis (UPDATE: both U.P. tennis Finals have been moved to Thursday due to rainy weather concerns), followed by six more in Upper Peninsula boys and girls golf Thursday. Four divisions of Lower Peninsula girls tennis start their two-day tournament Friday, and on Saturday, more than 7,000 athletes will join them competing in four Lower and three Upper Peninsula Track & Field Finals.
In addition, baseball, softball and girls soccer teams begin District action tonight, with most of those tournaments wrapping Saturday. Girls and boys lacrosse teams continue Regional play this week, and Lower Peninsula boys golf teams will play Regionals on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Second Half again will serve as your home for all MHSAA Finals coverage, with correspondents providing stories and photos, along with full results, from all of the Upper Peninsula Finals this week and then all 18 LP and UP Finals this weekend, Lacrosse and LP Golf Finals on June 14, and Baseball, Softball and Soccer Finals being played June 19-21.
Check back as well for video highlights from most competitions and sign up to watch all broadcast tournament action over the next three weeks for only $9.95 on MHSAA.tv. All schedules, lists of competitors and tournament brackets updated with scores real-time can be found on MHSAA.com. Keep connected as well with the MHSAA’s social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
PHOTO: The Unionville-Sebewaing softball team celebrates last season's Division 4 championship.
Jackson ‘Just Gives Best,’ Proves Best of All in Finals Stunner
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
March 26, 2021
ROCKFORD – The Jackson Area gymnastics team entered Friday’s MHSAA Team Final at Rockford High School with no expectations.
They left with a shocking victory.
Jackson won the program’s first Finals by the slimmest of margins over runner-up Rockford/Sparta.
The senior-led squad finished with a team score of 144.775, while Rockford/Sparta ended the day with a 144.5.
“It’s unbelievable,” an emotional Jackson coach Marcy Miller said. “We just had no idea, and we didn’t want to know the scores. We just came in here trying to do our best, and we told the girls we didn’t want to be in last place. That was it.”
Jackson had never finished in the top 10 at the Finals. Its best previous finish was 12th – which made the win that much more surprising, as well as satisfying.
“We had no expectations coming in,” Miller said. “It’s been a hard year and a hard week, and they only got to practice two days. We just wanted to come here and have fun and I’m so proud of them. I could not ask for a better group of girls.”
The Finals victory was spearheaded by a talented core of four seniors: Cara Fries, Abi Grimm, Kaelin Schiffer and Amelia Hamlin.
“We didn’t look at any other scores, and we were in the dark as far as where we were versus where the other teams were,” Fries said. “I think in the end that turned out well when we were competing. When they were announcing the scores, I was just hoping that we had done it.”
Balance beam was the event that propelled Jackson to the top.
It scored a team total of 36.825 on that apparatus, which was the highest of the 14 teams competing.
“They stayed on the beam, they stuck beam and they were confident on the beam,” Miller said. “And they just took that confidence into everything they did today. Our seniors were great leaders, and not only are they fantastic gymnasts, but they are good humans and that’s more important than anything else.”
Jackson had placed runner-up at Regionals to Rockford/Sparta, trailing by five hundredths of a point.
“This feels awesome, and we had no idea coming in what to expect because we had never placed anywhere near the top,” Hamlin said. “This is the first time for us, and we were all just shocked. After each meet, we just wanted to do better and better and we came here and put it all out there and it paid off.”
Added Grim: “I just wanted the team to come in here and have fun and leave it all on the equipment. Last year we didn’t get a state finals, so the fact that we got one this year is really amazing.”
Schiffer said it was a memorable meet.
“It’s pretty cool to win the first one, and we accomplished everything we could’ve dreamed of,” she said.
Rockford/Sparta was seeking its first Finals’ win since 2017. The team won three consecutive titles from 2015-17 and placed runner-up in 2019 to Farmington.
“We are so thrilled with our second-place finish,” Rockford/Sparta coach Michelle Ankney said. “We came out and bettered ourselves from Regionals on two of our events and just did what we could. I’m very proud of where we ended up.”
Rockford/Sparta graduated six seniors from a year ago, when the Finals was canceled due to the pandemic.
“All of these girls were brand new to state competition, so they did great,” Ankney said. “We will graduate only one senior, so we will be back next year.”
Ankney, whose team was led by Lacey Scheid, said the opportunity to compete this season was a blessing.
“We kept our fingers crossed for a season,” she said. “I was a little nervous all week that something was going to happen, so to get to the end was a huge relief. We competed today, and they had so much fun.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Jackson Area claimed its first Team Finals championship Friday in part because of a meet-best 37.725 on floor exercise. (Middle) Rockford/Sparta finished runner-up overall and also broke 37 points on floor. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)