Canton Gymnasts Win State Finals Trip

The girls gymnastics team took first place Saturday afternoon in the MSHAA regionals. Next week, the gymnasts head to the state finals.

The Chiefs cleaned up, besting a field of 10 schools to advance to the championship match.

“We threw out nines in two events where we didn’t even need them,” said Canton High School coach John Cunningham, referring to the high scores that his gymnasts earned in balance beam and floor routine events on a 10-point scale.

“We weren’t 100 percent today but it was as close as it was going to get. I am extremely pleased,” he said.

Canton competes in the state championship for teams on Friday. Eight gymnasts advance to Saturday’s individual event championships.

“It’s an amazing feeling to know that our hard work paid off,” said Canton junior Ayana Lewis, who finished among the top eight in five events, including taking first place in the Division 2 individual vault, balance beam, floor routine and uneven parallel bar events.

“I think I did pretty good. I had a couple of slip-ups, but I can fix those before next week,” she said.

The seven other Canton gymnasts set to compete for individual state titles are: freshmen Melissa Green and Erica Lucas; sophomores Alex Fideler and Nicole Lasecki; seniors and senior co-captains Robyn Piwowar, Brooke Granowicz and Kali Pierce.

Joining Canton at the state finals will be second-place Dearborn's Ford High School and third-place Salem High School. Canton finished with a combined point total of 146.75

“We missed our school record by less than two-tenths of a point,” Cunningham said. The school record is 147.1. “If we can manage a 147 next week, we can beat two of the three other teams. If we score higher, we can beat all three."

Canton faces Rockford, Haslett and Troy-Athens high schools at Friday's state finals.

Down but Not Out

Among the bottom seven teams that missed the cut this afternoon was , which finished sixth and seventh-place . While the teams won't compete for a state title on Friday, gymnasts from both schools will compete in the individual events on Saturday.

Northville High senior Alison Kemp and sophomore Taylor Dempsey will compete individually as will Plymouth High senior and team captain Reagan Engstrom and sophomore Jane McCurry.

“The girls did really good today,” said Plymouth High School coach Pam Yockey. “And the judges did an excellent job. The girls got exactly what they have been scoring all season.”

Plymouth's team captain, junior Reagan Engstrom, placed fourth in the Division 2 balance beam event, which made Yockey beam with excitement.

“She is a very consistent performer,” Yockey said of Engstrom. “She is one of the best leaders I’ve had in years. She is very intense, a hard worker.”

McCurry earned her berth with a three-way tie for sixth place in the Division 2 floor routine event.

“Jane is new to the floor routine,” said Yockey. “She is an absolutely powerful tumbler. To make it to the state finals coming from a non-gymnastics background is phenomenal. She puts absolutely everything into everything she does.”

The MHSAA team finals are scheduled to start Friday at 2 p.m., at Kenowa Hills High School in Grand Rapids; individual gymnasts are scheduled to compete for state titles on Saturday starting at 3:30 p.m.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect the accurate score Canton High School coach John Cunningham said he'd like the gymnastics team to score at state finals this week.