The vault judge raised her hand, and Milford senior Sophia Stankov exploded down the track. As she approached her target, she jumped onto the springboard and did a full twist off the vaulting table, sticking the landing on the chalk-covered blue mat. This was the only event Stankov competed in during the season kick-off on Saturday, Nov. 23, but she earned an excellent 9.05, one of her best scores to date for the event.
Stankov is one of 17 members of the Huron Valley gymnastics team, which recently kicked off their 24-25 season after earning many accolades the past few years.
(Addison Scigliano)
While Stankov had seniority and had the opportunity to compete in more events, she only chose her favorite: vault. This event is a favorite among the team, but only six girls get to do it at competitions. Out of the four events— vault, floor, beam, and bars— Stankov doesn’t compete on bars anymore because she “gave up on that a while ago.” She considers bars as one of hardest, but this feeling is not reciprocated from her teammate, Milford sophomore Lexi Hincka who qualified for States in both bars and vault last year.
Hincka was confident as a freshman at States and even accepted a dare from her Lakeland sophomore teammate, Gabby Marino, for $5. The dare was to completely mess up her second try at vault, as they got two attempts. “My first one was fine and then Gabby would pay me $5 if I did it, so I did it.” Hincka is very assured in her skills, even beam as she’s learning more for that event this year. Hincka is assured she’ll make it far again this year. “I already know I’m gonna be better,” said Hincka. “Confidence is key.” Although Hincka is confident, she was surprisingly nervous during their first competition. Nevertheless, nerves didn’t stop her from getting outstanding scores in both floor and bars.
Although a few seniors graduated and left, there’s a new flock of freshmen added to the team and even one junior. Eight of the 17 gymnasts are new this year, but almost all of them have been doing gymnastics since they could walk. Stankov began training in Mommy/Daughter classes at around three-years-old. Even though it was basic back then, she stuck with the sport. “I’ve always just loved it,” Stankov said. “It’s been a constant. It’s never been a choice between something else— it’s always just been gymnastics.”
For some of the seven new freshmen, sticking with the team is an iffy possibility. But, it’s only the start of the season so it is normal for freshmen to be on the fence about continuing. Lakeland freshman Harper Brancheau said, “I like the team. I think, as freshmen, they’re all very kind and welcoming to us.” As Nov. 23 was their first high school competition, some of the freshmen were nervous. Lakeland freshman Hailey Granger was anxious to compete, but was glad that it’s more of an individual sport. “I like how we can focus just on ourselves, and if we make a mistake it only affects us.” Hincka, who, even as a freshman, was head strong in her abilities, said, “Just don’t be scared and just go. And then you’ll do it and you’ll be fine and then you’ll get the skill and keep progressing,” she advised. “You can’t have fear in gymnastics or else you won’t go anywhere.”
(Addison Scigliano)
Many of the girls did the Junior Olympics (JO) for gymnastics, which is competition gymnastics with different levels based on the person’s skill, said that high school level is a lot more calm and less stressful as they can just do what they want to do. “They’re a lot easier mentally,” Milford junior Stella Musialowski said. Hincka got thrown into JO after her parents put her in classes at Bounce Gymnastics in Hartland, MI, because they “wanted me out of the house and wanted to get my energy out,” said Hincka. Her talent was spotted at Bounce Gymnastics and she was recruited for JO, but she eventually stopped and joined the Huron Valley United Gymnastics team.
Musialowski had a similar experience, except she was enrolled because her brother played hockey in the same building, so to get her out of the house she started classes at age four. “It just took off from there—I loved it, didn’t want to stop doing it.” Hincka joked and said, “I wanted to stop.” She obviously didn’t stop, even after her hiatus in seventh grade playing basketball, saying she was a “baller.” Hincka and Marino even have a gymnastics YouTube channel, named “gabbylexivlogs.” Contrary to popular belief, Lakeland and Milford students CAN get along.
As with many sports, there are different cliques within the team. But it’s not just freshmen with freshmen, sophomores with sophomores, and so on. The grades intermingle, as everyone is at different levels, and the players are kind to each other as they spend a lot of time together. What’s the key to their success? “Lot’s of communication,” Marino said. Musialowski added, “Talking, that’s a big one that we do here.”
(Addison Scigliano)
The team is a combination of Milford and Lakeland students. Whereas this may cause some tension in different sports, it doesn’t with this team. One of the groups is composed of two Milford juniors (Tatum Langlay and Musialowski), a Milford sophomore (Hincka), and a Lakeland sophomore (Marino). “I wouldn’t be here without them,” Marino said, referring to her friends. “It also lets us meet new people,” Musialowski said. Being a part of this team consists of two and a half hour practices, day-long competitions on the weekends, and dual meets on Wednesdays, where it’s only one other team they’re competing against. The season runs from late Oct. through the second week of March when they attend the state meet.
Since half of the team is new, head coach Shannon Gohrmann and assistant coach Dave Demongey, who is a social studies teacher at Lakeland, decided to play the first competition by ear and see how the team fares with it. With only a few weeks of practices in and a few minor changes in the way scoring is to be taken, the coaches are already seeing improvements from both returning and new gymnasts. While Gohrmann has been a coach, her team has made it to the state meet almost every time. There is pressure to maintain their standing as regional winners as they have to place top three in order to qualify for states, but Gohrmann believes they’ll have more individual qualifiers for states this year. “I’m just excited for them to have a good season,” Gohrmann said.
(Addison Scigliano)
Musialowski, on the other hand, is under some pressure as she felt she didn’t do well at last season’s state meet. “I definitely want to redeem myself from that,” she said.
All in all, the Huron Valley United Gymnastics team has a long, but promising season just vaulting ahead of them.