Farmington United Gymnastics earned second in the Michigan High School Athletic Association Team State Finals March 8 at Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills High School.
By: Jonathan Szczepaniak | Farmington Press | Published March 18, 2024
FARMINGTON HILLS — It was a surreal feeling for Farmington United junior Leah Hodge as she was crowned the Division 1 all-around Individual State Champion.
The team’s frontwoman gave the individual state finals everything she had March 9 at Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills High School, so it was difficult not to reminisce on the mountains she had to move in order to be on the mat.
A club gymnast before high school, Hodge decided against joining the varsity squad for an array of reasons.
“I wanted to take off just because I started to get sick and I had my knee surgery, so there was just a lot going on with me,” Hodge said. “I just needed the time. Since I was taking time off from club, my friend Elena (Anzivino) was asking if I wanted to join high school. Since my knee was better and I always loved the sport, I decided to come back.”
In her sophomore year just days before the regional meet, where Farmington United, a co-op of North Farmington and Farmington High School, would end up qualifying for states, Hodge would suffer another setback with a knee injury.
A year later and finally healthy and confident after physical therapy and easing her way back into competition, Hodge would become the Division 1 State Champion in the all-around with impressive finishes in bars (1st), vault (2nd), beam (4th) and floor (6th).
“I was so ecstatic, especially for not just myself but for the team as a whole,” Hodge said. “I was just so happy that I even had the opportunity to be a state champion.”
Farmington held a plethora of standout performers in the individual state championship with sophomore Aubrey Woodman benign crowned Division 2 state champion on bars and junior Bella Thibodeau (T-3rd), junior Elena Anzivino (6th), sophomore Ayla Hougard (T-7th), and junior Sophia Yee (T-9th) all placing in the top-10 on bars.
Yee’s fifth-place finish on beam and Anzivino’s ninth-place finish on floor rounded out the top-10 finishes for Farmington in the four events.
While Hodge claimed the top spot in Division 1 all-around, a slew of Farmington gymnasts found themselves in the top-20 of the Division 2 all-around with Yee (5th), Thibodeau (6th), Anzivino (T-8th) and senior Isabelle Dechen (18th) all performing well in a field of 82 competitors.
While the ladies flexed their muscles individually, Farmington put on their best team performance at the team state finals March 8 since winning back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019.
“Before we knew the scores and found out where we placed, I sat the girls down and told them, ‘You guys killed it,’” Farmington United coach Jeff Dwyer said. “We couldn’t have done any better. We reflected on how we started this thing last spring, thinking about the end of the year and what we wanted to accomplish. We knew we wanted to be one of the top teams in the state.”
Rockford edged Farmington by two-tenths of a point (144-143.8), earning Dwyer and company state runner-up.
In a sport as meticulous as gymnastics, a point deduction can be warranted from the slightest of movements, and Dwyer said his team couldn’t have performed better.
“That’s a knee-bend,” Dwyer said. “That’s what that is. It was exciting. It’s a different feeling if you’re one of the top teams and you have a so-so meet and you think back like, ‘Oh, if we would’ve hit this.’ We hit everything. Rockford just happened to hit two-tenths more, and you got to accept that.”
Hodge led the way with a first-place finish in the Division 1 all-around while Yee (5th) and Thibodeau (9th) both placed in the top-10 for the Division 2 all-around for team finals.
Farmington’s calling card of beating everyone in bars proved true once again as the next closest team, Hartland, was over a point behind Farmington on bars. Farmington also carried a slight advantage on beam over Rockford, but it was vault and floor that swayed in favor of Rockford.
With as close of a loss like that, Hodge said the team is geared up for another shot at a state championship.
“It was definitely a motivator,” Hodge said. “We’re definitely really motivated with only losing one senior as compared to other teams that are losing multiple seniors. I think we’re really motivated as a team, especially because we have a chance to win states again, or we should.”
A bright spot on the season, Farmington successfully defended their regional championship with Hodge earning the regional title in the Division 1 all-around, Yee winning the regional title in the Division 2 all-around, and Woodman being crowned the regional champion on bars.
Thibodeau, Anzivino and Dechen finished second, third and fourth in the Division 2 all-around, respectively.
Dechen will be the lone gymnast who won’t be along for the state finals redemption ride, being the only senior on the squad.
It’s been a wave of emotions for Dechen since the season has come to a close, and she said the thought of it being her final year is still surreal.
“By now, I’m kind of fragile, because whenever I want to speak about gymnastics, I just want to start crying,” Dechen said.
Being the only senior, Dechen’s impact on the team was immeasurable throughout her four years, and her senior night proved exactly the impression she left on the girls.
For her senior night, the team made her a book with pictures of her with teammates, and each person wrote their favorite memory with Dechen, sending the veteran gymnast into a rush of tears all night long.
Dechen said holding the leadership position will be something she never forgets.
“I kind of liked it because it felt like I was the mom duck to all my little kids,” Dechen said. “It felt comforting because I had them all supporting me and they grew with me, and I’ve watched them all grow.”