FeedsCanton tumblers ready for season
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Canton gymnastics Coach John Cunningham addresses his team before practice last week. He hopes his young team will make the final four and compete for a state championship again this year.Hidden back in a dark corner of the grand high school sports arena rests a forgotten sport that is as delicate and beautiful as it is physically punishing to those that participate.
High school gymnastics in Michigan has long been overshadowed by football, basketball and even soccer programs in some communities.
For one man—and his 29 gymnasts—the recognition is long over due.
Canton gymnastics coach John Cunningham has coached gymnastics for almost 40 years. He started with club gymnastics in 1968 and took over the Plymouth-Canton High School program in 1979. Since then, he has built some of the strongest teams in the state.
He hopes this year will be no different.
With two meets and two wins already in their chalky grasp, the Canton Lady Chief gymnasts are well on their way to another successful season.
It won’t be easy, though.
Cunningham graduated seven seniors—the core of last year’s A squad—and only returns one this year.
He sat at a table last week in the corner of the team’s practice room located at the back of Plymouth High School where he watched the early arrivals stretch and warm up. Stacks of papers from the last two meets were laid out in neat piles on the table.
Other team members filed into the slightly cramped, but smartly laid out, room with four balance beams, a vault, two uneven bars and a full-sized floor to practice routines on.
Cunningham helped each gymnast that entered find their score sheets from the piles in front of him.
Sam O’Flynn, one of the early arrivals, gripped her score sheets while balancing on one of the beams, going over every step in her routine as she tried to figure out where her deductions were.
“That’s called focus,” Cunningham said of O’Flynn.
Focus is what the young team will need.
Jesse Murray, the lone senior, is the leader of the pack. She brings experience and consistency Cunningham and the rest of the team needs to make it to the regional competition and into the state finals.
“She is my number-one girl,” Cunningham said. “Score-wise she is the girl that is going to score 36-plus—nines on all four events. She has a magnificent beam routine. I told her at the first practice that she was going to be state champion. She has the potential to be a state champion.”
Murray missed the team’s first meet on Saturday against Vassar on Dec. 15 because she was at funeral. The team still won—132.9 to 121.65—without her. With essentially five days to practice, she jumped into the second competition last Tuesday against Hartland.
There she scored 33.15 and took second place in the all-around to help her team win 133.35 to 68.15.
“It’s lonely but I get along really well with all of the girls,” Murray said of being the only senior. “It’s a good relationship. There’s a little more pressure, but our whole team has the same pressure because we all work together. Our whole team, even the B team girls, work together and support each other.
“I just want us to do our best,” she added. “This is a new team with a lot of new girls, so I don’t know how far we’re going to end up going. I want to make it to states again because I’ve made it the past three years.”
The team is full of juniors.
Olivia Stephens is probably the best of that pack. But there is also Amanda Smith, a specialist on beam, not to mention Olivia Roraback and Lizzie Gallagher on bars. Kathy Marion improved enough from last year to compete on the A team, according to Cunningham.
“Most of them will probably qualify for regional competition,” he said.
O’Flynn, another strong junior, and one of the team’s captains is. She improved on vault and beam for this year and there is Chelsea Husband and Jackie Bogdanski—both vaulting specialists.
Sophomores include Katelyn Rutherford, who’s an excellent performer; Mallory Hudak, who is an A-team girl that improved immensely from her freshman to her sophomore year, according to Cunningham. She’s a very strong tumbler that likes to do big tricks. Another rising sophomore is Kylie Hakala on floor.
Three freshmen join the team with a lot of club experience.
Cathy Huang could contribute right away, Cunningham said. Kali Pierce is about two years removed from club, and should be back in top form come mid season, he added.
Robyn Piwowar is right now his number-one number-two gymnast. She had three nines at Vassar on bars, beam and floor (9.05)—all first places. She finished with 35.45 for first all-around. She also placed first all-around (34.95) at Hartland.
“She’s probably the one who has the most fun, has the best attitude and works the hardest of all the kids I have,” Cunningham said.
Behind the scenes, Cunningham has plenty of help. He can have as many as five coaches in the gym helping out at any given practice, including his son Ryan Cunningham. All are ex-gymnasts.
“We have a lot of talent in the gym in terms of coaching,” Cunningham said. “We all try to do what’s best for best.”
The biggest hurdle the team faces is regional competition. In order to be one of the top-four teams to make it to state final competition, Canton has to beat out two powerhouse Livonia teams, a very experienced Salem rival and an equally strong Northville squad.
“I have tremendous fears because we have the best region in the state,” Cunningham said. We have the guns and I have enough girls. I have high expectations for a number of the girls and if they continue to improve and don’t get injured, we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with.”
