Grand Ledge’s Rachel Hogan captured three Division 1 state championships in her senior season.
GRAND LEDGE – Grand Ledge gymnastics has a history of producing championship talent.
Rachel Hogan just continued to raise the bar.
This winter, Hogan became the first Comet gymnast to capture three Division 1 state title since 2011 (Alexis Byington). The senior will end her career with eight state titles to her name, which is tied, with Byington, for the second most in school history.
“I didn’t expect it to happen,” said Hogan, the three-time LSJ gymnast of the year, who won the Division 1 title in the all-around, bars and vault events this season. “It was awesome to finish my last event with something that people would remember me for.”
At the state meet, Hogan set a new state record in the vault with a score of 9.875. It was the third time in four years that she was the event’s state champion.
“I’ve been very successful in vault,” she added. “I was looking forward to that being the last thing I did in my high school career.”
Coming into her final year, Hogan had only captured the bars championship once, and she split it with Christina Shabet, of Troy, her sophomore season. It was all hers this year, and given her confidence in the event when she made the transition from club to high school, it was one of her better accomplishments this time around.
“I was surprised, because going from club to high school, bars was my worst event,” Hogan said. “It was cool to look back and see how much I’ve progressed in that event.”
Hogan is now setting her sights on the college ranks. She is currently in the process of trying to become a walk-on at Michigan State. Hogan is sending the school videos in hopes of earning a tryout.
“Since I started in club, that’s always been the goal of the club gymnasts: to eventually get a scholarship,” Hogan said. “After moving to high school, I didn’t forget about it, but I knew it would be a lot more challenging. And I was questioning whether or not I wanted to do gymnastics full-time.
“But, after this year, it’s definitely something I want to try and do. I don’t feel done with the sport yet.”
Contact James L. Edwards III at jledwards@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JLEdwardsIII.