Ferris senior gymnasts bring trio of talents

Good things usually happen in threes in sport. There is the Triple Crown in baseball or horseracing, or a hat trick in hockey. In the case of the Ferris gymnastics team, it’s three seniors, Michayla Mueller, Becky Harris, and Halli Bischoff.

“They’re all girls who are great students and well-rounded individuals, and I think that’s important to have as your leaders,” said Saxon head coach Jaime Smith. “All three are really good role models to the younger kids on the team. They’re able to be successful at everything they participate in.”

Mueller is the most experienced gymnast of the three and the all around performer is also a team co-captain.

“Michayla is probably our most talented and one of our top three all around scorers on our team,” said Smith. “She’s more graceful than powerful. On the beam, she has very straight lines, straight legs and points the toes.” “I’ve improved in different things all around in each event, but I’ve improved the most in vault,” said Mueller. “Freshman year I wasn’t very good at it (laughs).”

Mueller also runs cross-country and is a pole-vaulter on the track team, which helps her vaulting in gymnastics.

“The most similar thing about them is the run, the sprint into it,” said Mueller. “I use the same run for pole vaulting as I do for vaulting in gymnastics.”

Harris also runs cross country and pole vaults during the spring. When she’s away from the gym, she participates in equestrian events, and for good measure, is currently in flight school studying to be a pilot.

“One of my earliest memories that still sticks with me is flying when I was a little kid up in one of the big airplanes and just seeing the view,” said Harris, who flew her first solo flight the beginning of November. “I love flying and it was just one of those things where I was thinking about what I wanted to do with my life that kept coming up. It took me a while to get my landings down, so that was probably the hardest thing for me, but I’m definitely progressing in that.”

Harris started her gymnastics career last year as a junior as a way of helping her pole-vaulting during the spring track season and performs on the bars, floor exercise and vault.

“I haven’t gone above what I thought I’d be able to do in gymnastics,” Harris said. “When I first started, I didn’t think I’d be very good in anything. I’ve really been working on the bars a lot. Beam is definitely my worst event, and I don’t think I’ll ever be good at that. Bars is one of my greatest challenges, but also one of the greatest I keep trying to get better at.”

“Becky is a hard worker that’s improved faster than the average gymnast,” said Smith. “She’s very, very determined. You can tell by the look in her face when she goes to the vault. She runs harder down to the vault than most kids do. I think it shows the other kids that hard work will get you places. I constantly make an example of her and show the kids that she came in with no experience last year and look at the things she can do now.”

Bischoff is the artistic performer of the three. Specializing in the floor exercise, Bischoff choreographs her own routines. It’s not surprising to find she sings in the choir at Ferris, and just played a lead role in the recent school play of “Hello Dolly.”

“She’s really great on the floor with her dance background,” Smith said. “Halli is very talented in the arts. She helps us on every event, but she’s really strong on the floor. She really did well on the bars, too.”

“Dance was a big part of my life, but it was getting way too time-consuming, so gymnastics was a nice way to keep it as a school activity that would still work out with my school stuff,” said Bischoff. “I get to use quite a bit (of dance). Except for tumbling, it’s all dancing and from my dancing background. Gymnastics all over definitely helps my dancing. You get a huge workout from it.”

As diverse as they are, the three seniors pull together to lead a young Ferris gymnastics team, in which over half the squad is a freshman this season.

“They’re a fun group,” said Smith. “They like to laugh. The thing about them is that they’re very friendly girls and they want to make you feel comfortable. They’re girls that are going to make others feel welcome.”