Close-knit Plymouth gymnastics team off to flippin’ good start

They’re probably the best-kept success secret at the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park: somersaulting, vaulting and executing dizzying maneuvers that 99.9% of people can only do in their dreams.

They’re the members of the Plymouth High School gymnastics team, which has been a regular visitor to the state rankings the past few years. In 2025, for instance, they placed sixth at the MHSAA Division 1 State Meet.

The Wildcat gymnasts often perform before modest-sized crowds in the three-school Park’s lone space dedicated to gymnastics, just across the hall from Plymouth High School’s main gym, where basketball often draws large crowds and student cheering sections.

High school gymnastics is a demanding sport — one that its competitors start training for often when they’re in pre-school.

All they do is win

Through the early portion of the 2025-26 season, the Wildcats were 3-0 in dual meets and won both of the 18-team invitationals they competed in at Holt High School and Walled Lake Central.

The team’s three coaches — Head Coach Rob Seale; and assistants Ella Seale and Bella Vaquera — acknowledged the relative lack of exposure reluctantly comes with the territory.

“After I won Plymouth’s Female Athlete of the Year my senior year, students would come up to me and say, ‘I didn’t even know we had a gymnastics team’,” Ella Seale revealed, smiling. “Honestly, I was a little surprised when I heard that because gymnastics at the Park has been very successful.”

“Plymouth gymnastics has one of the best records in winter sports the past few years, so we’re a little bummed it’s not recognized more,” Vaquera added. “But the lack of recognition doesn’t affect how hard the girls work. They put in a lot of time to try to master really difficult routines.”

Coaches’ strengths are complementary

Rob Seale served as the Wildcats’ team manager during the four years Ella competed for Plymouth. When the head-coaching vacancy opened up five years ago, he accepted the job with one condition.

“I’m pretty good at managing the team, but I told them I needed two former All-Staters like Ella and Bella to help me with the technical part of coaching,” Seale said. “Luckily, both Bella and Ella still lived in the area locally (Vaquera competed for Livonia Stevenson High School), so it’s worked out great.”

Like many high school gymnasts, several Wildcats took up the sport as pre-schoolers, tumbling to their heart’s content at one of the several metro-Detroit gymnastics clubs. Others, however, don’t try the sport until the reach high school.

Despite Plymouth wide range of experience levels, they mesh like peanut butter and jelly.

“One thing I like about this team is they’ve all bought in to the family culture we’re trying to cultivate,” Rob Seale said. “They all work to be the best they can be every day at practice and at the meets and they’re always asking for advice on how they can get better.”

Spirited teamwork

As individual Wildcats waited in line to work on their floor routines on a recent Friday afternoon, they cheered each other on with spirit that was genuine and uplifting.

“We preach ‘team first’, even though it’s more of an individual sport,” Ella Seale said. “We evaluate each gymnast’s skills, then help them choreograph routines that fit their skills. You can tell they love what they’re doing, which is why they improve as quickly as they do.”

Gymnastics is unique to most other high school sports — with the exception, possibly, of track & field — in that the all-around athletes must try to master four distinctly different events: vault, beam, uneven bars and floor exercise.

Not surprisingly, the sport attracts multi-sport athletes, especially divers, pole vaulters and high jumpers.

While the roster is populated by multiple talented athletes, senior captain Isabel Galindo is one of the most accomplished Wildcats. She is a two-time All-State honoree on the beam and she earned All-State honors last year as an all-arounder.

“Isabel is a great leader,” Rob Seale said. “When some of the new girls are standing around, not sure what to do at practice, I’ll tell them to look for Isabel because she’s a shining example of a hard worker who never slows down.

“Our other captain, Laurel Klein, is a great leader as well. The two of the them together are fantastic.”

Team-wide contributions bring success

Abby Tiplady and Lilly Olson are consistent contributors to the Wildcats’ success.

In terms of promising up-and-comers on this year’s roster, the coaches — while emphasizing that all 14 girls on the team are doing an amazing job — gave a nod to Evie Lee, Avery Carcone and Mia Funelas.

In terms of highlights from the 2025-26 season so far, Ella Seale pointed to the Walled Lake Invitational the Wildcats captured.

“We were missing our top two gymnasts, but we won by .075 of a point, which is basically a toe point,” she said. “It was special to see them achieve that.”

Vaquera’s highlight has been the comeback of Ava Gurung, who has bounced back from an injury that cost her most of last season.

“Her bar routine at our first invitational was beautiful,” Vaquera noted. “It was really emotional for me considering what she’s been through. It’s been great getting her back.”

Plymouth will host Salem on Jan. 25 and Canton on Feb. 1 in case you’d like to check out in person the best-kept success secret at P-CEP.

Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.