High school gymnastics 2026: North Ridgeville resident Molly Francis set for another successful season

Magnificat junior and North Ridgeville resident Molly Francis made a strong run during her first two years of high school gymnastics. Francis shared the Division I state balance beam title and finished third in all-around at the state championships last March, while leading the Blue Streaks to their second straight runner-up finish. She earned seven All-Ohio medals (top 10). Francis is determined to maintain the same success this year. "I'm very excited to get the season started," she said. "My focus is still on club season (for X-treme Gymnastics) right now, but I'm super excited to finish my club soon and then move over to the high school season." Francis competed at Eastern Nationals last May in Battle Creek, Michigan. It was a good litmus test. "Summer training went very well. I'm looking forward to my first level 10 season (in the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic program)," said Francis. "All of my events for club gymnastics have changed from last year to this year. My high school routines are going to relatively stay the same." Francis third-place finish in all-around last year came at Hilliard Bradley High School. She scored 37.90, placing behind Kenston sophomore Sofia Macias (37.975) and Brecksville senior Gianna Ravagnani (37.95). Francis tied for first in balance beam with Marion Harding freshman Divine Reynolds, each with a score of 9.55. Francis also earned All-Ohio honors (top 10) with a fourth place in the uneven parallel bars (9.4), and tied for sixth in vault (9.525). She also scored 9.425 for floor exercise, but didn't place because she didn't qualify to state in the event. "I'm especially trying to polish my floor exercise routine, that one, for sure, beam as well," Francis said. "Beam was my favorite last year so I'm hoping to keep that streak up this year." Francis is Magnificat's first state champ in balance beam since Annmarie Canzoni won in 2022 with a score of 9.45. Tying for the state title in balance beam was a perfect meet ending for Francis "At X-treme, the balance beam has always been my breather event when I'm at practice," said Francis. "If one of the other events doesn't go 100 percent my way then I take beam as my breather event. My series (for balance beam) gives me a few extra tenths bonus. My dismount has got a lot more consistent. I'm sticking those more often. I just upgraded my leap pass. That gives me a few more bonus points." Francis' state all-around finish is the highest state all-around finish by a Magnificat gymnast since 2016 when Jessica Androsik (37.075) and Julia Pompeani (36.85) placed second and third at state. Floor exercise is Francis' second favorite event. It's the only event in two years of high school that she hasn't qualified to state. "I did change of few of my passes this past summer," said Francis. "Keeping clean with those passes and scratching those old passes was a step that I needed to take in order to clean up my whole routine. My vault is still a hand front tuck. Over the summer, I've been upgrading to the half pike, half out. I'll see where that vault takes me but, for right now, I'm sticking with the hand front tuck." Francis qualified for the state meet as a freshman in four events and earned All-Ohio (top 10) in three as the Blue Streaks' No. 2 all-around. She placed fifth in balance beam (9.5), eighth in the uneven parallel bars (9.25) and finished seventh all-around (37.45). She also finished 12th in vault (9.375). Thanks to Francis' performance, Magnificat nearly pulled off a huge upset in 2024, finishing only 0.05 points behind Brecksville, which won its 21st straight (24th overall) title by a meet-record narrow margin, 147.875 to 147.825. Unseating depth-laden Brecksville this season is a big challenge. "At Mags, the bond is so strong with every sports team, but especially in gymnastics," said Francis. "Working together as a team no matter what happens, everyone just needs to be focused on working for each other and not just one individual." "Molly is one of the hardest workers we've had at Magnificat in my 36 years," said coach Joe Gura, whose career began during the 1990-91 season. "Very independently minded, where she can work on her own. Very smart athlete. You can see that in her classwork. Like a lot of great athletes, their academics are a high standard. They have the ability to have independent thoughts. Those in the 36 years have been my best athletes." Francis is 11 years into her sport. She began her private club gymnastics training at age 6 at North Olmsted Gymnastics, training there four years under Teresa Principi. After that, Francis moved to Strongsville Crossroads Elite Gymnastics. She trained there until moving over to X-treme Gymnastics in Middleburg Heights as an eighth grader. "Molly joined the team her freshman year with a heavy senior class," said Molly's father, Sean Francis. "She fit in not only talent level but the social side of things. Meg (Leneghan) and Joe (Gura) were extremely welcoming. Kiera (Leneghan) was a senior when Molly was a freshman. Meg's daughter was the senior star and Molly was coming up behind her. "Joe and Meg have been nothing but outstanding. Another reason Molly chooses to stay doing high school is the coaches. If she didn't feel the love from the coaches, she wouldn't do it." Though Brecksville has dominated over the past two decades, Magnificat has also enjoyed success at the state level. The Blue Streaks are No. 2 on the all-time list in team titles with 10 (1990-93, 1996-99, 2002-03). Magnificat has been state runner-up seven times (2004, 2007-09, 2017, 2024 and 2025). Contact Paul Heyse at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.