Three at Brougham. Small in number but with big potential, Seattle Pacific University opens its 2002 gymnastics season with the first of three consecutive home meets Friday night (Jan. 18). The Falcons figure to have three past All-Americans plus some promising freshmen in their formidable lineup when they face longtime rival UC Davis and Wisconsin-Stout in a three-way meet at Brougham Pavilion. The homestand continues Jan. 25 versus California and Feb. 2 against San Jose State.

All-around great ladies. Coach Laurel Tindall, now in her 27th year, has just 12 athletes on the roster yet SPU, when healthy, could perform much bigger due to the number of solid all-arounders. Leading the list of eight returnees is multiple school record-holder Alison Siegel-McAfee (Sr., Oakland, Ca./Redwood Christian), a fixture of each of the four event lineups throughout her first three seasons. Siegel-McAfee is coming off a junior campaign in which she set SPU all-time marks in the balance beam and all-around, then later took fourth in the all-around and vault at nationals. As many as five others could see action as all-arounders at some point in the season, and three of them have the potential to finishing among the top 10 nationally, according to Tindall. The other All-America returnees are Missy McLaughlin (Sr., Federal Way, Wa./Decatur), eighth in the vault last season, and Kristin Strid (Jr., Kingsburg Ca./Kingsburg Joint Union), ninth on bars as a freshman.

Lack of depth. The down side to a small team is the lack of overall depth. With only a few gymnasts training each event, the pool for lineups is quite shallow. Already the Falcons have experienced their share of injuries. Prized recruit Julie Evin (Fr., Vancouver, Wa./Mountain View) was expected to compete on beam and bars, but has been sidelined since the fall with a lower back injury. All-around prospect Jennifer Christman (So., Fairfield, Ca./Benicia) will likely see action on fewer events, also due to preseason injuries.

Freshman four. Some of Tindall's other offseason acquisitions could pay immediate dividends. Corrie McDaniel (Fr., Lawrence, Ks./Lawrence) may challenge Siegel-McAfee for the top spot in at least a couple events and Elisabeth Kingsley (Fr., Southlake, Tx./Harrison, Ga.) is a particularly strong vaulter. Kari Kelly (Fr., Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower) completes the cast of recruits.

Experience counts. In all, Tindall has eight returnees, six of them upperclassmen. Courtney Stump (Sr., Poulsbo, Wa./Charles Wright) has been a regular contributor on beam and floor exercise. Annastasia Ahr (So., Chelan, Wa./Blessed Hope, Tx.) overcame injuries to make the lineup in those same events and, now fully healthy, may even go all-around. Rachael Anderson (Jr., Yakima, Wa./West Valley) was exceptional as a floor specialist in her comeback from knee surgery as a sophomore. Courtney Amonsen (Jr., Redmond, Wa./Inglemoor) was a steady member of the beam team last season.

Not bad for "rebuilding." It was termed by the coach as a rebuilding year but in 2001 Seattle Pacific surprised people by overcoming the loss of six athletes to finish third in the USA Gymnastics Championships and shatter team records for vault, beam and total score (193.700). From that squad, Tindall lost three seniors­Erin Kawasaki, Cassie Althauser and Kim Carey­who were All-America at least once during their respective careers.

Gym shorts. The Falcons would like to replicate last season's strong start, when they opened with scores of 186.175 and 187.525 on the road. The best first meet score was 188.300 in 1993...This year's schedule includes six home meets and five teams (No. 1 UCLA, No. 3 Michigan, No. 8 Stanford, No. 10 Oregon State and No. 19 Washington) which are among the Division I preseason top 20. UCLA is the defending NCAA champion while Air Force won the USAG title...The Falcons no longer will conclude the regular season with the Western Independent Championships. That group disbanded with UC Davis, Sacramento State and San Jose State joining the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

Opponent & series notes. Seattle Pacific and UC Davis have met 33 times during previous regular seasons, with the Falcons prevailing 20 times. Last year the teams split two meetings and the Aggies finished 0.350 points ahead of SPU at nationals. UC Davis, returning 13 letterwinners, begins its season Jan. 11 at home vs. San Jose State and Alaska Anchorage...This is the first meeting with Wisconsin-Stout, which features one local gymnast, senior Scarlett Ramey of Seattle. The Blue Devils started their season Dec. 7 and will competing in their fifth meet.

Tickets, please. General admission tickets for all SPU home gymnastics meets are priced $5 with students, youth and senior citizens $3 with proper identification. Teams or groups can qualify for discount rates by call (206) 281-2085 in advance.

SPU Coaches. Coach Laurel Tindall is a veteran of the sport and is synonymous with the university. Originally, she competed for the Falcons, then replaced her mentor, George Lewis, immediately following graduation. Subsequently, she has served in her position for 26 years. Under her guidance, SPU has won three national championships and, individually, her gymnasts have taken 15 titles. Three times Tindall has been honored as national coach of the year. Kathy Siwek returns for her second season as an assistant coach. Siwek was a two-time All-American and a member of the 1997 national championship team. Joining the staff this season is John Carney.