Tough competitors. Following last week's strong performance in front of a home crowd, the Seattle Pacific University gymnastics team begins a string of four consecutive road meets by heading across town to Washington (3-4) for a three-way meet involving No. 6-ranked UCLA (10-4) Friday night (Mar. 1). The Falcons, No. 4 among Division II teams, are looking for their second win over a Division I school in the last three outings. Next week SPU goes to Northern California for back-to-back meets at UC Davis (Mar. 7) and Stanford (Mar. 8).

Almost all good. Despite a season-high team score and a couple near-records by individuals, Seattle Pacific couldn't quite pull-off a second upset of Sacramento State in as many weeks. Instead, the Hornets bounced back from a frightful night on beam the week before and beat the Falcons, 194.475 to 192.050. It was the third meet in a row with a score of 191.400 or higher and included season-highs on vault (47.650), bars (47.900) and floor (48.925), the latter establishing a new school record and being the only event on which SPU prevailed over Sac State.

Floor show spectacular. The floor exercise individual record remained intact, but just barely. Corrie McDaniel (Fr., Lawrence, Ks./Lawrence) and Alison Siegel-McAfee (Sr., Oakland, Ca./Redwood Christian), scoring 9.925 and 9.900, respectively, now rate Nos. 2-3 on the all-time list. Callie Field's standard of 9.950 was set in 2000. It was a career-high for Siegel-McAfee, who had been No. 2 at 9.875. Setting a team record on the carpet required a balanced effort and the Falcons got it from all six members of their lineup as each scored 9.525 or higher and the five counters were 9.675 and higher. McDaniel and Siegel-McAfee placed first and second on the event, with Annastasia Ahr (So., San Antonio, Tx./Blessed Hope Academy) the next-highest, in a tie for seventh at 9.750. Other strong performances were Elisabeth Kingsley (Fr., Kennesaw, Ga./Harrison), who scored a career-high of 9.675, and Courtney Stump (Sr., Poulsbo, Wa./Charles Wright) with an identical score.

Vaulting to new heights. Seattle Pacific began the evening strong on vault, with four gymnasts either bettering or tying their season-high scores. Among those competitors were Siegel-McAfee, who won the event with a 9.750, Kari Kelly (Fr., Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower) and McDaniel with identical scores of 9.475, and Ahr, with a 9.425. The meet marked Siegel-McAFee's third win on the event so far this season.

Tindall tweaks and presto! After seeing her struggle with a huge release move on bars, Coach Laurel Tindall removed it from Kelly's routine three weeks ago, and the results have been dramatic. Prior to the change, her average bar score was well below the 9.00 mark. In the three meets since, Kelly has scored 9.625, 9.650 and 9.725. Kelly will continue to train the skill in practice in hopes of competing it again in late season. In last week's meet, Jennifer Christman (So., Fairfield, Ca./Benicia) and Kelly were the team's top finishers on bars, each at 9.725. Ahr (9.325) also scored a personal best for the season, and Kristen Strid (Jr., Kingsburg, Ca./Kingsburg Joint Union) tied her high (9.575) for the year. Only Siegel-McAfee scored below her usual range, and for the first did not contribute toward the team total.

Steady Strid. Beam, the only event that did not produce a season high, was nonetheless a good scoring event for the team, with only one fall counting towards the total. Siegel-McAfee placed second with a 9.825, followed by McDaniel with a 9.800. However, the story of the event was Strid, who continues to be the most consistent gymnast on the squad. She has scored a 9.600 or above in each of the meets this season and has yet to fall in competition. She currently ranks third nationally in season average.

National rankings. SPU has steadily remained near the top four teams on each event. Ranking by season average, the Falcons are No. 2 on beam (47.3083), No. 3 on floor (48.175), No. 4 on vault (47.3167) and No. 5 on bars. Their raw average of 190.250 also rates fourth within USA Gymnastics. Next week team and individual rankings will switch from using the average to a regional qualifying score (RQS), comprised of three away scores and three optional scores. For the Falcons, who have competed in only two away meets, this means that the upcoming meet against Washington and UCLA will count in their total. While adding a bit of pressure for the upcoming meet, there's also a silver lining; using the RQS, SPU can drop the 187.300 scored against California Jan. 25.

Gym shorts. The old record on floor (48.875) had stood since 1996. The oldest remaining records are the team (48.875) and individual (9.950, Mindy Lee Ferguson) bar scores, both from 1997...Courtney Amonsen (Sr., Redmond, Wa./Inglemoor), who has been out of competition with an ankle injury, should return in the meet this week. She will likely compete in exhibition on beam...Ahr returned to the all-around competition for the first time in three weeks. Though her vault score did not count towards the team total, her scores on the other three events all went towards the team score...Rachael Anderson (Jr., Yakima, Wa./West Valley) scored her second-highest floor score of the season, with a solid 9.525. She was SPU's most consistent competitor on the event last year.

Opponent & series notes. Washington is coming off a loss to No. 12 Arizona, 195.550-193.225. Freshman Carly Dockendorf had Huskies' only first-place finish, capturing the bars with a 9.900. Dockendorf also took fourth in the all-around competition with a 37.725. Washington's Emily Pritchard owns a career-best all-around of 39.675. The Huskies have won 48 of 51 previous encounters, last falling to the Falcons in 1997...UCLA features Onnie Willis, the defending NCAA all-around co-champion, and sophomore Jamie Dantzscher, who in last week's competition, extended her streak of perfect 10s to seven consecutive meets. Dantzscher has scored a 10 in all but the first meet of the year, which is believed to be an NCAA record. The Bruins are 2-0 vs. SPU.

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.