Two meets, 27 hours. With nationals now just over a month away, the Seattle Pacific University gymnasts prepare for that three-day format during this week's trip to Northern California. In a span of about 27 hours the Falcons (3-7) compete back-to-back in duals with UC Davis (9-8) Thursday night (Mar. 7) and Stanford (8-3) Friday night (Mar. 8). The first meet pits two of the top four teams in the USA Gymnastics rankings while the Cardinal is ranked No. 8 among Division I programs. The final road meet of the season (and fourth in a row) awaits Mar. 16 at Oregon State.

Final tour of duty. This week's trip marks the final tour of duty through the backyard of SPU standout Alison Siegel-McAfee (Sr., Oakland, Ca./Redwood Christian). The four-time All-America and holder of three school records is putting together a solid senior season. Siegel-McAfee scored above a 9.650 or higher in each of her events en route to a season-high all-around total of 38.875 at Washington last week. She was the team's top finisher in three of the four events, including her highest finish of the night on floor, where she tied for fourth with a score of 9.850. Siegel-McAfee was third in the all-around and her score rates as the fourth-highest all-time. In USA gymnastics rankings, she is No. 1 on vault, and No. 3 on beam and all-around.

High scores, not high finishes, is goal. Against the likes of Washington and defending NCAA champion UCLA, the Falcons knew full well that they were not out to win, but rather to score well. They needed a strong away meet score to bolster their regional qualifying score (RQS), which is used to rank teams during the second half of the season. With last week's score certain to be factored into the equation, SPU rose to the challenge, and posted its highest away score of the season. UCLA won the competition with 197.050 points, followed by the Huskies (195.000) and Falcons (191.775). While Seattle Pacific will likely take a similar stance at Stanford, a team which has scored above 195.000 in seven consecutive meets, UC Davis is the No. 1 rival in the region and the goal is to sweep the season series.

Solid as Strid. Balance beam is known to be the most difficult event, requiring hours of practice, unwavering concentration and steady nerves to conquer the four-foot high apparatus. It also takes a special kind of person in order to be consistently successful. The Falcons have that extra something in Kristen Strid (Jr., Kingsburg, Ca./Kingsburg Joint Union). Though SPU had its lowest beam score of the season (47.000), it was not from lack of effort by Strid, who put forth another strong performance on the event, and continued her season-long sticking streak. Strid scored a 9.550 and nationally she has the highest ranking for the Falcons at No. 7. Annastasia Ahr (So., San Antonio, Tx./Blessed Hope Academy) also hit a 9.550, helping her hit a career-high all-around of 38.250. Siegel-McAfee led the way with a mark of 9.650. Courtney Stump (Sr., Poulsbo, Wa./Charles Wright) also gave a nice performance, and scored 9.425.

Sophomore stud. Getting better with age, Jennifer Christman (So., Fairfield, Ca./Benicia) has scored 9.650 or higher in five out of the six uneven bars competitions, and in those five meets, averaged 9.720. Last week Christman finished with a 9.750, just ahead of Siegel-McAfee and Strid, who earned identical scores of 9.650. Rookie standout Corrie McDaniel (Fr., Lawrence, Ks./Lawrence) was close behind with a 9.600. UCLA's Jamie Dantzcher, a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team, won the event with a near-perfect 9.975.

Best yet. Vault was a similar Christman/Siegel-McAfee story, and the combined effort was enough to give the Falcons a 47.900 on vault, their highest team score on the event thus far in the season. Siegel-McAfee landed a solid 9.725, just one place above Christman, who scored a season-high of 9.650. Kari Kelly (Fr., Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower) was SPU's next highest finisher on the event, with a season-high of 9.575. Kelly has contributed towards the team vault total in each meet, and is averaging a 9.395. She is also a top finisher on bars, and now that she has removed a troublesome skill from her routine, has scored 9.550 or higher in each of the last four meets, with a career-high of 9.725.

National rankings. Despite the switch from raw average to RQS, Seattle Pacific's national rankings changed very little. The team is ranked No. 4 on each of the four events­vault (47.440), bars (47.780), beam (47.405) and floor (48.315)­and No. 3 overall (190.785). The team ranking as a good chance to improve after the next string of road trips, since SPU should be able to drop a low score of 189.025 that is currently factored into its RQS.

Gym shorts. Seattle Pacific has scored 190 or higher in four consecutive meets. The longest such streak is five in a row, both in 1997 and 2001...Besides Kelly and Christman, Ahr also had a season-best vault...The team's bars score of 48.200 was also a season-high...Elisabeth Kingsley (Fr., Kennesaw, Ga./Harrison) has scored 9.275 or better on floor all season. She averages 9.482, with a season-high of 9.675. Her vault stats are equally impressive. She has a season-high of 9.575, and has contributed towards the team total in five out of seven meetsŠRachael Anderson (Jr., Yakima, Wa./West Valley) has seen a steady increase in her floor scores in the late season. After disappointing meets early in the season, she has scored above a 9.500 in each of the last three meets, including a 9.700 last week, which is just under her season-high of 9.725 at Sacramento.

Series & opponent notes. The Falcons came away with a win (190-.325-189.300) in the opening meet of the season at home against UC Davis. The Aggies, although ranked ahead of SPU on three of the four events, fells short of the Falcons due to a disappointing bar score. The Aggies are ranked No. 4 as a team. In UC Davis' last meet, Flora Bare won the individual all-around with 38.775 as it took third in a four-way meet at UC Santa Barbara. Bare also placed third on uneven bars with a 9.725, while teammate Ericka Ruelas won the event with a 9.850. The Falcons lead the series 21-14.