Birds go South. Flying high after tumbling an impressive tri-meet win on its home floor, the Seattle Pacific University gymnastics team will focus on consistency as it takes to the road for the next three weeks. The Falcons (3-3), ranked second among USA Gymnastics teams, compete against two Division I powers as they visit Cal (7-2) for a three-way meet with the host and No. 2 UCLA (5-2) Friday night (Feb. 13), and resume conference competition Saturday night (Feb. 14) at Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponent San Jose State (5-8). Seattle Pacific’s last meet at Brougham is March 8, against Washington.

Head of steam. The Falcons have quite a bit of momentum heading into this week’s contests in California. Coach Laurel Tindall shuffled her lineups over the weekend and her gymnasts responded with season-high team marks on vault (47.975) and on the uneven bars (48.450). Seattle Pacific finished Saturday’s tri-meet just .75 shy of their season best team score, tumbling 191.825 to put an exclamation point on the longest home stand of 2004. The Falcons have lost just once on their home mats this year and have beaten six of the last seven visitors to Brougham. SPU faces some heady competition in the golden state: the meet at Cal features two teams from the Pac-10 Conference. The host is ranked No. 28 among NCAA Division I teams and defending champ UCLA rates No. 2.

USAG picture. The Falcons solidified their hold on the No. 2 spot in the USA Gymnastics statistical rankings, they trail only Louisiana’s Centenary. The gymnasts are well ahead of last year’s pace when they finished third at the national meet; SPU’s five-meet average of 190.863 is two full points better. Event-wise, Seattle Pacific rates third on vault and floor, second on bars and fourth on beam. Current national leader Centenary finished sixth at the ‘03 championships while defending champ and national meet host Texas Woman’s was fourth in the latest ratings. Alaska Anchorage and Air Force round out the top five. Seattle Pacific has finished among the top four teams in USA Gymnastics the last 20 years running.

Increase difficulty level. As the season progresses, Tindall has set her focus on adding more difficult stunts to several individual routines in hopes of earning higher marks from judges, especially on vault. Traditionally, vault has been a strength for SPU and in the tri-meet, it was evident why. All-America vaulter Kari Kelly (Jr., Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower) led a newly shuffled lineup and launched a season-high 9.800 during the opening rotation to earn her a spot atop the podium at night’s end. Four of six Falcon vaulters notched marks of 9.6 or higher as SPU posted a season-high team total on the apparatus (47.975). One event later on the uneven bars, Corrie McDaniel (Jr., Lawrence, Ks./Lawrence) corralled her second victory in as many meets, swinging a 9.750 as the Falcons posted another season-high team mark (48.450). All five counting scores were 9.6 or better, including Jaynie Reynolds’ (So., White Rock, B.C./Marriot) third place 9.725. McDaniel went on to finish third in the all-around competition where, as just a junior, she is already a two-time All-American.

Huss fares well. Though she finished the meet at fourth in a very tight all-around (38.225) competition, current USAG leader in floor scoring average Debra Huss (Fr., Orangevale, Ca./Bella Vista) again flirted with perfection on the floor mats, dancing her way to a 9.875 second place finish. Anchorage’s Dominique Ingram was just .25 better on the event and also finished first on beam as well en route to top all-around honors (38.350).

Gym shorts. Elisabeth Kingsley (Jr., Kennesaw, Ga./Harrison) vaulted sixth place (9.6) and along with teammate Annastasia Ahr (Sr., San Antonio, Tx.), danced 9.675 and 9.650 for seventh and eighth places on floor. Ahr scored 9.625 on beam to finish seventh...Melissa Stanton (Sr., Rapid City, SD/Central-Hamline) swung 9.6 on the unevens and negotiated the four-inch wide beam to a 9.575...Kristin Bryant (Fr., Anchorage, Ak./West Anchorage) launched a 9.550 vault and Haley Krommenhoek (Fr., Seattle, Wa./Mount Rainier) scored a 9.375 on bars...Lauded recruit Sarah Sullivan (Fr., Salem, Or./Sprague) is still returning from an ankle injury suffered earlier in the season and should be ready to all-around in the coming weeks. On the weekend, the Sullivan scored a 9.250 on beam and performed exhibition routines on the other three apparatus’...Cindy Reed (So., Antioch, Ca./Deer Valley) did not compete Saturday and is out indefinitely due to illness...In other USAG individual rankings, Stanton and McDaniel were tied for fifth on bars. Ahr was No. 8 on beam and Huss was seventh among all-arounders. Kelly and Stanton were 11th on vault and beam...All rankings are based upon raw average at this point in the season.

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 28 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 fourth season as an assistant coach. Siwek was a two-time All-America and a memberof the 1997 national championship team. Kristen Strid joins the staff after having completed her career in 2003 as a three-time All-America and national champion on bars.

Missing links. For the latest and best information on Seattle Pacific University athletics, stay where you're at -- on The Falcons Online. For updated standings and statistics, see the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation web site at www.mpsports.org, or the Collegiate Gymnastics Information Center at www.troester.com/gym. .