Medal Finish. They have been there time after time, year after year, and so it’s no shock that once again the Seattle Pacific University gymnastics team confirmed its standing as one of the nation’s elite gym programs at the close of the 2005 season. The Falcons capped off a stellar campaign April 16 in Ithaca, N.Y., by finishing tied for third place at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships. That placement avenged last year’s slip to seventh, which broke a string of 21 consecutive top-four finishes for SPU.

And that’s a wrap. Another team title for the trophy cabinet would have been nice, but as it turns out third place was just fine with Coach Laurel Tindall, whose athletes claimed a total of four individual national titles and, altogether, nine top-nine individual finishes–the most in seven years. Rutgers took home its first team title, scoring 193.025. Texas Woman’s was second at 192.175, followed by the Falcons and UC Davis at 191.500. Defending Champion Centenary, Cornell, Air Force and Alaska Anchorage were eliminated during the prelim round. Seattle Pacific won an NCAA crown in 1986, and garnered USAG titles in 1992 and ‘97.

Nat’l champ, and again, and again. Seattle Pacific’s Debra Huss (So., Orangevale, Ca.) and Kari Kelly (Sr., Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower) combined for an incredible four USAG individual titles. Huss finished off her second season with a career meet, dancing a tie for first on floor exercise with UC Davis’ Tiffany Chan (9.850) and swinging a 9.750 tie with Brisa Fuentes of Texas Woman’s on the uneven bars. That, along with the all-around (38.875) crown won on the first night, gave Huss a total of three titles. Only Barbara Elliott (1986) had previously won three national titles in a single year. Huss also was runner-up on the beam. Earlier this season she broke the school record (39.225). Kelly posted the top qualifying score during prelims and followed up with a 9.712 vault to win gold, scoring above Davis’ Michelle Kulovitz and Jessica Liegl of Air Force. Kelly also owns the school record, a 9.875 mark she hit on two separate occasions.

Nine All-Americans in all. In addition to Huss and Kelly, Corrie McDaniel (Sr., Lawrence, Ks.), Jaynie Reynolds (So., White Rock, B.C./Marriot) and Sarah Sullivan (So., Salem, Or./Sprague) were also All-Americans. McDaniel rebounded from an elbow injury that caused her to miss the ‘04 national meet entirely, and took third place on floor exercise with a 9.775. She was third on beam as well, landing her dismount for a 9.650 from the judges. Sullivan earned her second All-America accolade in as many years by virtue of finishing seventh on floor exercise (9.600). Reynolds was ninth on bars.

Recruiting begins. Concluding their respective careers in New York were the squad’s three seniors, McDaniel, Kelly and Elizabeth Kingsley (Sr., Kennesaw, Ga./Harrison). Kingsley was an all-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation academic pick and a mainstay for Tindall on floor exercise for four years. McDaniel is a finalist for Academic All-America, has received a prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and, combined with Kelly, will exit the program with a half-dozen All-America performances between them. The floor lineup, which featured all three athletes, will likely be due for the biggest overhaul. As far as returnees are concerned, along with Huss and Sullivan, Reynolds, Kristin Bryant (So., Anchorage, Ak./West Anchorage), Ashley Domres (Fr., Phoenix, Az./Scottsdale Christian) and Christie Chinaka (Fr., Honolulu, Hi.) are slated to return. Reynolds, the co-record holder on vault, missed much of the latter half of the meet schedule with ankle injuries. Bryant owns the school’s second-highest vault mark.

Three ready to arrive. Tindall has already begun assembling her next class, signing three Level 10 high school seniors to letters of intent. Brianna Schwartz of Sumner, Wa., and Danna Nelson of Maple Valley, Wa., committed in May, followed by Amber Lundgren of Temecula, Ca., earlier this month. Schwartz won a total of four state 4A championships during her prep career at Sumner, including the beam crown earlier this year. She won the floor and all-around as a sophomore and the vault as a junior. Schwartz has qualified for nationals as a member of Gymnastics Unlimited in Federal Way. Nelson, a competitor for Auburn’s Gymnastics Express club, twice won the regional all-around crown and also took titles on floor and beam. She later finished 15th on beam and 21st on floor at the national meet. Nelson, who attends Tahoma High School, qualified for regionals this season but did not compete due to an injury. Lundgren, from the Southern California Elite Gymnastics Academy (SCEGA), won the beam and was second in the SoCal state championships all-around. Regionally, she tied for fourth on beam and placed seventh on floor and 10th in the all-around. Lundgren is a senior at Temecula Valley High School.

Academically speaking. McDaniel made a sweep of the postseason academic awards, earning ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII and Academic all-MPSF. She is a premed classics major with a 3.75 grade point average. McDaniel, who is now a finalist for Academic All-America, was also an all-district selection as a junior. Her postgraduate scholarship was the first for a gymnast since 1999 (Lisa Smith) and the fourth overall. Joining her on the MPSF academic list were Kingsley, Bryant and Sullivan. Kingsley and McDaniel were also USAG Scholar Athlete honorees.