• Final Results (html)
      • Scoresheet (pdf)

SEATTLE – There's no place like Brougham.

That's what the Seattle Pacific gymnasts are discovering during their current stretch of eight straight road meets. They have been away from Brougham Pavilion, their on-campus facility, since the season opener on Jan. 15.

The Falcons found the next-best-thing across town, Washington's Edmundson Pavilion that served as their home-away-from-home on Friday.

Junior Anissa Madrid finished fifth in the all-around, including a season-best score of 9.750 on the balance beam for SPU, which placed third in an NCAA women's gymnastics meet at UW.

“It's such a relief to be back home in Seattle,” Madrid exclaimed. “We were really excited about being home because it's always so much harder when you are on the road. The packing and the unpacking gets pretty annoying.”

Madrid (Seattle, Wash./Kennedy HS) compiled an all-around total of 37.525 and was the top non-Arkansas individual. She had scores of 9.575 on vault, 9.225 on bars and 8.975 on floor.

The Razorbacks' Sarah Nagashima posted the winning all-around score of 39.175, followed by teammates Casey Jo Magee (39.075), Kelci Lewis (38.950) and Jaime Pisani (38.750).

SPU sophomore Samantha Taylor (San Carlos, Calif.) had a seventh-place total of 36.175 to finish just behind Washington's lone all-arounder Hatsune Akaogi (37.200).

Madrid registered the Falcons' season-best beam score of 9.750 last week at Air Force and matched that in a sixth-place performance Friday.

Eighth-ranked Arkansas swept the top-four all-around places en route to a winning team score of 196.075. Host Washington was second with a score of 194.100, followed by the Falcons at 188.275. SPU was the lone NCAA Division II competitor in the field.

Coach Laurel Tindall hoped the return to Seattle would propel SPU to a stellar score. That plan was dealt a blow on Thursday when junior Laura Willis contracted the flu.

“This should be like a home meet and we should be able to get out there and really score well. That's why I was disappointed when Laura was sick because I thought this was a meet where we could really pick up and get a run of some good scores,” Tindall said.

“We were on track and could have still got a 190. We needed a 47.80 on bars and we could have done that. Instead we got our lowest bar score of the season.”

The team total of 46.075 was the lowest of the four events for the Falcons, who combined to score 47.80 on vault, 47.85 on floor and 46.55 on beam.

“You've got to do all four events. They did great on vault. All five hit on vault, which is what they needed to do,” said Tindall. “Beam was typical with Anissa doing a great routine. I thought we did really well on floor, which was improved from last week. I felt like they thought the meet was over after vault.”

One standout on bars for SPU was sophomore Kaysha Heck (Edmonds, Wash./Chrysalis HS), the third-place performer at last year's USAG Collegiate Championships. Heck's score of 9.500 put her in 10th place Friday.

UW gymnasts Samantha Walior (9.900) and Kristen Linton (9.875) finished one-two in the bars competition.

Magee had a mark of 9.925 to win the beam title. She led an Arkansas sweep of the top-three places on that apparatus and did the same on floor with a first-place score of 9.925.

The Razorbacks' Pisani won the vault with a score of 9.875.

Sophomore Sherah Veron (Broken Arrow, Okla.) was SPU's top performer in two events. She received a 10th-place score of 9.650 on vault and was 12th on floor at 9.700.

Six Falcons produced their season-high marks in an event, including Stephanie Cabrera (9.575 vault), Texie Gregory (9.500 floor), Ami Khauv (9.275 vault), Aditi Kulkarni (9.575 beam), Brittany Malone (9.500 vault) and Taylor (9.500 vault).

The Falcons were able to take advantage of the three-mile proximity from the UW campus to SPU.

“We had no intention of Stephanie Cabrera competing because of her shoulder injury. She hasn't really trained bars, but Laura (Willis) was out and we needed her,” Tindall explained. “We literally sent someone back to our gym to get her grips because Stephanie didn't have them with her.

“She practiced a little bit of bars this week, but hasn't done her release at all since she hurt her shoulder a couple weeks ago. Stephanie had a weird, fluky mistake, but not coming prepared mentally to do that, I thought she did a really good job tonight.”

The Seattle Pacific gymnasts take a week off from competition before embarking on a trip to Ypsilanti, Mich. for a dual meet with Eastern Michigan on March 13.

That is the eighth straight road meet for the Falcons, who return home on March 19 to host Washington at 7 p.m.

“We're so excited,” Madrid said of the return to Brougham in three weeks. “It's Alumni Night so it's going to be so nice to show the alumni what we've been working on in the gym. We'll be home. It's familiar to us and so we'll just go in there and go hard.”


NCAA Women's Gymnastics
Friday, February 26, 2010
Edmundson Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

Team Scores
1, Arkansas, 196.075
2, Washington, 194.100
3, Seattle Pacific, 188.275

All-Around
1, Sarah Nagashima, UA, 39.175
2, Casey Jo Magee, UA, 39.075
3, Kelci Lewis, UA, 38.950
4, Jaime Pisani, UA, 38.750
5, Anissa Madrid, SPU, 37.525
6, Hatsune Akaogi, UW, 37.200
7, Samantha Taylor, SPU, 36.175

Vault
1, Jaime Pisani, UA, 9.875
2, Casey Jo Magee, UA, 9.850
3, Haley Bogart, UW, 9.825
Top SPU scorer – 10, Sherah Veron, 9.650

Uneven Bars
1, Samantha Walior, UW, 9.900
2, Kristen Linton, UW, 9.875
3t, Jaime Pisani, UA, 9.825
3t, Amy DeFilippo, UW, 9.825
Top SPU scorer – 10, Kaysha Heck, 9.500

Balance Beam
1, Casey Jo Magee, UA, 9.925
2, Sarah Nagashima, UA, 9.850
3, Mariah Howdeshell, UA, 9.800
Top SPU scorer – 6, Anissa Madrid, 9.750

Floor Exercise
1, Casey Jo Magee, UA, 9.900
2, Jaime Pisani, UA, 9.900
3, Kelci Lewis, UA, 9.850
Top SPU scorer – 12, Sherah Veron, 9.700