• Final Scores
     • Final Scoresheet (pdf)

SEATTLE -- The Falcons were happy to be home … and it showed in their scores.

Sophomore Samantha Taylor posted career-high marks on the vault and balance beam on Friday night, and Brittany Malone and Stephanie Wagner also had career high scores as Seattle Pacific notched a season-best total of 190.575 points in a women's gymnastics dual meet against Washington at Brougham Pavilion.

The Huskies won the meet with 195.300 points.

The SPU gymnasts had not competed at home in over two months, since their season-opening meet on Jan. 15. During that span they competed in eight different road venues, covering six different states.

“Traveling is so much fun and it's great to be on the road with your team,” Taylor said. “But it's nice to finally be back and it really felt like home tonight.

“The meet went really well. It was exciting to go out there and hit the routines and have the team do really well. We were able to compete like we do in practice more than in any other meet.”

Taylor (San Carlos, Calif.) had a 9.60 on the vault, beating her old mark of 9.55, then tallied a 9.75 on the beam, eclipsing her previous best of 9.725. Her beam score was good for fourth place.

“She did a great job on beam, as did Brittany (Malone),” said SPU coach Laurel Tindall. “Sam's vault has been coming along and getting better all the time. Her vaults in warm-up were even better.”

Malone (Salinas, Calif.) also registered a career-best beam performance with a score of 9.65 that surpassed her previous top score of 9.60. Freshman Wagner (Estacada, Ore.) scored a 9.6 on beam, a full tenth better than her previous collegiate best.

In fact, Malone, Taylor and Wagner went back-to-back-to-back with their career highs as the Falcons combined for a season-high team score of 47.60 on the beam. SPU had four no-fall performances among its six routines. The previous season-best on the beam for the Falcons was 47.325 on Feb. 12 at Boise State.

It was in that same meet at Boise that the Falcons recorded their previous season-best total score of 190.500.

The Huskies nearly netted their season-best score behind the one-two all-around finishes of Lauren Rogers (39.075) and Hatsune Akaogi (38.57).

Akaogi won the vault competition with a 9.85 while UW's Paige Bixler topped the beam field with a 9.925.

The Huskies' Samantha Walior had a first-place uneven bars score of 9.90 and tied for top honors on the floor. She matched teammate Kristen Linton's floor mark of 9.875.

SPU junior Anissa Madrid (Seattle/Kennedy HS) tied a career high on the bars with a 9.70. Madrid wound up third all-around on Friday with a 37.55 total.

The other top individual finisher for the Falcons was junior Laura Willis (Temecula, Calif.). She tied for fourth on the vault with a 9.625.

“This definitely gives us some momentum going into next week's meet. We have a lot more confidence right now knowing we can hit like we want to,” Taylor said. “Next week is the conference meet, but it's home so we can just go out there like we did tonigh,t and do even better.”

Friday's meet wrapped up the regular season for Seattle Pacific. The Falcons will be the host for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) championships next Saturday, March 27, at Brougham Pavilion. SPU, Alaska Anchorage, UC Davis and Air Force will begin competition at 6 p.m.

“It felt good to finally compete at home. The kids always do better at home,” Tindall said. “It was a great crowd for us and the girls rose to the challenge.

“We hit some things better. We still had some misses that if we can get rid of those by next week, we should have a pretty good performance in the conference meet.”

Helping welcome the Falcons home Friday was a group of over 40 former SPU gymnasts in attendance for Alumni Night. The former Falcons, who included numerous All-Americans and national champions, were recognized individually at the meet in between rotations.


NCAA Women's Gymnastics
Friday, March 19, 2010
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

Team Scores
1, Washington 195.30
2, Seattle Pacific 190.575

All-Around
1, Lauren Rogers (UW) 39.075
2, Hatsune Akaogi (UW) 38.575
3, Anissa Madrid (SPU) 37.550

Vault
1, Hatsune Akaogi (UW) 9.850
2, Lauren Rogers (UW) 9.825
3, Haley Bogart (UW) 9.775
Top SPU scorer -- 4, Laura Willis, 9.625

Uneven Bars
1, Samantha Walior (UW) 9.900
2, Kristen Linton (UW) 9.850
3t, Lauren Rogers (UW) 9.775
3t, Amanda Cline (UW) 9.775
3t, Hatsune Akaogi (UW) 9.775
Top SPU scorer -- 7, Anissa Madrid, 9.700

Balance Beam
1, Paige Bixler (UW) 9.925
2, Samantha Walior (UW) 9.825
3, Haley Bogart (UW) 9.775
Top SPU scorer -- 4, Samantha Taylor, 9.750

Floor Exercise
1t, Kristen Linton (UW) 9.875
1t, Samantha Walior (UW) 9.875
3, Haley Bogart (UW) 9.800
Top SPU scorer -- 6, Brittany Malone and Sherah Veron, 9.700