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FRIDAY, JANUARY 20 --
Seattle Pacific at San Jose State, 7:00 p.m. PST
Spartan Gym • San Jose, Calif.
Live Scoring: www.SJSUspartans.com

The Seattle Pacific gymnastics team hits the road for the next two weekends, beginning on Friday, Jan. 20 at San Jose State. The dual meet against the NCAA Division I hosts starts at 7 p.m. at Spartan Gym in San Jose, Calif.  That will be the first road competition of for the Falcons, who opened the 2012 campaign with a home win on Jan. 13. The SPU gymnasts travel to California again next week for a Jan. 27 tri-meet at UC Davis that also involves California Berkeley. The Falcons next home meet is Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. against Air Force.

Live Scoring
There is no webcast for Friday's meet, but a webpage of scores with be updated periodically throughout the meet at: www.SJSUspartans.com  You will need to manually refresh the page repeatedly to receive the updated scores.

Friday's Foe
NCAA Division I member San Jose State is ranked No. 19 nationally after registering a second-place score of 194.300 on Sunday in the NorCal quad meet at Stanford. That was the highest season-opening score in Spartans history. SJSU's Thomasina Wallace won the all-around with a mark of 39.150. SPU ranks 55th among all college teams (188.425) in the rankings that are dominated by Division I squads. The Falcons are rated No. 6 among teams that will vie for the USA Gymnastics collegiate championship.



Recent Recap
Stephanie Wagner won two events and freshman Sydney Clark claimed the all-around championship, helping Seattle Pacific beat Wisconsin-La Crosse in the season-opening dual meet Jan. 13 at Brougham Pavilion. SPU outscored the defending NCAA Division III champion Eagles 188.425-183.275. Wagner won the beam (9.650) and floor (9.625) and was second on the bars event (9.575) that was won by teammate Texie Gregory (9.675). Clark had a winning all-around total of 36.400 in her collegiate debut.

Quoting Coach Laurel  Tindall
“It was a great opening score. It would have been nice to get a 190 to open, but this gives us somewhere to go. We saw a lot of good things and this gave us an opportunity to see what we need to work on. Competing against Division I teams only makes us look better. We want to go out on the floor and we want to look like we are in their league. We have some good enough routines that we can do that. It's different than any other sport in terms of win-or-loss doesn't really mean that much to us, although it's always nice to win a meet. It's really our score. We're looking at trying to better our score each week, trying to be consistent.”

Bridgeport Bound?
The season starts in Seattle. The Falcons hope it ends in Bridgeport, Conn., the site of the 2012 USA Gymnastics (USAG) Collegiate Championships, April 12-14. SPU is a perennial championship contender, qualifying for 29 of the last 30 national meets for NCAA Division II schools. Since 1982, the Falcons only missed out in 2009.

Strenuous Schedule
Seattle Pacific is an NCAA Division II member that competes for the USA Gymnastics (USAG) Collegiate championship. Most of the Falcons opponents are from NCAA Division I, including three clashes with teams ranked in the top-25 nationally.

Proud History
While the dictionary entry for “consistency” makes no mention of gymnastics or Seattle Pacific University, the Falcons certainly have defined the word. From the very first meet way back in 1974 to a run of 20 consecutive top-four finishes at nationals, including championships in 1986, 1992 and 1997, SPU has made the kind of lasting impression that few programs anywhere can match. The Falcons earned invitations to 29 of the last 30 championship meets (1982-2008, 2010). They narrowly missed a qualifying berth in 2009. SPU gymnasts have won 22 national crowns and collected 160 All-America awards.

Season Preview
The Seattle Pacific women's gymnastics team reached the four-team finals at the 2011 USAG Collegiate Championships. They seek do replicate that feat in 2012 and improve on the fourth-place finish. That is an attainable goal according to Laurel Tindall, in her 37th season as SPU's coach. “Some things are going to have to fall into place for us, injuries are always a factor in that. We again have some good kids, we have some standouts on certain events and some All-Americans returning that will really help us in that quest.” Despite the departure of six letterwinners, including All-Americans Anissa Madrid and Bri Steigauf, the Falcons have a foundation of 13 letterwinners on which to build. Heading the list of returnees are three All-Americans who competed in the event finals at the 2011 USAG championships. Corrine Wise placed third on the beam, Samantha Taylor was fifth on the bars and Sherah Veron was 13th on the floor. A talented group of seven newcomers joins the roster and Tindall expects some of them to contribute immediately. “Shannon (Escarra) and Sydney (Clark) are both coming in as experienced freshmen ready to compete. We also have transfer Jenna Dudley from the Air Force Academy who has two years of collegiate experience under her belt and will come in and help us on vault and bars particularly.” SPU will rely on a bevy of event specialists in pursuit of its 30th championship meet berth in the last 31 years. “Sam Taylor did great last year getting All-American on bars and she'll be great again on that this year. Sherah Veron on vault and floor is doing really well. Stephanie Wagner will excel on beam and floor and she's also done a great job on bars this year.”

Coach Tindall
Laurel Tindall (Anderson) was there the very first time a group of Seattle Pacific gymnasts marched onto the competition floor in 1974. Now, 38 years later, she still is an integral part of a program that she helped nurture and lead to a prominent spot on the national scene since taking the coaching reigns in 1976. Whether as an athlete, coach or international-level judge, Tindall has spent a lot of time at the top of the gymnastics world. As she enters her 37th year as head coach, Tindall's SPU teams have won three national championships (1997, 1992, 1986). Falcon athletes garnered 22 national crowns, one of which she earned on the vault in 1975. Tindall has been named the national Coach of the Year four times, most recently in 2003. And, in a tribute to all of her accomplishments in the Seattle Pacific gym, Tindall is a charter member of the Falcon Legends Hall of Fame. She also operates the Falcon Gymnastics Center for local youths.

Home Sweet Brougham
The Falcons host three home meets at Brougham Pavilion on the Seattle Pacific campus. The arena is located at the corner of Third Avenue West and Nickerson Street (3414 Third Ave. W, Seattle, WA, 98119). Brougham has hosted the national championship meet three times, most recently in 2007 when the Falcons finished second. Along with last Friday's season opener, SPU hosts Air Force on Feb. 3 and UC Davis on Feb. 24. Both of those dual meets start at 7 p.m.