• Final scores (html)            |    • Complete results (pdf) 
      • VIDEO: McKenna  Page    |    • VIDEO: Senior Night Introductions
 
SEATTLE – They got off of the gymnastics roller coaster – and the Seattle Pacific Falcons were delighted to do so.
 
Kristi Hayashida scored a career-high 9.85 to win the balance beam, and Ariana Harger tied for first on both the vault and floor exercise Friday as SPU rang up a season-high 193.050 points against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival Air Force on Senior Night in Brougham Pavilion.
 
For the first time this season, SPU was in the 190s for two meets in a row after bouncing back and forth between the low 190s and high 180s. The Falcons had 192.050 last Saturday at the University of Washington. Their previous 2015 season high was 192.650 in a victory at Air Force on Jan. 24.


 
Air Force squeezed out the dual-meet victory, finishing with 193.125 – a scant 75 hundredths of a point more than SPU.
 
"That was a tough one. It was close," said Laurel Tindall, who is in her 40th season as SPU's head coach. "Going into floor we were only four-tenths ahead and then we had those misses. They did hit great on beam, but we just gave them the meet basically."
 
The host Falcons faltered in the final rotation with a 47.90 on the floor, an event on which they topped 48 points in four previous meets.
 
"Our floor team has got to pick it up and hit routines. They can do it," Tindall explained. "I watched them on floor this week in practice and they can do double floor routines and hit those last passes. We just need to do it in meets."
 
Sophomore Hayashida (Mililani, Hawaii) executed a near-flawless beam routine to beat her previous career high of 9.825, set in the season opener against UC Davis in Brougham. With junior Maria Hundley (Littleton, Colo.) adding a season-high 9.80 and Harger (Castro Valley, Calif.) tying her career high with a 9.725, Seattle Pacific totaled 48.750.

 

Harger put a 9.80 on the board with her vault, tying with Air Force's Jessica Wallander for first. The Falcons freshman was part of a three-way tie for first place on the floor with a 9.775, matching the performances by Air Force's Kara Witgen and Alexandra Stych.
 
Harger has been SPU's top vault scorer on six occasions and the best floor performer five times.
 
"She's doing great and really rising to the challenge," said Tindall.
 
SPU sophomore Paige Blaney (Edmonton, Alberta) tied her career high with a 9.775 en route to a third-place vault result.
 
Hundley and sophomore Tracie Villanueva (Kaneohe, Hawaii) both earned a 9.75 on the bars to tie with Wallander for the top spot. Those scores factored into SPU's season-best total of 48.500, topping the 48.450 from last week's UW meet.
 
Friday was the third meet back for Hundley, who missed the season's first five competitions due to an injury. She is returning to the form that helped her capture three national championships in 2014. 
 
Hundley won the vault, bars and beam event titles at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships last April.
 
"It's really good to have Maria back, she definitely helps our lineup," Tindall said. "She's got enough meets left to get it together and be a factor at nationals again."

 

Sydney Clark, one of the six seniors honored on Friday night, finished third in the all-around. Clark (Eugene, Ore.) totaled 38.275 points.
 
Shannon Escarra (Fayetteville, Ga.), Teryn Loland (Kenmore, Wash. / Inglemoor HS), Cara Lord (Collegeville, Pa.), McKenna Page (Bellevue, Wash. / Bellevue Christian HS), and Amanda Willingham (Capitan, N.M.) were the other seniors saluted on Friday.
 
The Falcons are on the road for the final two meets of the regular season, beginning on Sunday, March 8, at San Jose State at 2:00 p.m. They visit Oregon State on March 14.
 
"We really want to get our average up into mid-192," Tindall stated as the team's goal. "We have the opportunity to score well at both of the next two meets and hopefully that will happen."
 

 
NCAA WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS
Friday, February 27, 2015
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Team Scores
1, Air Force, 193.125
2, Seattle Pacific, 193.050
 
All-Around
1t, Jamie Lewis, USAF, 38.700
1t, Kim McRobbie, USAF, 38.700
3, Sydney Clark, SPU, 38.275
 
Vault
1t, Ariana Harger, SPU, 9.800
1t, Jessic Wallander, USAF, 9.800
3, Paige Blaney, SPU, 9.775
 
Uneven Bars
1t, Maria Hundley, SPU, 9.75
1t, Tracie Villanueva, SPU, 9.75
1t, Jessica Wallander, USAF, 9.75
 
Balance Beam
1, Kristi Hayashida, SPU, 9.850
2t, Maria Hundley, SPU, 9.800
2t, Annie Graft, USAF, 9.800
 
Floor Exercise
1t, Ariana Harger, SPU, 9.775
1t, Kara Witgan, USAF, 9.775
1t, Alexandra Stych, USAF, 9.775
 
 
Next Meet
Seattle Pacific at San Jose State
Sunday, March 8, 2:00 p.m.
The Event Center / San Jose, Calif.