• Complete Results -- 1st Semifinal, SPU (pdf) 
     • Complete Results -- 2nd Semifinal (pdf) 
     • VIDEO: Kristi  Hayashida beam routine
     • VIDEO: Breanna  Beltran bars routine
     • VIDEO: Lauren  Glover interview    
     • Maria  Hundley feature story

ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Maria Hundley is not a novice when it comes to winning national championships. But she is a rookie all-around competitor.
 
The Falcons first-timer claimed the four-event prize Friday, adding to her already impressive array of medals.
 
Hundley was crowned the all-around champion Friday, her sixth career national title for Seattle Pacific, which earned a berth into the four-team finals with a school-record score that led to a second-place semifinal showing during the first day of the USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate Championships at Hyland Arena.


 
Hundley (Littleton, Colo.) added to her school-record championship collection, winning the all-around crown for the first time. She did so by surpassing her own SPU standard, compiling a four-event total of 39.400. The previous best was 39.350 by Hundley, who is in her first year as an all-around competitor.
 
"I'm super excited about my performance. I just had a lot of fun with my team today and just did everything I could in the moment," exclaimed Hundley, who added that the all-around win was rewarding because the road to the medal platform wasn't easy.
 
"We thought about the all-around at the beginning of preseason when I came back for my senior year. But actually doing it, competing it and making the lineup has been a journey. So I'm really excited about it."
 
The SPU senior claimed gold medals on the uneven bars and balance beam last year after winning those two events along with the vault in 2014. She is within one of the all-time NCAA Division II/USAG collegiate record for individual women's gymnastics championships. She trails three gymnasts, who each compiled a combination of seven all-around and event gold medals.
 
Hundley's heroics, along with a sixth-place all-around performance by sophomore Ariana Harger, helped the Falcons shatter the school team score record. They amassed 194.750 points to better the previous mark of 194.575 established on Feb. 28, 2014.
 
SPU was the runner-up in the first semifinal that was won by Bridgeport with 195.550 points. They both advance to the finals, that determine the national team champion, on Saturday at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.
 
Eliminated in SPU's semifinal was third-place Cornell (193.100) and fourth-place Air Force (191.600).
 
SPU's score was the fourth-highest overall as the two championship contenders from Friday's second semifinal produced loftier totals. Brown won that session with a score of 195.175 and host Lindenwood was second at 195.150. Texas Women's University (194.275) and Yale (192.350) did not advance.
 
The all-around was the only championship issued on Friday and Hundley's 39.400 topped the field, making her the Falcons' fourth all-time champion in that competition and the first since Debra Huss in 2005.
 
"It's been a long time since we had an all-around champion," said Laurel Tindall, in her 41st season as head coach of the Falcons. "Obviously for being a first-year all-arounder it's a great thing for her. She was just super consistent tonight with a 9.8 and above in everything."
 
Tindall said that Hundley's already remarkable legacy will be further enhanced with the addition of this championship.
 
"It would have been sad to have her go through four years and have the all-around be that one thing that wasn't in her grasp. So it's really good that she did so well in the all-around."
 
There was a three-way tie for second with all-around scores of 39.200 tallied by Majesta Valentine of West Chester, Ashley White of Centenary and Schyler Jones of TWU. Harger placed sixth with a career-high total of 39.025. She is just the sixth gymnast in SPU history to reach the 39-point plateau.
 
For the first time as a collegian, Hundley added the floor exercise to her repertoire in February and performed admirably. On Friday she matched her career best of 9.85 and narrowly missed qualifying for the floor finals. That is the only event in which she won't contend for a national title.
 
In all four events, the top-five scoring gymnasts from each semifinal qualified for the individual finals, which are scheduled for Sunday at 11 a.m. PDT.

 

SPU gymnasts secured seven slots in the event finals, including Harger who booked her berth with a score of 9.925 on the floor. That was the third-highest score of any competitor on that apparatus.
 
Harger's 9.925 was the No. 2 floor score in school history, tying her with Corrie McDaniel who achieved that mark in 2002. The school record of 9.95 was registered in 2000 by Callie Field.
 
"Ari got her first 39, which is awesome for her," Tindall said. "This is also her first year as an all-arounder. Hopefully she'll come back really motivated to improve her bars for next year and get that up to score 9.8s there. Then she's going to be challenging for all-around titles too."
 
Harger (Castro Valley, Calif.) qualified for the floor finals for the second straight season, following a fourth-place tie in 2015. She will be joined in the 10-gymnast championship round by junior teammate Lauren Glover, who achieved a career-high score of 9.875 in the semifinal.
 
Hundley placed among the top-seven scorers in three events Friday to earn a trio of individual finals berths. She tied for top vaulting honors with a semifinal score of 9.875 that equaled the school record. That mark has been achieved on 10 occasions by a Falcons gymnast and half of those record-tying marks came from Hundley.

 

She tied for first with teammate Kristi Hayashida and two other gymnasts with a score of 9.850 on the balance beam. A junior, Hayashida (Mililani, Hawaii) was the bronze medalist on the beam last season.
 
Hundley's bars tally of 9.825 ranked seventh among semifinalists in that event. She shares the company of junior teammate Breanna Beltran (Modesto, Calif.), who advanced to the bars finals with a semifinal round 9.80.
 
The Falcons were in second place for the entire semifinal meet. They opened with a solid team score of 48.550 on the vault, capped by consecutive scores of 9.775 by Glover and Harger and then Hundley's 9.875.
 
They struggled in the second rotation as the opening four in the lineup failed to reach 9.60. Marks of 9.825 by Hundley and 9.80 by Beltran salvaged a score of 48.100 that was SPU's third lowest of the season on that apparatus.
 
"We had a really rough bars, one of our lower scores of the season, so we really had to come back on the beam and floor to stay in it," said Tindall. "I told them that this would be a really good time to do a comeback. They've shown at other meets that they really could come back on an event. In the second half we really picked things up a lot."
 
They responded with their third-best beam set of the season, a mark of 48.850 that featured the magnificent matching marks of 9.85 by Hayashida and Hundley.
 
Entering the final event the Falcons were in second, but led third-place Air Force by just half a point.
 
SPU secured second place and the finals qualifying berth with the finest floor performance in school history. Rain Sullivan opened with a 9.80 followed by a 9.725 from Alexa Okamura, a 9.80 from Brittany Atchison, a 9.85 from Hundley, 9.875 from Glover and 9.925 from Harger.
 
Those top-five scores totaled 49.250 points, eclipsing the previous team-high of 49.175 set in 2003 and matched once in 2004.
 
The Falcons reached the team finals for the third straight season following third-place results in 2014 and 2015. They won national titles in 1986, 1992 and 1997 and are competing at the championship meet for the 34th time in the last 35 years.
 
"The pressure is off in terms of the pressure of making the finals competition. So with the pressure off they can just relax a little bit and let the bars happen a little bit more," explained Tindall. "We always train to do better the second night and I think they will be able to do that."
 
The USAG Collegiate Championships feature NCAA Division II members and Division I schools that choose to adhere to the limit of 7-1/2 scholarships. This year's championship field includes four Division I schools and three of the four Division II entries reached the finals.

 
USA GYMNASTICS WOMEN'S COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Hyland Arena / St. Charles, Mo.
Friday, April 8, 2016
 
Team Semifinals (Session 1)
1, Bridgeport, 195.550
2, Seattle Pacific, 194.750
3, Cornell, 193.100
4, Air Force, 191.600
 
Team Semifinals (Session 2)
1, Brown, 195.175
2, Lindenwood, 195.150
3, Texas Women's University, 194.275
4, Yale, 192.350
 
All-Around (Final)
1, Maria Hundley, Seattle Pacific, 39.400
2t, Majesta Valentine, West Chester, 39.200
2t, Ashley White, Centenary, 39.200
2t, Schyler Jones, Texas Woman's, 39.200
5, Caroline Morant, Brown, 39.175
6, Ariana Harger, Seattle Pacific, 39.025
7, Lyanda Dudley, Centenary, 39.000
8, Jorden Mitchell, Brown, 38.925
 
 
Team Finals Field (Saturday, April 9, 5:00 p.m. PDT)
Bridgeport
Brown
Lindenwood
Seattle Pacific
 
 
SPU Individual Event Qualifiers (Sunday, April 10, 11:00 a.m. PDT)
Vault -- Maria Hundley (9.875)
Uneven Bars -- Maria Hundley (9.825), Breanna Beltran (9.800).
Balance Beam -- Kristi Hayashida (9.850), Maria Hundley (9.850).
Floor Exercise – Ariana Harger (9.925), Lauren Glover (9.875).