• VIDEO: Ariana  Harger  |  • Complete Results (pdf)  |  • Final Scores (html)

SEATTLE – Ariana Harger won the vault and floor exercise competitions Friday, leading a Seattle Pacific sweep of every event title in an NCAA dual-meet women's gymnastics victory over Hamline University at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons, NCAA Division II competitors, surpassed the 190-point plateau for the first time this season. They did so resoundingly, accumulating 191.500 points with season-high efforts on the vault (48.675), uneven bars (47.225) and floor (48.350). Their previous top score of the season was 189.700.
 
Coach Laurel Tindall was happy with the team total, especially with some obvious areas to increase that figure.
 
"We were mid 191 counting while still counting three falls and three out-of-bounds. That's 1.8 points right there. We really should be strong on beam so having those falls was a little bit more uncharacteristic and something that we're not going to do next week."
 
Division III Hamline, from Saint Paul, Minnesota, also shattered its season-high score. The Pipers' mark of 186.750 was nearly three points above their previous best.



Harger (Castro Valley, Calif.) displayed her national championship form on the floor with a score of 9.85 that handily won that event. She tied for gold medal honors on the floor at the 2016 USAG Collegiate Championships.
 
The junior gymnast is the SPU school-record holder on the vault, achieving a score of 9.90 last season. She came within one-tenth of that on Friday with a winning vault of 9.80.
 
"Ariana did a great job. She's still getting back into things from the fall," said Tindall, who believes that Harger can achieve even better results as the season progresses.
 
"She can land that vault a lot better and her floor routine still is new and it will be even better than it was tonight. These were good scores tonight and she's capable of scoring even higher."
 
Falcons freshman Darian Burns was the all-around winner, eclipsing 38 points for the first time with a four-event total of 38.100. She had a winning score of 9.600 on the bars and placed second on the vault with a 9.775.
 
"Darian as an all-around scoring a 38.1 was good. She was consistent, hit a nice bar routine and stayed on her feet on floor," Tindall said of Burns, who received the conference Freshman of the Week award on Tuesday. "She's figuring it out a little bit how to compete in college, which is great."
 
SPU senior Kristi Hayashida was the meet's premier beam performer, receiving a score of 9.700. She was the national runner-up on that apparatus last season.

 

Another senior, Lauren Glover, placed among the top-three in a pair of events. She was the floor runner-up with a season-best 9.800. Glover (Fort Collins, Colo.) was a national bronze medalist on the floor last season. On Friday she also shined on the beam with a third-place score of 9.600.
 
Other placewinners included two Falcons freshmen. Sienna Brane (Glacier Peak HS) was second on the bars with a 9.575 and Lena Wirth (Roseville, Calif.) was third with a 9.750 vault.
 
Senior Breanna Beltran (Modesto, Calif.) turned in a third-place showing on the bars with a season-high score of 9.55.
 
The Falcons opened the meet on the vault and established a new season-high team score of 48.675 on that apparatus. Their five counting scores were all 9.650 or higher, topped by the 9.800 from Harger. She was followed by Burns (9.775), Wirth (9.750), Itzia San Roman (9.700), Glover (9.650) and Beltran (9.600).
 
"Our vault was awesome," Tindall exclaimed. "We're going to be in contention a lot more than we've been in the past with vault because we have all really good start values on vault now."
 
Burns led an SPU sweep of the top-four places on the next event, the uneven bars. She notched a 9.600 followed by Brane (9.575), Beltran (9.550) and Miyuki Matsune (9.500). The team rode those lofty totals to a season-best mark of 47.225.
 
The Falcons moved to the balance beam for the third rotation and compiled 47.250 points, the only mark that was not a season high.
 
The fourth and final event, the floor, produced a season-best 48.350 points. That lineup was powered by Harger's 9.85 and a 9.80 from Glover. Also registering counting scores for SPU were Matsune (9.600), Burns (9.600) and Hayashida (9.500).
 
The SPU gymnasts stay in Seattle to compete next Saturday, Feb. 4 against Air Force. The dual meet starts at 7 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion.
 
That will be the Falcons final regular-season home meet before they embark on a stretch of six straight road competitions.
 
Tindall sees both positives and negatives to the schedule front-loaded with home meets.
 
"It's nice as far as we don't have to worry about selecting a travel squad yet. It's nice, but it's going to be a long slew of away meets too. We're really hoping that after we build this momentum at home, we don't drop down as we go away. That's going to be key."
 
SPU's Brougham Pavilion will serve as the host venue for the USAG Collegiate Championship, April 7-9. Eight teams and additional individual competitors will vie for national championships at that three-day event.


NCAA WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS
Friday, Jan. 27, 2017
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.

Team Scores
1, Seattle Pacific, 191.500
2, Hamline, 186.750

All-Around
1, Darian Burns, SPU, 38.100

Vault
1, Ariana Harger, SPU, 9.800
2, Darian Burns, SPU, 9.775
3, Lena Wirth, SPU, 9.750

Uneven Bars
1, Darian Burns, SPU, 9.600
2, Sienna Brane, SPU, 9.575
3, Breanna Beltran, SPU, 9.550

Balance Beam
1, Kristi Hayashida, SPU, 9.700
2, Lydia Ingram, HU, 9.675
2, Lauren Glover, SPU, 9.600

Floor Exercise
1, Ariana Harger, SPU, 9.850
2, Lauren Glover, SPU, 9.800
3, Olivia Kressler, HU, 9.650


Next Meet
Air Force at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Feb. 4, 7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.