Laurel Tindall 2016 headshot

Laurel Tindall

She is not only synonymous with Seattle Pacific University gymnastics, Laurel Tindall is also recognized nationally as a champion of her sport. Whether as an athlete, a coach or a judge, Tindall has always risen to the top. Her teams have won three national championships and, individually, SPU gymnasts have taken 26 individual titles, and in 2003 she was been honored as national coach of the year for the fourth time.
 
Simply stated, Tindall has made the Falcons one of the most respected and formidable college programs in the nation. Perhaps the most impressive run of success was Seattle Pacific's 20 consecutive top-four national finishes from 1984-03. That includes a USA Gymnastics Championship in 1997 followed by a runner-up finish in 1998. Now in her 40th year as SPU head coach, Tindall's athletes have been collected 179 All-America certificates.
 
Tindall’s breadth of work as both competitor and coach have been further recognized. She was inducted into the Washington State Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2004 and was a member of the charter group for Seattle Pacific’s Falcon Legends Hall of Fame in 2005.
 
To recount Tindall's accomplishments is to recite the history of SPU gymnastics; they have been intricately intertwined for 42 years. As an athlete, she brought instant prestige to the fledgling, first-year Falcon program, transferring from the University of Washington where she had won a national title on vault. Tindall would win another vault crown at Seattle Pacific before succeeding her mentor, George Lewis, as the team's head coach immediately following her graduation.
 
Since then, she has guided the Falcons to an NCAA crown and two USAG titles, plus four national second-place finishes. Her most memorable achievement may have come in 1997 when her team attracted record crowds to Brougham Pavilion to witness not only the winning of a national team title but two individual event championships as well. Tindall was instrumental in not only bringing the USAG meet to Seattle for two consecutive years, in 1996 and '97, but she also proved to be an excellent grassroots promoter and coordinator of the event.
 
In 1986, she directed SPU to its first national championship. Barbara Elliott led the charge to that NCAA Division II crown, winning individual event titles in the vault, balance beam and floor exercise.
 
That triple crown was repeated in 2014 by Maria Hundley, who claimed top USAG Collegiate Championships honors on the vault, uneven bars and beam for third-place SPU. The Falcons made it a clean sweep of the four event titles as Kai Tindall tied for first on the floor.
 
That gave the Tindalls the unique distinction of being a mother-daughter championship duo as both won national titles.
 
As a competitor, Laurel Anderson was a 10-time All-American, six of those certificates coming while at SPU. She was named to the U.S. National Team in 1974. Together with Debbie Halle, she fashioned the Falcons' image as a giant-killer. In its first year, the team was unbeaten in dual meets, including wins over Washington and Oregon.
 
As coach, Tindall has always kept the program in the hunt for national honors. Her first squad finished 14th in the AIAW Collegiate (all division) Championships. In 1986 Seattle Pacific captured the NCAA Division II championship, rallying from last place to first during the final event. She was recognized for that achievement by being voted the national coach of the year. In 1988, Seattle Pacific placed third nationally, and became the first Division II program to qualify for a Division I regional. Since then, several individuals have qualified for at-large berths.
 
In 1992, the Falcons went through the entire season rated No. 1, and proved themselves worthy at nationals by earning their second crown. Again, Tindall was voted coach of the year. The 1997 season was full of lofty accomplishments, among them a win over Washington, then the No. 6 team in Div. I; a first-ever Western Independents Conference championship and finally the national team title and two individual crowns. SPU collected another conference title and two more individual championships in 1999. In 2006 came the first of two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation titles.
 
Tindall continues to be involved with all levels of gymnastics, seemingly around the clock. She operates the Falcon Gymnastics Center for local youths and is a Brevet Class judge. She served as supervisor of gymnastics meet operations for the 1990 Goodwill Games in Tacoma.
Â