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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19 --
SPU at Burnsley Invitational (Denver/Boise State/Southeast Missouri)
Hamilton Gymnasium • Denver, Colo. • 6:00 p.m. PDT (7 pm MT)

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20 --
SPU at Air Force (Southeast Missouri)
Cadet West Gym • Colorado Springs, Colo. • 5:00 p.m. PDT (6 pm MT)

A hectic week awaits the Seattle Pacific gymnastics team, which embarks on a two-meet road trip to Colorado. The Falcons compete in the four-team Burnsley Invitational on Friday, Feb. 19 hosted by Denver University. The quad meet, which includes Boise State and Southeast Missouri, starts at 6 p.m. Pacific Time (7 p.m. Mountain) at Hamilton Gymnasium. The next night, Saturday, Feb. 20, SPU and Southeast Missouri visit Colorado Springs for a tri-meet against Air Force at 5 p.m. Pacific (6 p.m. Mountain) in Cadet West Gym. Saturday marks the sixth of eight straight away meets for SPU, which does not compete at home again until a March 19 dual meet with Washington in Brougham Pavilion. The Falcons do compete in Seattle next week, traveling across town for a tri meet at Washington with Arkansas on Friday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. in Edmundson Pavilion.

No Live Feed
There are no webcasts or livestats scheduled for this week's SPU meets.

Meet Fields
Host Denver is the nation's 18th-ranked team with a high score of 195.575. Boise State is No. 27 (195.075) and Southeast Missouri is No. 39 (194.600). Saturday's host Air Force is ranked No. 65 (188.650). SPU ranks 56th among all collegiate teams (190.500) and No. 5 among teams that will vie for the USA Gymnastics collegiate title.

Recent Recap
Samantha Taylor placed third on the bars and fourth in the all-around Friday (Feb. 12), helping Seattle Pacific record a season-high score of 190.500 in a third-place performance at Boise State. SPU gymnasts registered their team's season-best score in every individual event, including a 9.775 in bars by Taylor. She shattered her previous career-high mark in the all-around with a score of 38.275. Taylor's other marks were 9.475 on vault, 9.650 on beam and 9.75 on floor. SPU's Anissa Madrid produced a fifth-place all-around total of 38.225. She received a season-best score of 9.700 on beam to tie for fourth. The host Broncos had the top-two all-arounders and swept first-place honors in all four individual events. BSU's winning team score was 195.075, followed by Sacramento State with 193.850 points. Sherah Veron was SPU's top vaulter, tying for eighth with a score of 9.725. She was also the team's best floor performer, tying teammate Brittany Malone for fifth place. Their matching 9.80 scores were the best this season for a Falcon.

Targeting Texas
The season started in Seattle. The Falcons hope it ends in Denton, Texas. That's the site of the 2010 USGA Collegiate Championships, April 15-17. The SPU gymnastics squad competed in 27 consecutive national championship meets before falling just short of a team-qualifying berth in 2009. They would like to start the streak up again.

Strenuous Schedule
Seattle Pacific is an NCAA Division II member that competes alongside some Division I and II foes for the USA Gymnastics (USAG) Collegiate championship. The Falcons entire regular-season schedule is comprised of NCAA Division I opposition.

Gym Shorts
On Friday (Feb. 12) the Falcons surpassed the 190-point barrier for the first time this season after entering the meet with a top mark of 188.550. SPU did not accumulate a score of 190 during the regular season last year ... SPU compiled season-high team totals in two events in Boise; the balance beam (47.325) and floor exercise (48.225).

Proud History
Seattle Pacific is one of the country's premier NCAA Division II women's gymnastics programs, having won national championships in 1986, 1992 and 1997. The Falcons earned invitations to 27 consecutive championship meets (1982-2008) before narrowly missing a qualifying berth last season. SPU gymnasts have collected 22 national crowns and collected 147 All-America awards.

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, 36 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 35th year as head coach, Tindall's SPU teams have won three national championships. 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. Tindall also operates the Falcon Gymnastics Center for local youths.

Season Preview
Youth still dominates the roster, but experience is in greater supply for the 2010 edition of Seattle Pacific gymnastics. The team is built around a 10-gymnast sophomore class that saw a great deal of competition last year in their collegiate debuts. The Falcons have just five juniors and no seniors. Laurel Tindall, in her 35th season as SPU's coach, is optimistic. “We've got some great talent. Our top three are reasonably strong on each event, it's just numbers four, five and six that we need to solidify.” The biggest task will be replacing uneven bars national champion Brianna Schwartz, SPU's top all-arounder in 2009. Helping fill that void is the full-time return of junior Anissa Madrid, who missed all but the final meet last year. Madrid posted the team's best all-around score (38.825) in 2008. “She's easily capable of winning nationals. She has all of the ingredients,” says Tindall. Also expected to compete as an all-arounder is incoming freshman Stephanie Wagner a talented gymnast from Estacada, Ore. The Falcons' only other newcomer is freshman Ami Khauv, a vault and beam specialist from Monticello, Minn. SPU will rely on a bevy of event specialists in its pursuit of its 28th championship meet berth in the last 29 years. A trio of standouts highlights the vault corps in Sherah Veron, Lari Wilson and Madrid. The bars lineup features sophomore Kaysha Heck, the bronze medalist at the 2009 USAG meet. Madrid and Wagner project as the best beam and floor performers. Bri Steigauf could again top the floor field when she returns from an ankle injury.

Home Sweet Home
The Falcons host three home meets at Brougham Pavilion on the Seattle Pacific campus, including the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championship on March 27 at 6 p.m. 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 USAG national championship meet three times, most recently in 2007 when the Falcons finished second.