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SATURDAY, MARCH 13 --
Seattle Pacific at Eagle Invitational (SPU / EMU / NIU / WMU)
Bowen Field House • Ypsilanti, Mich. • 4:00 p.m. PST (7 EST)

FRIDAY, MARCH 19 --
Washington at Seattle Pacific
Brougham Pavilion • Seattle, Wash. • 7:00 p.m. PST

After a week off from competition, the Seattle Pacific gymnasts pack their bags one last time in the regular season. The Falcons compete in their eighth straight road meet, Saturday, Mar. 13 at the Eagle Invitational in Ypsilanti, Mich. The four-team meet starts at 4 p.m. Pacific Time (7 p.m. Eastern) at Eastern Michigan's Bowen Field House. Joining SPU and host EMU are Northern Illinois and Western Michigan. There is no webcast or LiveStats available for Saturday's meet. Final results will be posted at www.SPUfalcons.com.

Meet Field
Northern Illinois boasts a season-high team score of 192.775 and is the highest ranked team among Eagle Invitational competitors with a No. 46 national rating. Western Michigan is ranked No. 49 and has the highest season-best score of the four competing teams at 193.925. Host Eastern Michigan is rated No. 51 with a high output of 192.700. Seattle Pacific is listed No. 61 in those same overall rankings that are dominated by NCAA Division I squads. The Division II Falcons have a high score of 190.500 and are rated No. 7 among teams that will vie for the USA Gymnastics collegiate title.

Recent Recap
Junior Anissa Madrid finished fifth in the all-around, including a season-best score of 9.750 on the balance beam for SPU, which placed third in an NCAA women's gymnastics meet at Washington on Feb. 26. She compiled an all-around total of 37.525 and was the top non-Arkansas individual. SPU sophomore Samantha Taylor had a seventh-place all-around total of 36.175. Eighth-ranked Arkansas swept the top-four all-around places en route to a winning team score of 196.075. Host Washington was second with a score of 194.100, followed by the Falcons at 188.275.

Gym Shorts
Thirteen Falcons have registered scores above 9.50 in at least one event this season ... Junior Anissa Madrid had consecutive team-high all-around scores of 38.400 on Feb. 19 and 20 in Colorado ... On Feb. 12 at Boise State, SPU surpassed the 190-point barrier with a season-high score of 190.500. The Falcons did not accumulate a score of 190 during the regular season last year ... Sophomore Sherah Veron is SPU's top-ranked gymnast in two events in the USAG ratings. She compiled the team's best score of 9.750 on vault (Feb. 19) and tied Brittany Malone for SPU's best floor mark of 9.800 (Feb. 12).

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 seek to start the streak 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 opponents.

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.

Back Home at Brougham
Next week, the Falcons compete at home for the first time since Jan. 15 when Washington visits Brougham Pavilion, Mar. 19 at 7 p.m. The following week, on Mar. 27, SPU hosts the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships at 6 p.m.

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.


**Click Here for more information on the 2010 MPSF Championship Meet